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ROTARY PEACE COMMUNITIES
List of Registered Communities around the world
Argentina
Australia
Canada
France
India
Israel
Japan
Mauritius
Mexico
Namibia
New Zealand
Northern Marianas
Philippines
Serbia
South Africa
Thailand
U.S.A.
Zambia
Note 1 - There are over 50 "Peace Communities"
cited by the originator of the concept, RC Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
However, until we have an RI endorsed and approved list, we are temporarily holding
our list to these few.
Note 2 - Refer to our section on
Peace Monuments for more photos and short
captions of peace monuments around the world.
For histories on these pages, acknowledgements are given to Jeffrey Reiss and
Geoffrey Little and particularly, to the "Rotary Peace Cities web site.
Also see
www.peacehistory.org and
www.rghfpeacejourney.org for more that Rotary
Global History is adding to this subject area.
Rotary Peace Ambassadors
Geoffrey B. W. Little, JP, PHF, PP East Sydney, PP North Sydney
Sunrise, NSW, Australia
Jeffrey A. Reiss - PP Terra Linda CA, USA
Neils Colov - PP Pattaya, Thailand
Note - There are also several other "Ambassadors"
appointed by RC Wagga Wagga and District 9700 in their untiring quest to
spread the word of this highly successful program. When the
below-mentioned Council of Legislation makes its directive, we
will be in a better position to determine the official
positions.
In the meantime, PP Geoffrey W. B. Little seems to be the
main driving force of this program.
See "Give Peace a Chance" article from RC Wagga Wagga,
Australia
HISTORY OF THE ROTARY PEACE CITY
PROJECT AND ROTARY PEACE SYMBOL PROJECT
The Rotary Peace City Project and the (then) Rotary Peace Symbol
Project were introduced to the 1993 Melbourne World Rotary
Convention by Past President Tony Quinlivan (the Father of the
Project - driven by his own convictions, and not without the
help and motivation of Mother Theresa with whom I had the honour
of having correspondence on the Project - and of which her words
are a part of the dedication ceremonial), a programme originally
initiated out of the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga - Kooringal
D9700 in 1992, where the City of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales,
Australia, was the first declared Rotary Peace City in the
world.
After the Melbourne World Convention I went on to become the
first Special Ambassador to the Project.
I am now Dean of the Ambassadorial Chair of the Rotary District
(9700) Peace Communities Programme (RDPCP)
Having had a long association with the Philippines, back in
the mid 90's I had the honour of taking the Programme to Manila,
Philippines, where after three or four visits around the time of
the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Rotary Club of
Manila, (Chartered by the Rotary Club of Seattle, Washington
State) Manila, Philippines, became the first declared
International Rotary Peace City - declared on Manila Foundation
Day by Rotarian Mayor Alfredo Lim, former Police Commander of
the Western Police District.
THE ROTARY PEACE SUMMIT held
in Windsor, Ontario, April 2008.
I was honoured to be a Guest Panel Speaker and was hosted
for my stay in Canada by Co-Chair Past District Governor Douglas
Vincent from Woodstock in Ontario, Canada (and in Detroit by
Assistant District Governor Walter `Trey' Greene III and his
dear wife Colleen, RC Detroit).
This was in my view, the penultimate Rotary initiative
under PRIP Wilf Wilkinson and a swansong for his Rotary Year -
if you don't include the Rotary World Convention in Los Angeles.
PDG Jennifer Jones, Past President Anna Jurak (RC Windsor)
and a host of most distinguished Rotary personalities added to
one of the most stimulating and exciting Rotary Programmes I
have ever attended in my Rotary experience since joining Rotary
back in 1982.
The Rotary World Peace Summit web site shows the programme and
distinguished guests and speakers.
Perhaps the Rotary Peace Summit was eclipsed just a little
by the World Rotary Convention and 100th Anniversary of Rotary
in Chicago in 2005 (hehe).
This was such an exciting experience for me especially given
I had been working on this programme since 1993 out of Australia
and at the Summit we were celebrating the potentiality for the
Rotary Peace City Project (later changed to the Rotary District
Peace Communities Programme (RDPCP) to become a Rotary
International Programme.
MEETING JEFFREY REISS AND THE `PEACE POLE
PROGRAMME'
I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Reiss prior to the
Singapore Convention and from all appearances, Jeffrey has been
a tireless Ambassador for the Programme out of his Rotary Club
of San Rafael - and from which Jeffrey appears to have moved
on(?) to Thailand.
THE PEACE POLE PROGRAMME
I was to have the pleasure of tripping over a lovely
ambassadress/ambassador for the Peace Pole Programme at the
Rotary Peace Summit.
I discovered the Peace Pole Programme has been driven by
another organisation BUT which has been masterfully tailored to
complement and augment the Rotary District Peace Communities
Programme - given we are talking about the Rotary District Peace
Communities Programme (RDPCP) as a Rotary Peace initiative in
the first instance.
RESOLUTION FORWARDED TO THE
COUNCIL OF LEGISLATION FROM THE SUMMIT
To this end, on the third day of the Summit a Resolution was
passed from the floor of the Seminar with a "Memorial" being
forwarded to the Council of Legislation for the Resolution to be
deliberated upon in 2010.
PDG Doug Vincent
has prepared updated correspondence of this submission which can
also be seen in the Peace Summit web site.
SUCCESS OF RESOLUTION TO THE COUNCIL
OF LEGISLATION
The success of our Resolution to the Council of Legislation will
see a broadened and expanded peace-driven programme tailored in
the first instance, along the lines of the Rotary District Peace
Communities Programme (RDPCP) out of Wagga Wagga, Australia -
and as the Programme has evolved since 1993.
I look forward to seeing the many diverse elements of Rotary
International's concept of the `Promotion of Understanding and
Peace' which is celebrated in February (and on February 23) of
each year, being embraced, complemented and expanded as there
must be no borders to our efforts in the maintenance of
`Understanding and Peace` and the only limitation on achieving
such ends, being our collective lack of imagination.
THE PROGRAMME CONTINUES TO BE A
LEGACY of many initiatives out of the Philippines
We owe much to our Philippine Rotary colleagues for their
involvement in this Programme over the years, and today, we
recognise especially Past President Maridel Villavicencio of the
Rotary Club of Makati San Lorenzo, a Rotary Club which has been
pivotal in seeing the expansion of the Rotary District Peace
Communities Programme throughout the Philippines and abroad -
many Rotarian visitors to the Philippines having taken the
Progamme back to their own Rotary World.
We owe much also to Past President Niels Colov of the Rotary
Club of Pattaya who introduced the first Rotary District Peace
Communities Programme to Thailand back in 2007.
Needless to say in the early days, Monotobu Nishimura from
Osaka was a tireless promoter of the Programme and was present
at the first Rotary Peace City Peace Conference held in Los
Angeles, USA, at the Los Angeles Community College and Chaired
by Past President Paul Warner of the Rotary Club of East Los
Angeles.
The next most significant Peace Conference was conducted in
Wagga Wagga, Australia, in 2001, and this Conference is a
template for all future Peace Conferences.
Please also see our Police Law Enforcement Professionals
Fellowship of Rotarians (Polepfor) Opening Page, click on the
Peace City Article, which talks about my visit to the Rotary
Peace City of Davao in the Philippines.
The Rotary Peace Summit has its own web site.
Geoffrey B. W. Little (The Smiling Policeman)
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