‘Chastisement due to the destructive sin of gossip and the heinous crime of terrorism, among others. Justice for the victims of the Rizal Day Bombings of 2000…’
NATIONAL Peace Consciousness Month opens with Republic Act No. 11370 (An Act Declaring September 8 of Every Year a Special Working Holiday in the Entire Country to Commemorate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), we call back one of the messages of Our Lady of the End Times (c. 01 September 2018): “My children, I bring a message to all of you in my divine son’s Name. God has waited and warned, generation after generation, to see if His children will change since my visitations at La Salette, France, and Fatima. But, sadly, heaven’s cries for conversion and repentance have gone unheeded…When His justice comes, pray for strength. God is about to chastise the world in a huge manifestation of divine wrath, far worse than the earthquake in New Zealand, and the tsunami in Japan, and China. In your country, you will be surprised by a volcanic eruption. In other parts of the world, many lives will be lost because of the disease that will shock the world.” [https://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/opinion/cervantes-recalling-the-blessed-mothers-messages-from-bacolod-city-before-pandemic]
Chastisement due to the destructive sin of gossip and the heinous crime of terrorism, among others. Justice for the victims of the Rizal Day Bombings of 2000, for instance. Two points (at the very least) to consider since the National Peace Consciousness Month also marks the 28th Anniversary of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front: “Let me recognize your support in our anti-terrorism campaign, particularly in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, where insurgency was among its foremost concerns…The peace processes with former revolutionary organizations such as the MILF, Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People’s Liberation Army, and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade-Tabara Paduano Group—now known as Kapatiran are now in the advanced stages of implementation.” [https://mirror.pco.gov.ph/presidential-speech/speech-by-president-ferdinand-r-marcos-jr-at-the-opening-of-the-2024-national-peace-consciousness-month-and-the-commemoration-of-the-28th-anniversary-of-the-1996-final-peace-agreement-with-the-moro/]
If Filipinos will try to distill their Peace Consciousness this month, then it might be instructive to see peace reminders across the seas, starting with 3742 River Rd., Louisville, Kentucky, USA, which is home to the Patriots Peace Memorial “dedicated to the memory of those United States Military personnel who have given their lives in the line of duty, under conditions other than those of declared hostile action.” [https://patriotspeacememorial.org]
- Tolerance Monument (outdoor sculpture in a park near Jerusalem’s Goldman Promenade) was funded by Polish businessman Aleksander Gudzowaty to promote peace in the Israeli—Palestinian conflict. [https://www.haaretz.com/2008-10-17/ty-article/choked-by-unrealistic-messages/0000017f-e81b-d97e-a37f-ff7f6f8b0000]
- Reconciliation: The Peacekeeping Monument (located near the ByWard Market in Ottawa), supposedly the “only monument of its kind in the world,” is dedicated to Canadian peacekeepers, including the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (“where we failed to stop a genocide of 800,000 people”). [https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/art-monuments/monuments/reconciliation-peacekeeping.html] [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/peacekeeping-monument-error-ottawa-un-1.6135364]
- Berlin’s Peace Statue (‘Ari’), on the corner of BremerstraíŸe and BirkenstraíŸe, commemorates the plight of the thousands of Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the Asia-Pacific war. But Tokyo reportedly has applied pressure to remove the monument in the German capital as well as similar memorials in other German cities like Freiburg. [https://www.dw.com/en/comfort-women-memorial-berlin/a-55272887] “This situation has raised fears that Germany and Japan, the two Axis powers of World War II, could be returning to the past.” [https://www.theleftberlin.com/berlin-mayor-insists-on-removing-statue-for-victims-of-sexual-slavery/]
- Liverpool celebrated John Lennon’s 70th birthday with the 18-foot Peace and Harmony monument in Chavasse Park. Liverpool also now hosts the Ukrainian Peace Monument in the gardens of Strawberry Field. These memorials are in keeping with John Lennon’s anti-war anthem (Give Peace a Chance) and the Beatles’ song Strawberry Fields Forever. [https://www.strawberryfieldliverpool.com/ukrainian-peace-monument] [https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/peace-monument-unveiled-liverpool-john-3392869]
- Supposedly the first peace memorial in Europe, the Cairn of Peace Memorial honors the victims of the Battle of Austerlitz “at the behest of the priest and teacher Alois Slovák to fulfill his vision to turn the center of the former battlefield into a ‘scene of light’.” [https://mohylamiru.muzeumbrnenska.cz/en/]
- The official emblem of Chandigarh represents the belief that there are always two ways of looking at anything and that one should always be open to both giving as well as receiving. [https://www.incredibleindia.org/content/incredible-india-v2/en/destinations/chandigarh/the-rotating-open-hand-monument.html] This is the Open Hand. [https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/chandigarhs-capitol-complex-built-by-le-corbusier-is-an-interplay-of-edifices-and-symbols/]
- The Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik: “Imagine all the people living life in peace” (John Lennon). [https://www.imaginepeacetower.com] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia0EgTs-oFE]
- The 228 Peace Memorial Park (228和平紀念公園), formerly Taipei New Park, commemorates the 228 Incident (20,000 massacred in Taiwan in a Kuomintang crackdown that began on 28 February 1947 when enforcers for the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau beat a widowed cigarette peddler in Taipei). [https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/02/24/2003710307] “For Taiwan, the people’s memory of 228 as a shared suffering eventually manifested itself in the form of embracing democracy as a bulwark against authoritarian abuses of power from happening again.” [https://globaltaiwan.org/2022/05/the-legacy-of-228-historical-memory-taiwanese-identity-and-cross-strait-relations/]
And for Filipinos in the Philippines: how about the Mother of All Asia — Tower of Peace (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a symbol of unity)? “It is the tallest statue of Mary in the whole world,” also the only livable statue in the world, located in Montemaria, Batangas. [http://www.montemaria.com.ph]
Visit these sites as we labor in the foreshadowing of World War 3: the Global War on Terror plus the continuing Global Anti-Fascist Struggle.
