Soka Gakkai International-USA’s Culture of Peace Resource Center in Santa Monica will host a lecture with 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams on Sunday, Sept. 23, at 1 p.m.
Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire were awarded the prize for their work in forming the Community of Peace People, a grass-roots movement to end the violence in northern Ireland. In the 30 years since, Williams has devoted her life to fighting against the injustices, cruelty and horrors perpetrated on the children of the world. She has called for the creation of safe havens for children endangered by war or social upheaval. The first such “City of Compassion” for children is now being built in the Basilicata Region of southern Italy.
In addition, the Nobel Women’s Initiative (NWI) was established in 2006 by Williams and some of her sister laureates to attack the root causes of violence by spotlighting and promoting the efforts of women’s rights activists, researchers and organizations working to advance peace, justice and equality.
Williams will give her talk at the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium (525 Wilshire Blvd.). All lectures are free and open to the public. The complete listing of lectures can be found at www.sgi-usa.org.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 20, 2007. Read the original PDF.