THE PEACE PROJECT

Scuola Media di Otricoli 2008-2009

Teacher

Giuliana Tiberi

The Peace project has been realized on a two-metre, black poster by the students of Otricoli Lower-secondary School (Terza media): Bujamin Aziri, Leonora Badzak, Jessica Berardinelli, Pietro Filipponi, Edoardo Franci, Jonathan Grifoni, Xhulio Mullai, Federica Pelosi, Azzurra Pistone, Federico Proietti, Mirko Salari, Christian Turco.

Why this theme?

The "Peace Project" started by listening and translating two very famous songs :"Imagine" by John Lennon and " Blowin’ in the wind" by Bob Dylan.

I realized that the students were not conscious of the importance of peace today and that they used to link the word "war" only to the past.

Most of them didn’t know much about today’s wars, they were disoriented when their teacher asked them questions such as : the Gaza war, the war in Tibet, they hadn’t heard about Russia invading Georgia; some of them didn’t even know about the war in Congo,the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II! So we started working on this project in cooperation with the Art Teacher and Photographer Maria Annunziata Tenuzzo.

First we started searching the web for all the materials concerning past and present wars . Then we looked for peace sites collecting pictures, newspaper articles, songs, poems , works by painters,and other artists who have spoken against war. We made a selection of this material in order to stick together all the interesting pieces, focusing on the war items and on the builders of peace. Then we started sticking piece after piece as follows:

First we prepared the central part of the poster: the "war area" which is all over the world; the world has been divided into two halves: past wars, Nazism and Communism , black and white pictures, and today’s wars , with colour pictures. In the middle we’ve put the students’ picture with the word "PEACE" written in many languages. In the War zone there is blood everywhere and stained hands . In this horror zone the students have put some small rolls of papers containing words of peace: "La Guerra che verrà",by Bertold Brecht, "Promemoria" by Gianni Rodari, "La guerra di Piero" by Fabrizio de André, "Soldati", "Non gridate più" e "Fratelli" di G. Ungaretti.

On the left and right sides , we’ve added the " world’s wings", where we’ve put the peace builders . We’ve had problems with space as we’ve found so many of them by surfing the net and didn’t want to do a selection , which turned out to be impossible because there wasn’t enough space! We could include only some of them: Madre Teresa, Falcone and Borsellino, Reagan and Gorbaciov (the disarmament meeting ), the sculptor Sciola and his seeds of peace, Ernesto Balducci the towns of peace , Aldo Capitini, Aung Saa Suu Chi etc, Roberto Saviano, Anna Politkovskaja etc.

We hope people will continue the list as to keep enlarging the "wings" of the world

Giuliana Tiberi

Teacher of English

Otricoli Lower Secondary School 2008-2009

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

……..I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.