Bridge to Peace

BP A retrospective of 2012

A BRIDGE TO PEACE

“Prem Rawat is an incredible man. Can you imagine a man who has sacrificed so much over the last 40 years to promote peace? I don’t think anyone could have done better.”

Dr. K. K. Johan, Chairman, Asia Pacific Brands As­sociation, Malaysia

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A BRIDGE TO PEACE

© 2013 WO P G — A L L R I G H TS R E S E R V E D

A retrospective of 2012

Perhaps superlatives are too often used when talking about Prem Rawat’s work, but to describe 2012 as “extraordinary”, really would do a disservice to this watershed year.

It has been an outstanding year for many reasons.

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EU 2011

The momentum of 2012 really began at the end of 2011 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

This special event entitled “Peace and Wellbeing in the European Union” was hosted by the 1st Vice President of the EU Parliament, Gianni Pittella. The event MC was Dr. Anthony Seldon, a leading educationalist and the official biographer to Number 10 Downing Street.

Speeches were made by various delegates including Jeremy Gilley the founder of Peace One Day and creator of the 21st September United Nations day of peace.

Prem Rawat was the invited keynote speaker, delivering a wonderfully inspiring speech. The event was attended by a large international delegation of politicians and VIPs representing institutions around the EU, interested in peace.

Most importantly, as a direct result of the inspiration of Prem Rawat’s message, the first ever Peace Declaration was signed at the EU Parliament. It was an outstanding event which began a series of peace initiatives around Europe in 2012, more of which later.

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EU Parliament – Dr Anthony Seldon, Prem Rawat and The 1st Vice President of the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella

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Dominguez Jail and Texas University

2011 had barely ended and 2012 begun, when Prem Rawat was back on the road again, travelling for the first time to the Dominguez State jail in Texas to speak to prisoners who have been participating in a peace education programme designed by The Prem Rawat Foundation.

Many people have seen the inspiring documentary “Peace on the Inside” which explores the inmates’ positive reaction and growing clarity as a result of these peace classes.

The expressions of inmates towards Prem Rawat were deeply moving.

One inmate said: “I ask that you never give up on getting your message of peace out throughout the world. Your message is an inspiration and motivation like no other, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for the insight that your message has brought into my life, and I intend to pass on the peace so that maybe I can brighten up someone else’s dark room. Thank you.”

The next day Prem Rawat spoke at the University of Texas to students, staff and peace education volunteers. He shared the platform with leading Restorative Justice academics, Professors Gilbert and Tapia of the University of Texas School of Public Policy.

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They spoke of their interest in the growing evidence of reduced reoffending as a result of the peace classes and their desire to study what was happening, with Professor Tapia saying, “There is something special going on here�.

Prem Rawat was honoured at the event by Joaquin Castro a State Representative of Texas, (and now a member of the House of Representatives), and awarded the honorary Mayoralty of San Antonio for his work in supporting prisoner reform.

Texas University, San Antonio, with Professors Gilbert and Tapia, and State Representative Joaquin Castro

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India

With visits to Los Angeles and Miami on either side of the Texas events, Prem Rawat then travelled to India, stopping off for events in Hawaii and Malaysia.

Huge numbers turned out for the India events with half a million people attending six events across the sub-continent, one of which exceeded 200,000 - even when the events were intentionally designed to be “small� and intimate by Indian standards.

Europe

The tour then moved to Europe for meetings, two events in Barcelona and a visit to the Canary Islands, before travelling on to South America in April.

The event in the Canary Islands was only for the locals, as the two thousand seat venue was filled weeks before the actual event. This was the place where the venue manager was an avid fan of WOPG TV and exhilarated to learn that Prem Rawat was doing an event at her venue.

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Ezeiza Prison, Argentina

This tour covered five countries, with a second visit to the Ezieza women’s prison in Argentina which he had visited in 2010 and two more events in La Plata.

Then it was off to Brazil and Sao Paolo. In 2006 Prem Rawat had been made Ambassador of Peace by UNIPAZ, the University of Peace in Sao Paolo at the inauguration of the first ever World Festival of Peace.

Some six years later the festival was in its third iteration and would involve at least one million people across Brazil and other countries connected with the 35,000 students studying at UNIPAZ globally.

