For Immediate Release
Tokyo, June 11, 2003—Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is pleased to host a special presentation, “Achieving Peace in a Conflicted World,” by Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Karamchand “Mahatma” Gandhi. On June 27, Arun Gandhi will lead a workshop at TUJ on conflict prevention from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by a lecture and a panel discussion with students from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event is jointly sponsored by TUJ and Pricewaterhouse Coopers and is free and open to the public.

The TUJ event is coordinated by the Wakai Project, an ongoing collaboration between TUJ, Keio University, and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS). The Wakai Project seeks to foster dialogue between Japan’s internationally oriented youth and its academics and policy makers and is developing a series of events related to globalization and its effects on youth culture in Japan.

On June 27, the TUJ event will be moderated by students involved in the Wakai Project. They will focus on nonviolent solutions to contemporary social problems, such as bullying, juvenile delinquency, and social conflict. Earlier, on June 21 and 22, the Wakai Project will participate in a UN-sponsored World Refugee Day event in Yokohama, where Mr. Gandhi will speak Sunday afternoon (see www.peacetune.org).

As the founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence, Arun Gandhi follows in his grandfather’s footsteps. The institute globally promotes and applies the principles of nonviolence preached and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and seeks to prevent and to resolve public and personal conflicts through research and education. Many of its programs are aimed at conflict prevention, anger management, and relationship and community building. Its youth programs include after-school sessions for students in high-risk neighborhoods, popular conflict management and prevention workshops, and the Sunflowers program for preschoolers.

Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in achieving India’s independence from Great Britain by instilling the concept of nonviolence within the society of that country in the 1940s. His asceticism galvanized millions of Indians to protest without violence against British rule. Not all, however, heard his message, and he was assassinated shortly after achieving his goal of independent nationhood for his country in 1947. Today, Mahatma Gandhi’s message lives on through his grandson, Arun Gandhi.

Reservations for and further information about Arun Gandhi’s June 27 presentation at TUJ are available through TUJ’s Tokyo Information Center, at 0120-86-1026. TUJ is jointly sponsoring an additional lecture by Mr. Gandhi on June 26, at Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan Heiwa Museum; contact TUJ’s Kansai office, at 0120-750-865.

For information about the Wakai Project, see www.wakai.info, or contact Kyle Cleveland, TUJ director of student services. E-mail kyle@tuj.ac.jp or tel. 090-4606-9779.

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