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The public is invited to celebrate the 143rd birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and the International Day of Non-Violence on Tuesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Gandhi statue outside the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki.
The Hawaii-based Gandhi International Institute for Peace is sponsoring the seventh annual event to promote peace in Hawaii, according to a news release from Raj Kumar, the institute’s founder and president. The United Nations declared the global day of observance in 2007 to coincide with Gandhi’s birthday.
People of Native Hawaiian, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist backgrounds and community leaders will speak. There will be an Indian spiritual invocation, Hawaiian blessing, peace song and chants. Other activities include multicultural dances, psychic reading, Reiki healing and music by the Royal Hawaiian Band.
Gandhi was born Oct. 2, 1869, in India and was assassinated in 1948. He pioneered the concept of "satyagraha," or passive resistance, in bringing independence to India in 1947 after two centuries of British rule, the release said.
Kumar, whose new book, "Anger and Nonviolence," will be released next summer, said in the news release that "we need to start peace education and establish a ‘Youth Peace Corps’ in every school around the world. This will help them to learn and focus on how to control aggressive and violent behavior, hence creating peace within themselves, family, and society at large."
For more information, email rkumarhi@yahoo.com or visit www.gandhianpeace.com.
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