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JOHN LENNON
1940-1980 |
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THE NON-VIOLENCE
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THE STORY OF THE FOUNDATION |
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THE GLOBAL FOUNDATION |
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THE LOCAL
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John Lennon, member of the legendary Beatles, was a thinker and fighter with a deep passion for peace and non-violence. Many of the songs he wrote are centered around the message of a world without violence. MORE
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Our signature logo is the well-known ‘Non-Violence’ symbol – the gun with the knotted barrel – created by the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd as a memorial tribute to John Lennon after he was shot and killed in New York City.MORE |
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Our well-documented content has been proven to work. Our various initiatives have won more than 70 awards for Best Practice throughout the world and a total of over US$ 40 million has been invested in violence prevention activities. MORE |
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The Non-Violence Project Foundation, launched in 1993, is a Swiss-based, non-profit international youth education and leadership initiative promoting social change. MORE |
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Over the past two decades we have launched several national Non-Violence Project organization to support, guide and serve various local communities in their effort to stem youth violence. MORE |
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| JOHN LENNON – 1940-1980 |
John Lennon, member of the legendary Beatles, was a thinker and fighter with a deep passion for peace and non-violence. Many of the songs he wrote are centered around the message of a world without violence.
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| THE SYMBOL NON-VIOLENCE |
The knotted gun
The knotted gun was originally created as a memorial tribute to John Lennon when he was shot and killed outside his home in New York City on the 8th of December, 1980.The idea with the knotted gun was to tribute John Lennon for his vision and activism for a world with less violence. In many of his songs both as part of the famous pop group the Beatles, as a solo artist and together with his wife Yoko Ono, the lyrics were centered around the message of peace and non-violence.
"You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I am not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one...
"Excerpts of the lyrics from Imagine written and performed for the first time in 1971. Imagine has been voted one the best songs of all times.
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd
The artist behind the knotted gun is the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, When John Lennon was shot and killed, Yoko Ono asked him to create a tribute to John and his vision of a more peaceful world. Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd is not only one of Sweden's internationally most famous artists. He is also a prominent writer. In the 60´s he became famous for avant-garde writings like "Cornering the discipline on board" and "Prix Nobel". In 1988 he was successful as the author of his memoirs "Look I am invisible", where he tells the story of his childhood and adolescence.
A symbol for peace and non-violence
Initially the knotted gun was placed at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park. It is just across the street from where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived. In 1988 a bronze sculpture of the knotted gun was placed outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General and Nobel Peace Laureate stated the following:
"The sculpture Non-Violence has not only endowed the United Nations with a cherished work of art; it has enriched the consciousness of humanity with a powerful symbol that encapsulates, in a few simple curves, the greatest prayer of man; that which asks not for victory, but for peace"
Since the placement at the United Nations, we have placed the Non-Violence sculpture at more than 30 strategic places around the world, including, the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, at the Waterfront in Cape Town and in the Peace Park in Beijing, China.
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| THE STORY OF THE NON-VIOLENCE PROJECT FOUNDATION |
2010
2010 was a hectic year for us at NVP. In the beginning of the year we refined our program library in preparation for the school year and introduced our new programmatic concept to schools in Malmö, Sweden, a city where people representing 176 cultures are living. We visited South Africa in the preparations for the World Cup and trained some 150 Safety School Officers in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
We also invited prominent footballers from different countries to interpret the symbol, which was done by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, the German Captain Michael Ballack, Wilson Palcios from Honduras, Alex Song from Camerun and football legend Gustavo Poayet. This became an exhibition at the Waterfront in Cape Town.
On the 9th of October we celebrated John Lennon’s 70th birthday with a concert in Malmö, Sweden, where children from 176 different cultures sang Imagine and Give Peace a Chance.
At the same time we were preparing the launch of our new campaign umbrella; Imagine One Billion Faces for Peace (www.iobffp.com), with the objective to invite everybody to sign up to the world biggest call for peace and non-violence ever manifested. The Iobffp-initiative is all about reaching out to as many youth as possible with an inspirational curriculum about conflict management and self esteem.
At the SIME conference we received the Facebook Award for the Iobffp-initiative. On the 8th of December, 2010, the Imagine One Billion Faces for Peace was launched.
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2009
We brought a replica of the knotted gun to Portsmouth, England and did our first pilot of what became the Futbol for Peace- program, which we later implemented during the World Cup in South Africa in summer 2010. |
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2008
The idea of a fibre glass replica of the knotted gun was introduced to get our symbol closer to our core target. The replica was made in a slightly smaller size than the original bronze statue. |
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2007
The sports focus showed to be sucessful and was well received by sport coaches and volunteers. In 2007 we introduced the Knot Violence Campaign aiming to reach out to young football players around the world with the support of celebrity football players.
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2001
Launched new educational programs for schools and the sports community. |
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1999
Established our NVP Office in South Africa
Established our NVP Office in Germany |
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1997
Placed the Non-Violence sculpture in Stockholm, Sweden, unveiled by HRH Princess Victoria of Sweden. |
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1996
Established our NVP Office in Brazil
Received the Presidential Daily Light Award
Received the Rotary International Achievement |
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1995
Established the NVP New York OfficeUnveiled the Non-Violence sculpture at Florida International University on the Martin Luther King Day. |
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1994
The NVP concept was piloted in Sweden with great success. We invited the business community to partner in our endeavour and toured roughly 100 cities, spreading our message. 24 months later we had reached 100.00 students and initiated close to 300 local projects. Once we had created proof of concept, we started to look at the United States. We wanted to place our message at the heart of the youth culture.
Established the NVP USA office in Miami, Florida and the NVP UK office in London. |
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1993
What if we created a content driven concept, targeting the next generation inspiring them to increase their knowledge about how to solve conflicts in a more peaceful way? Knowledge is power and most young people attend school. So, why not attract the school infrastructure to include violence prevention and life skills into the basic schedule?
Based on those ideas the Non-Violence Project emerged with its long term vision to reach out to as many schools, teachers and students as possible. The mission was clear; to inspire, motivate and engage young people how to live a more peaceful life.
Established the NVP Stockholm Office in Sweden |
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1988
The bronze sculpture Non-Violence was unveiled as an official symbol for peace and non-violence at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. |
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1980
Our signature logo, the well known Non-Violence symbol- the gun with the knotted barrel – was created by the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd as a memorial tribute to John Lennon and his vision about a world less violent.
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| THE GLOBAL NVP FOUNDATION |
| Facts on the foundation |
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(logo in neg and pos) |
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| THE LOCAL NVP OFFICE |
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