The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Boats of peace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 08, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Boats of peace

City residents will join thousands of people across the world this week in a unique global peace initiative to mark the 20th anniversary of the sinking of SV Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace flagship bombed by French secret service agents off the Auckland harbour in New Zealand on July 10, 1985.

As part of the Indian leg of the campaign, they will team up with citizens in nine other cities to make thousands of origami boats which will be delivered to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on August 6, Hiroshima Day.

"In Thiruvananthapuram, nearly 50 people from pre-school children to great-grandparents support our initiative every day by folding origami boats, clearly demonstrating the groundswell for peace," says Rajesh Krishnan, Greenpeace regional coordinator. A film titled The Boat and the Bomb will be screened in city schools and colleges, and young citizens will be encouraged to participate in discussions focussing on global peace. During the campaign, Greenpeace Direct Dialogue activists donning sailor caps will visit the cities and encourage people to make the paper boats.

"The origami boat is a symbol of the spirit of the Rainbow Warrior. The message to those in charge everywhere in the world is Peace Now," says Benson Isaac, peace campaigner, Greenpeace India.

T. Nandakumar

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