BE A HERO FOR NUCLEAR ZERO STAND UP FOR A NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREE WORLD. ADD YOUR VOICE. Nuclear weapons threaten everything we love and treasure in this world. Sign the petition to support the case with the International Court of Justice - click on "Read the full post" below. (more…)
International Women’s Day celebration On 8 March 2015, SGINZ Wellington co-sponsored the International Women’s Day celebration at the Newtown Festival in Wellington. SGINZ representatives have been involved in the planning committee for International Women’s Day activities as part of the Wellington Women’s Walk for Peace group (WWW4P) since 2013. WWW4P consists of a group of women and organisations including Women’s Refuge, Shanti and the Daya Trust who are committed to promoting the culture of peace. The activities are also supported by Wellington Mayor Celia Wade Brown and the British High Commissioner to New Zealand. (more…)
On March 16, kosen-rufu day, New Zealand’s largest independent online news site Scoop.co.nz published its interview with President Ikeda. The interview covers The role of human dignity, passive violence, religious cooperation, the internet and the water hemisphere[with New Zealand in the centre] in the quest for global harmony.
Some 80 people gathered in the warm evening light of Hastings’ Civic Square for the opening of the exhibition Everything You Treasure – A World Free from Nuclear Weapons at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 18 February 2014. Proceedings kicked off with a speech from Lawrence Yule, Mayor of Hastings District Council. A sound system malfunction was addressed by removing microphones and speaking from the heart across the still Square. Mayor Yule mentioned his memories of the anti-nuclear struggle of the 1980s, and Prime Minister David Lange’s famous quip to his opponent at the Oxford Union Debate: “I can smell the uranium on your breath.” This, he noted, was an example of the courage New Zealand had to stand up to world powers and declare itself nuclear free. (more…)
Inspired by another member in her local Lower Hutt Buddhist group (Te Awa Kairangi) to break down barriers through talking to people on the train Inga Boyd came up with Giftism. Giftism is a project described as ‘Promoting joy through sharing baking with strangers’ On her blog (http://giftism.wordpress.com/) introduction she writes: For the month of December, I’m embarking on a social experiment to see if I can promote a sense of joy and connectedness in my community. I’m going to do this by giving away baking to fellow passengers during my daily commute to work. It’s the festive season, and it’s supposed to be all about giving – right? I’ve never tried anything like this before, but I do believe there is something pretty powerful in the act of giving…
November 18, 2013 marks the 83rd anniversary of the founding of Soka Gakkai in Japan. To commemorate this significant date and its development as a global movement for peace, culture and education; SGINZ will be hosting a special lecture by Professor Peter Lineham. The event aims to jointly celebrate interfaith humanism and Soka Gakkai founding day. The event is opened to invited guests such as the Interfaith Council, the Peace Foundation, United Nations Association (NZ Branch), SGINZ members and the general public. The Theme of the Meeting is FOUNDATION DAY CELEBRATION: SGI Humanism in the 21st Century. (more…)
On 5 August, about 60 people gathered in the Otago University Library LINK, for the New Zealand launch of the exhibition “Everything You Treasure - A World Free from Nuclear Weapons”. Hosted by the National Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University, the exhibition launch was one of a series of events commemorating the 68th anniversary of Hiroshima Day (6 August). The exhibition was created by Soka Gakkai International and the International Campaign for Nuclear Abolition (ICAN) and was originally launched in Hiroshima in 2010. Prof Kevin Clements, Director of the National Center, said it was an honour for Dunedin to be the fourth city to host the exhibition, after Hiroshima, Oslo and Geneva and thanked SGI New Zealand for agreeing to bring the exhibition to New Zealand…
This year, Soka Gakkai International New Zealand hosted the Auckland Peace City and Nuclear Free Annual Event at the SGINZ centre in Ellerslie on Saturday 8th June. Over 100 people including Auckland Mayor Len Brown, attended the event, with live music provided by the Victorious Marching Band and guitarist singer Vicky Yiannoutsos, and of course a delicious afternoon tea. Jimi Wallace, the emcee and SGINZ General Director, introduced the nuclear free legislation as “one of the rare moments when humanity came before economics, where the environment came before short term gain. It was a moment of clear cut sanity, when the innate and natural desire of humanity for peace, health and a future for generations to come took precedence and was actually acted on in reality.” (more…)
11th Annual Friendship Concert Celebrates Peace Through Music SGINZ Victorious March Band and Manukau Concert Band held their annual joint concert on a stormy Sunday afternoon on 16 June 2013. The howling wind and sheet rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of concert patrons who turned out in full force. And they were not disappointed for it was a musical odyssey traversing the globe; from music to an Albanian Dance to Puccini's Nessun Dorma and Williams' English Folk Song Suite, it was an uplifting journey not just across continents but through time. (more…)
