All we are saying is give peace a chance

(Uplift | Paul C Pritchard) Offerings in the name of peace. Fifty years ago, in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono used their exceptionally high public profiles to bring awareness to the absurdity of war. They were pacifists believing that violence is never justifiable. They were just married and the World’s press were hot on their tails. It was paparazzi mayhem. They knew this was a moment in time they could truly utilise for good. They decided to simply have a ‘sit-in’ – a peaceful method of protesting where people simple sit in one place to create awareness, media-attention and peacefully disrupt the system. It was non-violent messaging. In the days before social media and instant viral news threads, this was the only way to reach the world on such a prolific scale.

They were in room 702 at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. This was their harmonious private honeymoon time. Instead, they used their honeymoon as a vehicle for peace. They offered up their traditional honeymoon for the greater good. They offered up their intimacy for publicity. And what a magnificent global sensation it was to protest the Vietnam War on the world stage.

They spent seven days in bed from 25th to 30th March and invited the world to participate. John was a well known peace-keeper. An articulate and opinionated hero for the underdog and against global political unfairness that was pandemic. The World’s press were invited between 9am and 9pm for those seven days. They wore pyjamas, drank tea, talked peacefully about harmony and harmoniously sang songs for peace. John and Yoko saw themselves as ‘angels on Earth’ singing sense into the world’s ear. Friends came and went. Supporters and contemporary artists and musicians all helped get the message out there …

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

One and the same

After seven days, they flew to Vienna and held a press conference on Bagism – John’s satire on prejudice. He postulated that if a person lived in one uniformed bag they could not be subject to prejudice … a civilised extension of the belief that underneath our clothes, naked, we are all the same. Without apparel, accessories or titles, we are all human. We are all one.