A Message from NY Department of Peace
www.nyc-dop.org

"The effects of the Gandhi campaign reverberated around the world to help make the International Day of Peace, on September 21, the most widely celebrated in its 25 year history" said Dot Maver of the Peace Alliance.

We sincerely want to say THANK YOU for helping us make the 100 Years of Nonviolence campaign such a success. We were deeply moved by the enthusiastic responses and so grateful for your participation. The tangible results of our collective efforts were that the movie Gandhi showed and/or the short film Satyagraha debuted in:

4 countries plus Palestine (Bethlehem) - USA, Italy, India and Romania
6 theaters (two SOLD OUT)
21 states (including Alaska)
41 cities
44-65 venues in total (we're still trying to track them all)

“I forgot how inspiring the movie Gandhi is, especially on the big screen,” remarked Blake McGee, a student at Columbia University’s School of Public Health. “After watching it, I really feel called to go out and take action. I am glad that I spent September 11 focusing on such a hopeful message.”  We’re hearing similar responses from around the country.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated and sacrificed to make this campaign a success and to all who continue to work to make nonviolence visible and viable in our world.

In peace and gratitude,

The NYDOP Team


Here is their Press Release:

NEW YORKERS TRANSFORM SEPTEMBER 11
INTO A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND HEALING

September 12, 2006, New York, NY. -- On September 11, 2006, New Yorkers and Americans in 21 states marked the 100 year anniversary of Gandhi’s decision to use nonviolence. New Yorkers for a Department of Peace (NY-DOP), in cooperation with Sony Pictures, organized a one-day-only theatrical showing of the movie Gandhi. Movie screenings, held at the Regal Cinema near the World Trade Center site and other theaters across the country, included the debut of a short film, Satyagraha. The title is the name that Gandhi chose for his nonviolent campaign and translates as “the pursuit of truth.” The film focuses on the power of nonviolence and features Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, and George Houser, a civil rights activist and founding member of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality.

To kick off the screenings, NY-DOP organized a panel discussion at the Regal Cinema, which according to Julianne Nicholson (Law and Order) was “poignant and moving.” September Families for Peaceful Tomorrow's Anthony Aversano, who lost his father on September 11, 2001 quoted Gandhi saying, “An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.” JoJo Brim, an executive at Warner Music Group, challenged the audience to “make peace sexy” through entertainment. Kamran Elahian explained how the Gandhi Project uses the movie Gandhi, dubbed in Arabic, to educate Palestinians on the power of nonviolence. Monica Willard shared that the United Nations had originally slated September 11, 2001 as the International Day of Peace. Since then, however, the UN has moved it to September 21 and marks the day annually. Marie Ukeye, a Rwandan genocide survivor, concluded by reflecting on the fact that humans are very “successful” at organizing violence and considered how different the world would be if all that energy were focused on organizing peace.

“I forgot how inspiring the movie Gandhi is, especially on the big screen,” remarked Blake McGee, a student at Columbia University’s School of Public Health. “After watching it, I really feel called to go out and take action. I am glad that I spent September 11 focusing on such a hopeful message.”