Peace starts for me Festival reanimated the European Peace Movement

The Peace for me Festival with thousands of visitors in Vienna was the launch of a new peace movement which is functioning on a very personal level and can therefore be very successfull.

London, United Kingdom – May 15, 2018 /PressCable/ —

The Stadthalle Vienna, staged the biggest Peace Festival in Europe since many years. The program began with the joint MCs’ very warm (and bilingual – German and English) welcome to everyone from the many parts of the world from which they had come.

They noted that, among others, a delegation from Japan that included several members of the Japanese Parliament, and the participants of the international leaders’ conference organized by UPF, were present in the audience. The Longfield Gospel Choir kicked off the program with several energetic and beautifully arranged Gospel numbers, including Every Praise Is to Our God, which featured a group of equally energetic dancers that one suspects may have been the same young men and women publicizing the event in the streets of Vienna. Austria FFWPU (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) national leader Elisabeth Cook and Europe FFWPU regional chair Michael Balcomb introduced the goals and purpose of the festival. Dr. Balcomb said that if 10,000 people were to say “Peace Starts with Me” that would make an impact. He asked everyone to stand up and tell 5 other people that “Peace Starts with Me.” Expressing his belief that just as men and women have dreamed of peace, God has also been dreaming of peace; just as when spring comes it cannot be stopped by man, so it is with the coming of the era of peace – the history of darkness is about to end and the history of peace is about to begin.

The Hungarian shadow dance group, Attraction, then took the stage. The eight dancers performed behind a special screen and created beautiful images formed by their own shadows. Then came Spark, an energetic modern ballet that featured some of FFWPUs most talented members. The opening prayer was a touching Christian invocation of God’s spirit by a Catholic Priest who came to the podium with a young Syrian lady who then sang her prayer in Aramaic. A musical dedication featured the diva Seiko Lee, who sang a classical piece by Johann Strauss (himself a native of Vienna) first by herself, and then in a beautiful duet with Mr. Kastriot Tusha from Albania. A brief but poignant video was then screened; it gathered together some of the young voices explaining what “Peace Starts with Me” meant for them personally.

The MCs then asked the audience members to take a minute or two to explain their own thoughts and feelings on peace to each other. A second video presentation that followed, which briefly introduced both FFWPUs global work for peace, was short and to the point. Then former Austria defense minister Dr. Werner Fasslabend came out and personally introduced Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon as the keynote speaker. Referring to his long experience in public office he expressed that, while it is relatively easy to disturb peace, restoring and keeping peace is a very tough and time-consuming challenge. He concluded that the task of bringing peace is not just in the realm of religion, politics or the military, but that we must contribute to it ourselves. “Peace is me, Peace is all of us,” he said to applause. He said that we must first have inner peace as the basis for convincing others to create peace among themselves, in society and thus in the world. After Dr. Fasslabend had spoken briefly about Mrs. Moon’s life, including her marriage and the fact that she has 14 children and more than 40 grandchildren, Mrs. Moon came out to the podium. Dr. Fasslabend then stood with her for a moment, and welcomed her warmly to “this city of music and peace,” offering Mrs. Moon his best wishes for the future of her work. Mrs. Moon welcomed everyone, and thanked religious leaders, ambassadors for peace and members for coming. She particularly mentioned those who had travelled from Moscow by bus on a 30-hour journey and welcomed a group of important religious leaders from Africa. Mrs. Moon expressed that we have to know what kind of being God is; only through this can we solve the problems we face. We must understand that God gave people responsibility. She referred to missionary members working underground in the communist bloc and the challenge today to bring peace on earth. She concluded her speech by encouraging everyone to become shining lights of peace in Europe. Two tribute messages were read. One was from the president and deputy president of the Association for the Promotion of Peace, which bestows the Flame of Peace award. The other was a declaration, offered by the 300 hundred ambassadors for peace who had gathered under UPF, of their commitment to overcome the barriers to peace.

Entertainment followed, with musical offerings by Seiko Lee, then Serbian pop star Nevena Bošović and culminating with Gospel music from renowned American Gospel artist Yolanda Adams. See the highlights at http://www.google1.org/?s=peace+starts+with+me

Anton Scherbl from Denver, Colorado, USA, expressed the thoughts of many visitors when he commented that the Peace starts with me Festival was the perfect reanimation for the peace movement in Europe. Joseph Chung from Connecticut commented that the audience felt encouraged towards achieving world peace through the powerful performances. For more information please visit http://www.google1.org

Contact Info:
Name: David Goldberg
Email: david.goldberg@google1.org
Organization: google1org
Address: 77 Victoria St. Westminster, London, England SW1H 0HW, United Kingdom
Phone: +44-20282684655

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 344571