12seconds for Peace - Elizeth Labega

A beautiful video from Elizeth Labega with footage from a rally held by The Peace Coalition of Monterey County, California in the USA on 13th November this year - just in. Thank you Elizeth!

Elizeth commented that the rally was held to push for an "...end to American involvement in war and more effectively use the resources currently being consumed by war.  The rally united people from a wide variety of walks of life and political affiliations."



Peace can be achieved if we all come together and stand as one voice and insist on it. If you find yourself at a peace rally anywhere in the world, why not make a 12seconds for Peace video while you are there and send it in? Once your rally is over, its message can live on through this project. Send your videos in to: 12seconds4peace@gmail.com

Peace

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Rohani Razak

Another great video in from Rohani Razak from Singapore - peace is the only way to go, as Rohani makes clear. But how can we achieve peace? How can we let those in power know that this is what we want? How can we make them realise that the majority of people on this planet have had enough of the war-mongering, the hate, the excuses to justify violence against our fellow citizens? One way is to contribute to this project. If enough people engage with 12seconds for Peace - if enough people stand together and let those in power know that peace is our wish, our right, our demand, then perhaps we stand a chance of achieving it.



Send your 12seconds for Peace video in to: 12seconds4peace@gmail.com

Peace,

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Zententions - 2

Another great video in this time from Jen and Billie at 'Zententions'. Their message, 'We are free to be change makers' is really the dawning in all of us that we are the ones that decide whether there is peace in the world or not. Peace is not an abstract concept or a theoretical construct; it is the state of reality, once we realise that we can in fact, through the force of our own intentions, change the way that the world is.It is entirely up to us.



The photographs used in this video are by Zen photographer Stephen Chard.

Peace,

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Litana Somoano - 4

Another great video in from Litana Somoano - something of a regular contributor to this project! Litana is now represented across all three of our compilations: '12seconds for Peace - The First Ten Minutes', '12seconds for Peace - Ten Minutes Later' and of course with this video, on the next compilation: '12seconds for Peace - Revolution!'.



If you would like to add your voice to this growing project, then you can send your video in to: 12seconds4peace@gmail.com

Peace,

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - In the Classroom

'12seconds for Peace - The First Ten Minutes' and '12seconds for Peace - Ten Minutes Later' are, as I type this, wending their way, via Skype to a classroom at Vilnius University in Lithuania.

Akvilė Naikauskaitė, a law student at Vilnius University, seen here in the photograph, contacted me and asked if she could use the 12seconds for Peace videos as a part of a presentation that she is giving on Legal English terminology; her subject being war and peace. 12seconds for Peace of course, fits perfectly into this context, giving as it does, a whole plethora of views and expressions on the subject of peace. We can't help much with the war aspect, but peace - we've got it covered!

If you have somehow missed these two ground-breaking videos that will soon be screened to the Vilnius University law students, then this is the perfect opportunity to bring them both to your attention. Here is '12seconds for Peace - The First Ten Minutes' and '12seconds for Peace - Ten Minutes Later':





It is a real pleasure to be able to offer this project out in this way - to help educate others, to bring the message of peace that you have all helped to create to a wider audience and of course to promote this project further. Akvilė, I am sure will also be encouraging her fellow students to contribute to the project. 12seconds for Peace has already made some headway in Lithuania over the last few months and it would be wonderful to receive more videos from the country that is right at the heart of the European Union. Peace must, after all, begin in the heart.

We wish you much success with your presentation and your continued studies Akvilė, and thank you for taking 12seconds for Peace into the classroom!

Peace

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Rohani Razak & Son

It's always a great feeling in the morning when checking emails, to find a message that there is a 12seconds for Peace video just arrived at Tokbox. This delivery by the cyber-postman this morning contained two wonderful videos from Rohani Razak and her son, and the first of them is presented here. This is our first contribution from Singapore and the fact that it has arrived, is testament to the fact that 12seconds for Peace is, inexorably spreading across the planet. Slowly but surely, people are finding this project and contributing. Ordinary people, who may not have the time or inclination to go on a rally, to sign a petition, to demonstrate at the gates, or throw themselves under tanks, are finding the time to sit down in front of their webcams for a minute or so and make a video for peace.



The Tokbox facility on the 12seconds for Peace blog is there for you to use. It takes less than a minute to record your video. If you haven't made one yet, why not give it a go now? It's simple: hit record, say your piece (be careful to time yourself to 12 seconds) and then hit send. How easy does it need to be? 12seconds for Peace is looking forward to receiving your video too. Rohani's video will now be included in the '12seconds for Peace - Revolution' compilation that is now gathering momentum. Why not join her and add your voice to the project? And of course, watch out for her second video, coming up soon!

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Alex D-ST

No words, no sounds....just the abstracted beauty of the shifting of sand and light....a zen moment of sublime peaceful reflection from Alex D-ST on 12seconds for Peace this time.



