Amid concerns about military conflicts overseas, a Maplewood anti-war group rededicated its home as a World Peace Site. Those in attendance gathered on the steps of the community center on Prospect Street, where they unveiled a new plaque.
“As we do this, let’s renew our commitment to peace,” said Vijya Campagne, board president of the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County, as she pulled the veil from the new plaque.
The idea for creating a network of anti-war sites came from the late Lou Kousin of New Jersey SANE, later renamed New Jersey Peace Action. In the shadow of the Cold War, there was a growing concern about nuclear proliferation. In 1981, the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County on Prospect Street became New Jersey’s first World Peace Site in 1981.
Terri Suess, Ethical Culture Society board member, said the rededication ceremony is timely in a year when the United States’s nuclear treaty with Russia expires, wars rage on abroad, and protests continue at Newark detention center Delaney Hall.
“A Peace Site can offer an antidote to those dangers,” said Terri Suess, who was one of the first protesters to arrive at Delaney Hall. “It is a place that is intentional about peaceful resolution to problems and conflict and to build skills to avoid conflicts and war.”
The ceremony included musical performances by the Solidarity Singers and award-winning author Daniela Gioseffi, member of the oldest chapter of New Jersey SANE, read her poem “Peace Prospect,” which was published in The Nation.
Judy Kramer, 79, a lawyer and Maplewood resident, said she attended the original dedication ceremony in 1981.
“I remember there was a huge crowd on the lawn when they unveiled the plaque and state officials were here,” Kramer said. “It was a big deal because we were the first Peace Site in New Jersey.”
Other nearby World Peace Sites include the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County in Orange, Bloomfield College, and the Religious Society of Friends in Upper Montclair.
Longtime peace activist Paul Surovell, Kramer’s husband and a member of the society since 1978, believes the building’s designation as a World Peace Site represents more than just a plaque.
“The question is, what does that really mean besides a plaque on the wall on the outside of the building?” Surovell said. “The answer is, it doesn’t really mean anything unless you can let you carry out the mission for peace.”
Surovell, 80, believes one of the reasons why the hope for a more peaceful world has not yet been fulfilled is the growing military industrial complex.
“In President Eisenhower’s farewell address he warned the United States about the growing power of the military industrial complex — and that’s basically what happened from that point on,” Surovell said. “It’s not in their interest to have any kind of military agreements because that suppresses the demand for weapons.”
