The 2013 Inaugural Peace Ball: Voices of Hope and Resistance is approaching! We hope you will celebrate and re-energize with us on January 20th, 2013 at the historic Arena Stage in D.C. Confirmed speakers include: The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, Alice Walker, Van Jones, Barbara Ehrenreich, Julian Bond, Marian Wright Edelman, Ralph Nader, Etan Thomas, Dave Zirin, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., and many more!
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The Peace Ball: Voices of Hope and Resistance will take place in Washington, D.C.‘s historic Arena Stage at The Meade Center For American Theater on the evening of January 20, 2013. This event will pay tribute to the continuing struggle for peace and justice here in The United States and throughout the world.
Four years ago hundreds of peace loving activists gathered at the 2008 Inaugural Peace Ball here in Washington, DC to celebrate the election of the first African American President of the United States and to wave the banner of peace during that historic moment. The times are different today, but the commitment to ensure that peace and justice remain on our national agenda has not wavered.
This gathering is a reminder for all who work tirelessly to make our world a safer more just place, that our work does not stop when we elect a president, it continues beyond national elections and despite the political climate in Washington, D.C. We need to continue to build a movement for a better world where the end to war, justice and respect for the environment are at the forefront of our national and global agendas. It is a struggle of ordinary people joining together raising their voices and resisting injustice.
Howard Zinn reminded us four years ago that “TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives”. Howard also cautioned us that “If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places and there are so many where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
Won’t you join us for this historic night on January 20, 2013 along with hundreds of other activists and agitators to reclaim hope, to celebrate our accomplishments and to dance the furious dance of defiance!