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June 2025
Albert Einstein: “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
Kids Guernica, the international peace art project, is coming to St. Paul, Minnesota from Nagasaki, Japan, hosted by the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee. Young people from both St. Paul and Nagasaki will gather together the first week of August 2025, to talk about peace, imagine peace, then complete a design of a peace mural the size of Picasso’s famous anti-war painting, “Guernica,” a 10’ x 17’ canvas, to bring their collective vision of peace to audiences in both Minnesota and Japan.
The timing of this project couldn’t be more important. This year, 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of WWII. World Citizen Peace is proud to provide a $200 supportive grant for art materials so that the project can be successfully completed for viewing at several St. Paul locations: the Peace and Literacy Summer Institute, hosted by World Citizen Peace and the Minnesota Reading Association, at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, Thursday, August 7; the Japanese Obon-Lantern Lighting Festival at St. Paul’s Como Park, Sunday, August 17, and the Minnesota History Center during Nagasaki’s Mayor Suzuki’s visit, Saturday, August 23, 10:00 am. With the return of Kids Guernica to Japan in September, the collaborative peace mural will be on display in Nagasaki.
Founded in 1955, the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City is the oldest Sister City relationship between Asian and an American city and continues to actively nurture peaceful relationship between the citizens of these two cities. The Kids Guernica art project is an example of the Sister City’s open-hearted effort to bring young people together from different places in the world for long lasting peaceful understanding. Launched in Hiroshima nearly thirty years ago, the Kids Guernica international art project has provided opportunities for young people from different parts of the world to learn about one another and how to peacefully co-existence on our one earth.
World Citizen Peace is proud to be a partner in this effort.
For more information about
Kids-Guernica visit www.kids-guernica.org.
Kids-Guernica in the Twin Cities, contact JoAnn Blatchley, co-president of the St. Paul Nagasaki Sister City Committee or jab.spnscc@gmail.com or spnscc.gmail.com
Nicholas Pawlowski, The Story Table Foundation, www.storytablefoundation.org
St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee visit https://www.stpaulnagasaki.org
DONATE TO WORLD CITIZEN PEACE. MAKE A DIFFERENCE
With over 2,600 peace ambassadors working tirelessly across the globe, World Citizen Peace helps lead grassroots peacebuilding efforts. Our dedicated network of peacemakers is transforming our world through education and community action. Your donation today doesn’t just support an organization; it empowers all of our Peace Ambassadors to create a just and peaceful world.
Every contribution to World Citizen Peace directly enables us to be leaders for peace and peace education. Whether it is peace literacy workshops in the USA or adding peace skills to K-8 curriculum in Nigeria, your generous donation enables our Peace Ambassadors to forge real and lasting changes for peace. Join our world movement by donating today and help us as we build a foundation for lasting peace, one community, one school, one Peace Ambassador, and one peace action at a time.
Please make a difference today and donate here. We all need more peace.
Peace Ambassador M. Teresa Lawrence – Cuba
An epitome of hope and transformation, her life’s work spans continents. Born in Cuba and now celebrated with an honorary doctorate, Teresa’s journey reflects her dedication to empowering communities globally.
The Trueness Project is hosting a world record attempt of the largest gathering of people dressed as butterflies on June 28 to promote world peace. The Trueness Project teaches transformational leadership and wealth consciousness around the world. We believe that truth, self-awareness, and living in authenticity will lead to inner peace. And that each of us will then be in a position to share peace with the world. To join the Flutter, please go to www.butterflymarch.com.
Want to spread your wings and join the World Citizen Peace community to create a just and peaceful world?
Become a Peace Ambassador! It is easy to do and is always free. Check out our website and become a Peace Ambassador.
DID YOU KNOW?
The longest period of peace in recorded history is known as the Pax Romana. This era of relative peace lasted from 27 BCE to 180 CE in the Roman Empire.
The Pax Romana was set under Augustus, and for that reason it is sometimes referred to as the Pax Augusta.
Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times to signify the onset of peace: in 29 BCE, 25 BCE, and 13 BCE, likely in conjunction with the Ara Pacis ceremony.
The Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but as the rare situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Thus, Augustus had to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of warfare was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired when fighting a risky war.
The Ara Pacis is a prime example of the propaganda Augustus employed to promote the Pax Romana, and depicts images of Roman gods and the city of Rome personified amidst wealth and prosperity.