It is lovely to see so many experimental visions of peace appearing on this project. If you want to do something  a little 'out-there' for your contribution to 12seconds for Peace, then feel free to do so!! Please keep your videos coming in to: 12seconds4peace@gmail.com

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Figen Bico 2

12seconds for Peace just keeps on rolling along! And here we are with the very first video from Figen Bico, that will open our next video compilation '12seconds for Peace - Revolution'.



This is a great little video from Figen - her second contribution to the project, and with a very important message: that peace is in fact liberation from suffering. Suffering is something that all of us are subject to at various times in our lives. It is something that often we go through quietly, on our own, resigned to seeing it through and hoping to come out the other end. There is no suffering in peace. Peace requires the elimination of suffering. Together and individually, suffering can be reduced, and many times eliminated. If we want peace, we must work on liberating ourselves and others from the cycle of suffering. When there is no suffering, then there will be peace! Thank you for your wonderful video Figen!

Peace,

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Imagine That!

'Imagine That!'  is a multi-media TV documentary production of visionary film-maker Wayne Sumstine. Wayne has long been a supporter of 12seconds for Peace and not surprisingly 12seconds for Peace has long been a supporter of Wayne's revolutionary TV concept Imagine That!

Imagine That! is, in Wayne's words "Positive programming for catalyzing change". A multi-media extravaganza of all that is good and happening in the world that is shifting the power dynamics from the hopeless, helpless and repressively fearful to the positive and life-affirming . Aren't we all sick and tired of the media's obsessive penchant for nose-diving into negativity and doing it's best to drag the rest of us down with it? Or at least blight our day with fear and a hopeless acceptance that we can do nothing to make a difference in the world?  Imagine That! shows us that we CAN make a difference. We CAN reclaim our right to live a life without fear, and contribute positively to the evolution of humankind.

12seconds for Peace and Imagine That! share the same agenda, the same vision, the same absolute conviction that together we can and will change the world for the better.

Once you have checked out Wayne's promo video here in which 12seconds for Peace gets a mention, then go check out his YouTube channel and keep up to date with Imagine That! as it evolves. You can find it here:

Imagine That!/Wayne Sumstine.



Peace,

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace

12seconds for Peace - Ten Minutes Later

'12seconds for Peace - Ten Minutes Later' is the second compilation of videos, contributed by people from all over the world who are committed to the realisation of peace for all. It has been a long slog to get to this point - five months in fact since '12seconds for Peace - The First Ten Minutes' was released, but we made it and the head of steam behind this project continues to grow relentlessly.



The contributions to this video are as varied and as innovative as those that made-up the first compilation and reinforce the message that the peoples of this world want peace and they want it now. It was Dwight D Eisenhower; the former President of the USA, that once said: "I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." Perhaps that time has come. The people who have contributed so far to 12seconds for Peace certainly think so. And the one's who have yet to contribute, also think so, and we shall hear from them soon enough.

As the momentum behind this project increases, the flow of voices, images, emotions, faces, words, text, passions all calling for peace will also increase. Peace is not an idle dream. Peace is the thing that we all need in our lives on all levels. It is something that we need to manifest through action. Simply wishing for peace, dreaming of peace, prevaricating about peace, is the way of the idle and the indolent. Action is required by all, and if not by all, then by the majority, and if not by the majority, then by the minority, and if not by even these, then one person can do it. Be that person. Peace is that which we spend our lives trying to create to give us a foundation on which our individual and collective happiness can be born. It is the soil in which all of our other aspirations need to grow and then to flourish. Peace is the beginning and the end of the search, and when we get there, we can start a life without searching. The search will be over, because to manifest a lasting peace, we all must make the effort to be the very best that we can be at all times, and when we ARE the very best that we can be at all times, then we have all that we truly desire: peace, happiness...contentment.

In the last five months, much as happened in and around 12seconds for Peace. 12seconds.tv, the main platform for and inspiration behind the project at its conception is no longer with us as it's creators moved on to other things. Todd and Gina Love-Murdock at Trinity Records and Promotions jumped on board and have been a fantastic support and very vocal promoters of the project for some time. The women's peace organisation 'Peace X Peace' have joined us and are actively encouraging their extensive membership list around the globe to take part in the project. We are still in negotiation with Palestinian peace-activists to get them much more involved at all levels, and coming up in the next couple of days is a preliminary meeting with the Minister of Culture within the Sudanese government to see if the project can in any way be used to help promote the cause of peace in that much beleagured country.

12seconds for Peace goes on. To answer a question that comes up from time to time: no, there is no deadline. You can contribute to this project anytime between right now up until the point where we truly have peace in the world and then I am, happily going to abandon this project for ever. This day is not close yet, so you still have plenty of time. Keep your videos coming in. Send them to: 12seconds4peace@gmail.com Please make sure that they are no more than 12seconds in length and that they are pro-peace, not anti-anything.

I want to thank you all for your continued suppport, love and commitment to this project, but much more importantly, for your commitment to making the world a better place for all.

Peace

Steve Gooch for 12seconds for Peace