Over 2500 participants at the international Peace Event Sarajevo 2014

We have to counter the threat of war in the world more intensely and commonly and we have to interfere in the mankind question about “war and peace” with much more energy and more international actions. This was the unique vote of all participants of the largest Peace Event in 2014, which took place on Pentecost with more than 190 workshops and many cultural events as well as a large youth camp in Sarajevo.

“Peace is possible” – this was the common mood at the opening ceremony of the International Peace Event on Friday, June 6, 2014 in Sarajevo. We want "no more war and conflicts have to be resolved peacefully" was the message of more than 900 people and peace activists from 32 countries.

The event attended by well-known international and national guests coined the common concern for peace in the face of increasing international confrontations, but also the certainty - as a lesson learned from history - peaceful solutions to conflicts are possible and the only way to avoid war. This must be desired politically and enforced by the people who yearn for peace worldwide.

The peace messages of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, Noam Chomsky, Hildegard Goss-Mayr, Verdiana Grossi, Chico Whitaker, Jasmila Zbanic with their deep contentual impact, emotional charge and unique expressiveness, associated themselves in the program with the expressive peace messages of many Bosnian pupils and students, striving together for peace and actively advocating for it. The traditional singing of the Sarajevo-choir "Pontamina" and the lively rhythms of young musicians from the group "Balsica" full of vitality and positive energy delighted the national and international audience.

"We need to accept and celebrate diversity and otherness" were the words of Mairead Maguire, who also appealed to all participants of the Peace Event: "Let the Sarajevo, where peace ended, be the starting point for the bold beginning of a universal call for peace through the wholesale abolition of militarism." Again and again the importance of the UNESCO culture of peace program as an alternative program to war and militarization was emphasized. Or as Ingeborg Breines from the International Peace Bureau (IPB) put it: "without non-violent actions it will just not work."

All discussions were held in the atmosphere of great solidarity, mutual respect, understanding and learning from each other. Peaceful coexistence was lived and celebrated on the large cultural event. Militarism alternatives have been intensively worked on.

Of particular importance was also the solidarity concert for the flood victims in the region, in which several groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also Manfred Maurenbrecher from Germany participated. Impressive was also the open air concert in memory of Pete Seeger, which took place on Sunday evening.

Many considerations for joint operations, including joint actions in 2015 (70 years after the end of World War II), another international women's conference, cross-border operations against the “fortress of Europe”, actions for peace in Syria, protests against the threat of war in Europe, an international campaign for the reduction of military spending were discussed at the Peace Assembly on Monday.