The first GPF was held in 2006 in the Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines. At that event, the GPF Chair, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, declared the launch of a series of Global Peace Festivals worldwide. Since then people of faith have gathered in countries around the world to seize the moment of hope and change to start a worldwide movement of peace and reconciliation.

In 2007 held international festivals in the UK, Benin, Germany, France, Philippines, Korea, Israel. Thousands from across the world and the United States have begun to reach out to one another to work for global peace through acts of kindness and service that demonstrate compassion for others, love of family, and peace by uniting in service to help one another.

In other parts of the world, the Global Peace Festival is sparking initiatives that offer new hope for healing of differences. In Lebanon, for example, peace-mural projects are attracting creative young people from different religious communities and giving them opportunities to meet each other and to begin to understand each other’s experiences and concerns. In Nairobi, Kenya, people who lost family members during the inter-ethnic strife following last December’s presidential elections are working together to clean up sewage and trash from the river flowing through their city. These civil-society initiatives aim to add new impetus to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The United States is one of 18-countries in 2008 to host a Global Peace Festival and Rally to launch the movement with faith leaders of all denominations, community, civic and political leaders, cultural artists, and youth. The first GPF this was took place in Paraguay, which was a great success.

In preparation for the U.S. launch, peace, and reconciliation, service projects and acts of kindness will be observed weeks before the launch in the cities of Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Selma, Winston Salem, Detroit and New York.

Paraguay

An energetic crowd of 25,000 packed into Asunción’s historic Club Olimpia Stadium burst into rowdy and prolonged cheers at the Global Peace Festival (GPF) on July 5 . The Paraguay GPF is the first of 17 planned throughout the world in 2008.

Interest in the Paraguay festival reached a fever pitch in Asunción as the limited supply of tickets quickly ran out. When local radio station Popular 103FM ran a contest to give away the last 1,000 tickets to young people who brought a donation for the capital’s poorest children, more than 4,000 actually turned out and filled the streets for ten blocks around the station with cheerful teenagers hoping for the hottest ticket in town.

Promotional Video

View photos from GPF Paraguay.

USA

GPF- USA

GPF USA held a mini-GPF at Fordham University in New York City on May 24 and 25 at Fordham University. You can see the highlights of the event by watching the video below, or you can download it from our download page.

Mini Global Peace Festival, New York City

United Kingdom

The Global Peace Festival in the United Kingdom turned out to be a “global” experience in terms of the diversity of ethnicities and cultures represented. Advertised under the slogan “Click,” invitees were each encouraged to look at ways they can “click” with a person from a different culture. Eight partner organizations worked together on the September 8-10, 2007, event, held at the Imperial College in London.

The festival sought to strengthen relations among family members and between the family and society. It focused on building bridges between faiths, cultures, and generations. Musical performances and art exhibits attracted creative talent, and Ambassador for Peace certificates were awarded at various points. Three conferences provided the center of gravity for the festival as they examined the values people hold in common and seek to pass on to the coming generation.

Nearly 100 Ambassadors for Peace and others from Britain and Europe met to discuss Marriage and Family in the UK: Changing the Trend…..

…continue reading about GPF UK.

Benin

The Global Peace Festival in Benin took place on October 26 - 29, 2007, in the coastal cities of Ouidah, the historic slave-trade port, and Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital and main city. During each activity, the international delegates, Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., and Mr. Jin Man Kwak, were joined by representatives of other West African countries: Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Ghana.

…continue reading about the GPF Benin

Germany

A Global Peace Festival was held in Offenbach City Hall, near Frankfurt, Germany, on September 7, 2007. Participants included some 1,000 activists from the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Norway as well as the host nation.

The festival was part of a series being held in Europe, starting in France on September 6 and including Germany, Albania, the United Kingdom, and Spain. They are in main a celebration of the efforts being made to support the accomplishment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The German Festival was preceded by an eight-day peace walk made by two groups, one from the north, Herdorf, the other from the south, near Heidelberg, ending in Bad Camberg, where UPF-Germany has a center. They slept mainly in youth hostels, covering about 20 km a day, meeting mayors and the media, and visiting the religious centers of a number of faiths. There were 80 participants, representing the eight Millennium Development Goals. The Cologne Buddhism Centre was centrally involved. Ashin Sopaka, a monk from Burma and experienced peace marcher, said he particularly appreciated the chance to meet and talk with fellow walkers on the way. The two groups covered 330 km between them, on the E1, a European walking trail that goes from Galway, Ireland, to Genoa, Italy.

The German Global Peace Festival was billed as “clean,” with no alcohol, no smoking and no drugs. It was designed to appeal to young adults, and musicians in the eight bands were in their teens and early twenties.

…continue reading about GPF Germany.

France

In order to celebrate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UPF-France organized a dinner at the restaurant of UNESCO, hosted by one delegation. To celebrate the universal values common to our religions, it organized an interreligious colloquium at the Great Mosque of Paris. To celebrate family values and “One Family under God” it organized an event in a major hotel in Paris.

…continue reading about GPF France.

Philippines

“Because the social, ecological and moral problems we face are global in their implications, we must also ‘globalize’ our moral values and ethical standards.” With these words, Hon. Jose de Venecia, Jr., speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines, called the audience at the Global Peace Festival to live according to the Golden Rule, which can be found in the teachings of the world’s great religions.

The festival culminated at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on December 12, when top performers and sports figures as well as high schools and their marching bands and cheering squads joined in for a parade, celebration, entertainment, and words of peace.

…continue reading about GPF Philippines.

The Philippines was by far the largest festival. Please take a look by clicking on the video below.