Company Press Release

SOURCE: Soka Gakkai International

Highlighting the UN's designation of the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace, the festival was organized by the new Northern California Peace Coalition, a group of more than 25 NGOs and civil society organizations which came together following participation in the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference earlier this year.

Dr. Lucile Green, founder of the San Francisco People's Assembly, was keynote speaker, but the highlight of the morning session was an appeal from the SGI Boys and Girls Group for a safe and peaceful society so they can live in a world free of fear.

President of the United Nations Association, Northern California Division, Ted Smith, shared strategies for creating a culture of peace globally and locally, and other speakers encouraged people of all faiths to work together.

The audience also heard from the Honorable Le Tagaloa Pita, Member of Parliament from Samoa, which will host the First Millennium Global People's Assembly from April 2-8, 2000 in Apia, Samoa.

After lunch, 14 parallel workshops were held, including the SGI-USA Youth Group's program "Victory Over Violence: What Can One Individual Do?", "U.S. Military Policy Since the Fall of the Soviet Union", organized by SGI Member Ed Rippy of East Bay Peace Action, and "Speak Up for Global Citizenship" with co-coordinator of the Northern California Peace Coalition and SGI member Sue Zipp.

Other workshops covered "The Promise of World Peace" by the Baha'i Community, "It Can Be Done! Global Action to Prevent War" by Global Action International Network and "Creating a Culture of Peace Globally and Locally," by the United Nations Association.

The Northern California Peace Coalition is now preparing for the State of the World Forum in San Francisco, a high-level annual event started in 1995 by Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross Foundation, scheduled October 6, 1999 at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. This year the Forum will undertake the Nuclear Weapons Elimination Initiative, and include an evening open to the public.

Soka Gakkai International is an association with 12 million members in 128 countries and territories worldwide. Its activities for peace, culture and education are based on the traditions of Buddhist humanism.