Invited to light the flame of peace which, like an Olympic torch, would

South America

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be carried throughout Brazil until the festival in September, the schedule was very tight. The only option was to combine Prem event with the flame lighting ceremony. This was the first time anything like this had happened before.

In Peru, there was another first in the country when Prem Rawat was interviewed by Willax TV, a local Peruvian broadcaster. The interview was conducted by the well-known Peruvian journalist Cecilia Valenzuela. This was the first TV interview he had done in South America.

The tour then travelled to Ecuador.

A number of the Quechua indigenous people of Northern Ecuador travelled from the North by bus for several days to be at the event.

In yet another first, the event was broadcast live over the radio to an estimated 80,000 people, and then later in the week an estimated 1.5 million heard the event broadcast across the entire country on the national radio of Ecuador - a staggering 10% of the adult population of the country.

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Willax TV interview preparations, Lima Peru

Prem Rawat receiving an Ambassador of Peace recognition from the Mayor of Pueblo Libre district of Lima

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Europe

In May and June Prem returned to Europe for an extensive tour that took in eight cities and included two very special events.

The first was held at Kensington Palace in London on the occasion of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to speak before one of the most distinguished audiences ever addressed in the UK, including celebrities, Lords and a member of the British Royal family. The event was in support of the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital and part of TPRF’s ongoing humanitarian support. The event raised $35,000 for the eye hospital.

The second event was another first for Prem Rawat, travelling to Russia for the very first time.

There he addressed students of the Synergy University at the Library of Foreign Literature, Moscow, one of the most prestigious venues in Russia.

This was an extraordinary event, addressing a new generation of young people, born after the end of the Communist era and perhaps one of the highlights of the year.

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Kensington Palace with the Chairman of the St. John Eye Hospital, Philip Hardacker, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, and Dr. David Verity of the Moorfield’s Eye Hospital

The tour continued into July and August with a further ten events in North America as the build-up to the Australian Amaroo event approached.

usa

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The finale of the Nordic Peace conference in Oslo with students and speakers

Norway

In mid-August as part of their European Union Pledge to Peace in Brussels in 2011, young students from the United World College Norway decided to hold the Nordic Peace Conference in Oslo where speakers and projects for peace would be presented.

Prem Rawat was invited, but unable to attend, as his schedule required him to be in Mexico. Instead he sent a special direct-to-camera message, addressing the students on many key peace issues.

The reaction was powerful and many students and staff expressed their excitement and passion at hearing this video. Many speakers commented and further invitations to speak have arisen as a result.

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Prem Rawat being received

by Maori elders

Just before the Amaroo event another direct-to-camera video was sent to the Third World Festival of Peace in Brazil. Held at an enormous park in Sao Paolo the audio of this special video was broadcast throughout the park’s extensive PA system with an estimated one million people hearing the audio.

On the way to Australia Prem Rawat arrived in Fiji giving a donation on behalf of The Prem Rawat Foundation to Empower Pacific, a local charity helping flood victims on the island.

Before arriving in Australia, Prem visited New Zealand to be received at a formal Maori welcome ceremony usually reserved for Presidents

Amaroo Australia

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and royalty, marking the deep Maori respect his message of Peace.

This was followed the same day by an event in Auckland.

As September arrived, over 4,000 people attended the five day Amaroo event. Alternating between the amphitheatre and a campÂŹground, hours were spent listening to inspiration with many wonderful expressions and humorous moments.

Before leaving Amaroo, Prem was invited to give a special video message to the Elton John UN Peace Day concert to be held in London on 21st September. This short video was shown amongst such luminaries as Sir Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono and Ban Ki-Moon, who all sent their own messages. The video can be seen on TPRF’s Youtube channel www. youtube.com/tprfyt along with the Nordic Peace Conference video.

asia

Following Amaroo there was a tour of Australia before returning to Malaysia for the second time in the year for Prem Rawat to receive the highly prestigious Brand Laureate lifetime achievement award.

Only three others had previously been awarded this highest honour given by the Asia Pacific Brands Association:Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton and Heinz Fischer (President of Austria).

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An award ceremony entitled “7 Billion Reasons for Peace�, was attended by leading VIPs including ministers and The Crown Prince of Perak Region, Malaysia. The event was reported that night on national TV to a large audience with The Crown Prince giving Prem Rawat the award.

Invitations to speak in Vietnam and Cambodia were received as well.

