The local chapter of a worldwide Buddhist organization hosted an anti-nuclear weapons exhibit as part of the 8th annual Ottawa Peace Festival on the last weekend of September.
Since its 1930 start in Japan, the Soka Gakkai International organization has taken a strong stance against nuclear weapons, which is why its Ottawa-based members decided to host the “Everything You Treasure – For A World Free From Nuclear Weapons” exhibit.
“The SGI and the Ottawa Peace Festival connect because both these groups have the same goal: working for world peace,” explains Oona Woods, spokesperson for the SGI’s Ottawa chapter.
“We take part in promoting peace, culture, education, as well as any kind of cultural exchange, so at the micro-level here in Ottawa, we’re part of the city’s peace festival,” she says.
The 40-panel exhibit, shown for the first time in Canada, consisted of pictures, informative texts and notable quotes. The display opened on Sept. 26 (the UN’s International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons) and closed on Sept. 28, although the placards can be found in PDF format on the festival’s website.
One of the most prominent placards shows an imagine of the exploding nuclear bomb over Hiroshima and the city’s buildings in ruins as part of the explosion’s aftermath on Aug. 6, 1945. Between the images, the quote “everything you treasure could be reduced to ash in a moment” looms under the chart that compares countries’ current nuclear forces.
The date Sept. 26 is not without significance either: in 1983 the world came its closest to a nuclear holocaust when a faulty Russian satellite reported five American missiles were on their way to the Soviet Union. Thankfully, commander Stanislav Petrov decided it was a false alarm and did not launch a counter attack. To this day, reminds the SGI, Petrov is much underappreciated and was never rewarded, despite the fact that he most likely saved the world.
The local chapter of the SGI is part of the greater international organization headquartered in Tokyo with more than 12 million members worldwide who practice the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. After its founding 84 years ago, the organization’s anti-nuclear advocacy intensified after the two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
SGI Ottawa hosted the exhibit in its small centre on Argyle Street. Before the opening ceremony, Woods sat in the centre’s common room where a vintage television played in the background, clasping a mug of warm tea in her hands. It is in this room where the organization’s members gather once a month on a Sunday morning to chant for world peace.
“You tell people you’re close to about this centre, so this way it spreads in an organic way, as opposed to advertising,” explained Centretown resident and SGI practitioner Salma Minawa, who was among those at the event’s small-scale opening.
The Sunday-morning chanting session, which Minawa walks to from her house nearby, is part of the group’s goal of changing the world while people change themselves, according to SGI-Ottawa co-ordinator Dwight Rudisuela.
He says the centre’s current, low-key presence in the local community might change in the future, especially if it continues to host public events such as the anti-nuclear exhibit.
“We’d like to raise more awareness of this centre in Ottawa,” he says. “I think it’s very important to do something like this exhibit for the community, because its message is so important to the lives of everybody.”