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Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace one Day, speaks at University of East London

Thursday 26 April 2012

Jeremy Gilley Peace One Day

Jeremy Gilley, actor and founder of Peace One Day, gave a public lecture at the University of East London earlier this month, organised by the Cass School of Education and Communities. He explained how he and the Peace one Day campaign, which counts Angelina Jolie and Jude Law among its supporters, made the unachievable possible: One day without violence – globally.

Jeremy spoke about the beginnings of Peace One Day, which started with his production of a television documentary in 1998. This was the beginning of a global peace campaign directed at the United Nations with the aim to get a worldwide day of peace. Peace Day is now established as 21 September every year.

Responding to the question as to whether one day can really make a difference, Jeremy said ‘One day brings hope, and hope makes a change. Since the establishment of Peace Day, millions of children worldwide have been vaccinated. One of our ground-breaking successes was when the Taliban agreed to ceasefire on Peace Day and 1.4 million children were vaccinated against Polio in Afghanistan’.

Jeremy also revealed his plans for Peace Day 2012; which will be a mixture of celebrations on all cultural levels, including concerts, sports tournaments and dance performances. This year’s campaign Truce 2012 will be part of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2012. While the aims of Truce 2012 are ambitious: making 3 billion people aware of Peace Day, and achieving a decrease in global violence by 70% on Peace Day 2012, history shows that sometimes the seemingly unachievable can be achieved.

Ann Slater, Dean of School, said: “Jeremy's lecture was a real inspiration for the primary teacher training students at UEL. They went away with lots of ideas to make a difference.“

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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