The tour of Asia continued with visits to Penang, Taiwan and Hong Kong, followed by a return to India for a short series of events but again with large numbers exceeding 140,000.

Prem Rawat receiving the Lifetime Achievement award from HRH The Crown Prince of Perak Region, Malaysia

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Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation interview prior to the event in St Louis

africa

The tour now entering November moved to Mauritius, where the first thing that Prem did was to extend the tour, adding an additional five events.

The day before speaking in Mauritius he was interviewed by the national TV channel, the Mauritius Broadcasting Company. This appeared on MBC TV, the main channel on the island. MBC will show the event on national TV in a few weeks’ time.

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From Mauritius the tour went to the island of Madagascar for the first time, the second new country visited in 2012. The event was small with around 400 people attending but many seeing Prem Rawat speak for the first time.

A few days later a visit to the maximum security wing of Zonderwater prison in South Africa was added, where the peace education programme has been running for over four years, and has been having a profound effect on the inmates there.

Introduced by the prison’s Zulu choir, Prem spoke to inmates and took expressions.

Speaking after the event, some of the inmates said it was the highlight of their lives. One offender said it was the only day he had felt happy in prison. Requests to take part in the peace education programme are now flooding in as word gets out.

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Ghana audience enjoying the event

Following an event in Johannesburg, the tour moved to Ghana where Prem Rawat, watched by tribal elders and representatives of the Ashanti King, officially opened the third TPRF Food for People facility just outside Accra.

Ministers and other VIPs attended the main event in Ghana the day before.

The last WOPG scheduled event of the year was Benin, held in a large stadium, the largest event ever held in Africa exceeding 6,000.

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The Italian Senate, Rome

The last speaking engagement of 2012 to which Prem Rawat was invited was held at the Italian Senate in Rome. Attended by the President of the Italian Senate, the second most powerful political position in Italy, the former Prime Minister, Emilio Colombo, ministers, other leading Italian celebrities and politicians, the event was broadcast live on the internet and via satellite, as well as being reported on national TV. In between conducting two TV interviews, Prem Rawat spoke in person to students who watched the main event through a live feed at the Senate, answering questions and responding to their invitation for him to speak at their college next year.

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The Year in Numbers

If we look at the statistics for 2012 they are extraordinary.

Eighty-one speaking engagements across sixty-three cities in twenty-seven countries.

An estimated 730,000 people attended these events and heard Prem Rawat speak live.

A further 7.7 million people listened to him through virtual events, weÂŹbcasts, radio etc. but excluding TV audiences.

He spent over one hundred and forty-eight hours on stage.

He conducted one hundred and three flights, travelling 105,000 nautical miles, over four times around the planet spending two hundred and eighty hours in flight. He flew on ninety days of the year and spoke on one hundred and forty-three days during 2012.

In 2012 73,000 people attended a Key 6 session, taking the total since 1971 past 1 million for the first time. 2013 is likely to be bigger still with the support teams looking to expand capacity to cope.

Through every one of your efforts it really has been an exceptional year for the message of peace. Thank you.

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It is perhaps fitting to conclude with a comment made after the ceremony by Dr. K. K. Johan, the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Brands Association in Malaysia, which best encapsulates the year: “We are the world’s only branding foundation and is set to honour men and women who have done incredibly well, who have impacted society, the country, and the nations… We have honoured Nelson Mandela, Senator Clinton, Heinz Feisher… Steve Jobs, and many many big names all over the world.”

“Constantly we receive many nominations. The award is as good as the recipients. It has a lot of recognition and pride.”

“Prem Rawat is an incredible man. Can you imagine a man who has sacrificed so much over the last 40 years to promote peace? I don’t think anyone could have done better.”

“We have a lot of respect for this man. He is so humble, so human. You see the virtue in that man. When you are around him you can sense the presence of peace. He is such a peace loving caring person. He is so deserving. No one else is so befitting than Prem Rawat.”

Concluding Remarks

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“The theme 7 Billion reasons for Peace, I think there are 7 billion reasons why we should give this award to Prem Rawat.”

“He is a man of such standard and excellence we cannot but help love that man for all that he has given to the world. Most importantly he inspires, he impacts and influences lives all over the world.”

“The wonderful thing about this man is that this is the man for the 21st century. He has the message for the 21st century. We just thank him, 7 billion reasons to thank him for championing and supporting peace all over the world.”