10.08.2023
Young people from 7 countries did a flashmob for a peaceful future
The year 2020 marks 75 years since the first ever military usage of nuclear weapons. Therefore, on August 6, Volgograd held a little, but meaningful Peace Ceremony in memory of the Hiroshima residents who perished in the explosion. However, it was not the only commemorative event that united empathic Volgograd residents this month. On August 8, delegates of the International Youth Conference for Peace in the Future (IYCPF) gathered on their second consecutive Zoom conference.
Let us be reminded that earlier this July the would-be participants of this event (which, sadly, had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) resolved to do a joint large-scale flashmob. Its result is a video in which 40 persons – school students and those who have graduated long ago, NPO interns and the IYCPF organizers – are shown making a paper crane and reminiscing about the previous IYCPFs. Last Saturday, the completed video was presented at the new video conference to the joy and delight of 60 people from 7 countries. Russia was represented by Volgograd and Saint Petersurg. We invite you to watch, like and share the video, too, by clicking the following link:
https://youtu.be/40WkKDZZBRI
The event opened with the recorded address by the Mayor of Hiroshima Mr. Kazumi Matsui, who delivered Hiroshima’s traditional Peace Declaration and called upon the listeners to spare no efforts in promoting world peace.
The Chair of the IYCPF, Dr. Kouki Inai also described to the event participants a more complex and difficult project in making a virtual reality tour of Hiroshima with a special emphasis on the history of the bombing. Through smartphone applications and 3-D glasses, AR/VR technologies will transport tourists 70 years back into the past and allow them to see how the surrounding areas and buildings looked immediately after the bombing. The virtual tour will also feature comments by the A-bombing witnesses and their recollections of the tragic events.
By demonstrating such a vivid contrast between the past and the present, the authors of the project intend to put an emphasis on the creative aspect of the peaceful times, which allowed Hiroshima to return to the normal life, and on the necessity to not only pray for peace, but also actively build it.
Attendants of the Zoom-conference, too, spent a good deal of time discussing what little project they can do themselves – at least until the new online meeting – in order to continue working and creating together and build a team as good and bonded as they would become after the “live” youth forum.
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