"Silent Presence for Peace" On Aug. 4 / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information.

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Sue Bush
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"Silent Presence for Peace" On Aug. 4

12:00AM / Wednesday, August 03, 2005

North Adams - The Womenâ€™s House of Peace invites the public to join in aâ€ Silent Presence for Peaceâ€ at the Veteranâ€™s Memorial Park in North Adams from 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 4th.

A monthly public meditation began the first Thursday in May as a response to the escalating violence in the Berkshire Community.

Following the silent meditation is song and announcements of peace building activities. The upcoming meditation was scheduled to coincide with a meeting of Western Massachusetts Mayors at Northampton City Hall. Eight Western Mass. mayors, including city Mayor John Barrett III, have joined Mayors for Peace in support of a global Mayors for Peace initiative. The group also supports abolishing nuclear weapons.

The Womenâ€™s House of Peace is pleased that the City of North Adams is represented among the more than 950 cities from 112 countries and territories that support the â€œProgram to Promote the Solidarity of Cities Toward the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weaponsâ€ proposed by officials of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in June 1982 at the Second UN Special Session on Disarmament.

Mayors for Peace is a non-governmental organization which seeks to build solidarity and cooperation among cities and contribute to world peace primarily by raising global public consciousness regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons. It also seeks to address collectively the many problems that threaten peaceful coexistence, including hunger, poverty, human rights abuses, local conflict, and environmental destruction.

August 6th and 9th mark the 60th anniversaries of the U. S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the Japanese culture, "60" marks the completion of a cycle, the full turning of the zodiac and the redemptive opportunity to begin again, this time with wisdom. The Womenâ€™s House of Peace applauds Mayor John Barrett as a Mayor for Peace and encourages the community to turn toward peace building awareness and non-violence at the local level.

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