As the sun set to rest for the day, candle lights danced atop the homemade candle-holders made of Styrofoam cups in the hands of students who gathered around in a circle creating an image of the peace symbol, on Tuesday.
Peace week at Cal State Long Beach was filled with activities, information and political petitions.
While some took peace to a religious and inner meaning, others took it to a political and legislative aspect.
For Dana Siegelman, a member of the peace social justice council, the week was about embracing diversity, opinions, perspectives and getting students active in global and community peace acts.
“Let’s make CSULB the central body to build bridges and bring together a coalition,” Siegelman said.
Students were encouraged to write peaceful phrases on hand-shaped papers that will be used to create leaves on a painted palm tree to be displayed in the Multicultural Center. The hands represent peace “as we use to symbolize peace when putting our right hand over our heart to pledge the allegiance,” Siegelman said.
Students were also encouraged to write letters to President-elect Barack Obama with the hopes of mailing all the post cards along with a DVD of the campus event.
The Muslim Student Association also took part in the event in the hopes of creating an element of peace awareness and consciousness, said Faris Iskandrani, a member of the organization.
The term Islam is a root word of Salam, meaning peace.
“We use it to greet individuals no matter what religion they are, and even if they are non-believers,” Iskandrani said.
Iskandrani added that “asala-mu-laliku” means peace be upon you.
Event participant, Jeff Merrick focused on political issues and encouraged bringing peace back by opposing the Iraq war. Merrick, whose son currently is serving in Afghanistan, was personally affected and wanted to “educate the public about what is going on with the war.”
Graffiti, paintings and drawings were used by some peace advocates to express their depictions of peace.
Reak W.D., a member of art life forms, explained that graffiti was always thought of as being gang related.
“We do it to express with a different type of medium,” Reak said.
Later in the evening, the Rev. Eddie Makue, South African civil rights leader, and Diana Buttu, international law advocate, spoke of their experiences with apartheid.
“Peace is not cheap … there are people who talk about war to get peace,” Makue said.
He described the effects the apartheid had on racism and discrimination in South Africa.
“The separation of Black people in South Africa became systematic,” he said.
South Africa was based on a legal framework to discriminate based on color, and “the apartheid police and the apartheid military was used as an oppressive machinery in the government,” Makue said. His solution was for people to reach out to one another and to “feed” each other.
Similarly, Buttu spoke of her experience in Palestine where apartheid separates the rights and lifestyles of Jewish citizens and Palestinians.
“I lived the life of a privileged life,” she said, describing her life as a native of Canada. Until a person witnesses “children in Palestine throwing stones to soldiers and jeeps in Palestine,” Buttu said, a person doesn’t know just how privileged they are.
Palestinians are being pushed out of their villages and are enclosed by a wall. They are dependent on the Israeli military in order to travel through a series of checkpoints in and between Palestinian territories, Buttu said.
We must go beyond our own privilege and try to reach beyond and focus on others, according to Buttu.