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Thousands travel across the globe to attend Denver's PeaceJam
By Taylor Sullivan
tsulli21@mscd.edu

Photo by Ivan Suvanjieff • Courtesy of PeaceJam Jody Williams, left, the 1997 Nobel Peace prize winner, hanging out with youths at this year’s PeaceJam. Williams, who won the prize for her work in banning anti-personnel mines, joined nine other Nobel laureates in Denver. It was the largest gathering of laureates ever in the United States.

A Global Call to Action was declared on Sept. 15 by 10 Nobel Peace laureates and the international organization PeaceJam, kicking off a worldwide campaign to mobilize young people to commit one billion acts of peace in the next 10 years.

The 10th annual PeaceJam conference, which ran Sept. 15-17 in Denver, was the culmination and continuation of co-founders Ivan Suvanjieff’s and Dawn Engle’s efforts “to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves and the world.”

The event brought the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and eight other Nobel laureates from the last two decades.

The Dalai Lama spoke to about 2,300 PeaceJammers who traveled from across the globe to learn what kind of person it takes to change the world and bring peace.

Suvanjeiff and Engle started toying with the idea of coupling teenagers with Nobel laureates such as the Dalai Lama shortly after they met in Denver.

While introducing the Dalai Lama, Engle described her feelings of hypocrisy she had while working as a Republican aide in Washington and simultaneously becoming a grassroots activist.

She said she felt like she was always taking one step forward and two steps back.

Then she met and became quick friends with the Dalai Lama, and everything changed.

She re-examined her priorities, she said, and came to Denver to dedicate herself to social change.

According to PeaceJam’s website, when Engle met Suvanjeiff in late 1994, he told her how he had confronted some gang members during Denver’s “Summer of Violence.”

Even though he knew the gang members had guns, he started asking them questions.

They knew about Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and all about nonviolent protest.

This planted the seed of PeaceJam, the idea of bringing youth together with Nobel Peace Prize winners as “new role models for positive change.”

Engle set up a meeting with the Dalai Lama, who liked the idea and suggested getting other prize winners involved, and PeaceJam was born.

Ten years later, PeaceJam accomplished the historic feat of bringing together more Nobel Peace winners than have ever convened in the United States.

Each laureate brought a goal or service project to the conference in the hopes of not only educating the teenage participants, but including them in the struggle and giving them the tools to take peace into their own hands.

Each of the laureates met with a group of students to inform them about various global
issues.

International disarmament, hunger and the lack of clean water or access to medical facilities were among the topics covered.

The Nobels then had the students write letters to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Bush and other dignitaries to show support and solidarity with the oppressed peoples of the world.

The tables were turned on Sunday afternoon, when students told the laureates about the projects they were working on in their communities.

Ashley Ruiz, a PeaceJam group leader for the second year in a row, had the honor of moderating the session with Rigoberta Menchú Tum, who won the Nobel Prize in 1992 for advocating indigenous rights in South and Central America.

“This is everyone’s favorite part,” Ruiz said. “Getting recognition and feedback from the Nobels on the work they are doing at home is so great for all of them. Some of them traveled 10,000 miles to be here just for this.”