Dear friends,
I thank the people of Annecy first for the sun. Last year it rained so hard, I needed a lifebelt; I spoke to a few hardy souls that braved the tempest. If you are thank you for staying.
Now look at this- bravo. There are thousands of you.
Thank you for making Live Peace happen.
Thankyou from the many Nobel Peace Prize winners that support you. They, along with the IPB, applaud you.
Today, you show us your soul, a cry for peace in a world of reckless conflict and human suffering.
We live in a world of 130 wars, doubled in 15 years. Over 100 million people are displaced by war, threatened with the use of nuclear weapons. Together, we mourn the innocent lives lost from Ukraine to Gaza and beyond.
Military spending is at record levels, meaning that the schools and hospitals people need will not be built.
Annecy is this the world we want.
We are facing the highest levels of global instability in 80 years. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it has ever been.
Today I asked AI, ‘Are you a danger to humanity?’ It said yes. Military and cyber wars, and technology in the hands of modern sorcerers’ apprentices.
Annecy, is this the world we want!
So let us learn to be architects of peace once again. We did this after the last war. Let’s do it again.
Our real hope is shared, common security: a world in which the rights and safety of every nation are protected, not at another’s expense, but together.
Annecy shows that another world is possible: one in which we reject war and raise our voices against hatred and for the modern world to serve humanity, not threaten it.
Annecy, along with Live Peace events in many different places, together we say to the world.
We choose peace. We live peace. We do our part for peace for everyone, everywhere, every day.
Annecy, that is the world we want.
Thank you.
