BPA B R I D G E T O P E A C E

A retrospective of 2012

“Prem Rawat is an incredible man. Can you imagine

a man who has sacrificed so much over the last 40 years to promote

peace? I don’t think anyone could have done better.”Dr. K. K. Johan, Chairman, Asia Pacific Brands As sociation, Malaysia

BPA B R I D G E T O P E A C E

© 2013 WOPG — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A retrospective of 2012

Perhaps superlatives are too often used when talking about

Prem Rawat’s work, but to describe 2012 as “extraordinary”,

really would do a disservice to this watershed year.

It has been an outstanding year for many reasons.

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The momentum of 2012 really began at the end of 2011 at the Euro-

pean Parliament in Brussels.

This special event entitled “Peace and Wellbeing in the European Union”

was hosted by the 1st Vice President of the EU Parliament, Gianni Pit-

tella. The event MC was Dr. Anthony Seldon, a leading educationalist

and the official biographer to Number 10 Downing Street.

Speeches were made by various delegates including Jeremy Gilley the

founder of Peace One Day and creator of the 21st September United

Nations day of peace.

Prem Rawat was the invited keynote speaker, delivering a wonderfully

inspiring speech. The event was attended by a large international del-

egation of politicians and VIPs representing institutions around the

EU, interested in peace.

Most importantly, as a direct result of the inspiration of Prem Rawat’s

message, the first ever Peace Declaration was signed at the EU Par-

liament. It was an outstanding event which began a series of peace

initiatives around Europe in 2012, more of which later.

EU 2011

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EU Parliament – Dr Anthony Seldon, Prem Rawat and The 1st

Vice President of the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella

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2011 had barely ended and 2012 begun, when Prem Rawat was back on

the road again, travelling for the first time to the Dominguez State jail

in Texas to speak to prisoners who have been participating in a peace

education programme designed by The Prem Rawat Foundation.

Many people have seen the inspiring documentary “Peace on the In-

side” which explores the inmates’ positive reaction and growing clarity

as a result of these peace classes.

The expressions of inmates towards Prem Rawat were deeply moving.

One inmate said:

“I ask that you never give up on getting your message of peace out

throughout the world. Your message is an inspiration and motivation

like no other, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for the in-

sight that your message has brought into my life, and I intend to pass

on the peace so that maybe I can brighten up someone else’s dark

room. Thank you.”

The next day Prem Rawat spoke at the University of Texas to stu-

dents, staff and peace education volunteers. He shared the platform

with leading Restorative Justice academics, Professors Gilbert and

Tapia of the University of Texas School of Public Policy.

Dominguez Jail and Texas University

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They spoke of their interest in the growing evidence of reduced re-

offending as a result of the peace classes and their desire to study

what was happening, with Professor Tapia saying, “There is something

special going on here”.

Prem Rawat was honoured at the event by Joaquin Castro a State

Representative of Texas, (and now a member of the House of Repre-

sentatives), and awarded the honorary Mayoralty of San Antonio for

his work in supporting prisoner reform.

Texas University, San Antonio, with Professors Gilbert and Tapia, and State Representative Joaquin Castro

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With visits to Los Angeles and Miami on either side of the Texas

events, Prem Rawat then travelled to India, stopping off for events in

Hawaii and Malaysia.

Huge numbers turned out for the India events with half a million peo-

ple attending six events across the sub-continent, one of which ex-

ceeded 200,000 - even when the events were intentionally designed to

be “small” and intimate by Indian standards.

The tour then moved to Europe for meetings, two events in Barce-

lona and a visit to the Canary Islands, before travelling on to South

America in April.

The event in the Canary Islands was only for the locals, as the two

thousand seat venue was filled weeks before the actual event. This

was the place where the venue manager was an avid fan of WOPG TV

and exhilarated to learn that Prem Rawat was doing an event at her

venue.

India

Europe

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This tour covered five countries, with a second visit to the Ezieza

women’s prison in Argentina which he had visited in 2010 and two

more events in La Plata.

Then it was off to Brazil and Sao Paolo. In 2006 Prem Rawat had been

made Ambassador of Peace by UNIPAZ, the University of Peace in Sao

Paolo at the inauguration of the first ever World Festival of Peace.

Some six years later the festival was in its third iteration and would

involve at least one million people across Brazil and other countries

connected with the 35,000 students studying at UNIPAZ globally.

Invited to light the flame of peace which, like an Olympic torch, would

South America

Ezeiza Prison, Argentina

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be carried throughout Brazil until the festival in September, the

schedule was very tight. The only option was to combine Prem event

with the flame lighting ceremony. This was the first time anything like

this had happened before.

In Peru, there was another first in the country when Prem Rawat was

interviewed by Willax TV, a local Peruvian broadcaster. The interview

was conducted by the well-known Peruvian journalist Cecilia Valenzu-

ela. This was the first TV interview he had done in South America.

The tour then travelled to Ecuador.

A number of the Quechua indigenous people of Northern Ecuador

travelled from the North by bus for several days to be at the event.

In yet another first, the event was broadcast live over the radio to an

estimated 80,000 people, and then later in the week an estimated 1.5

million heard the event broadcast across the entire country on the

national radio of Ecuador - a staggering 10% of the adult population

of the country.

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Willax TV interview preparations, Lima Peru

Prem Rawat receiving an Ambassador of Peace recognition from the Mayor of Pueblo Libre district of Lima

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In May and June Prem returned to Europe for an extensive tour that

took in eight cities and included two very special events.

The first was held at Kensington Palace in London on the occasion

of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to speak before one of

the most distinguished audiences ever addressed in the UK, including

celebrities, Lords and a member of the British Royal family. The event

was in support of the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital and part of

TPRF’s ongoing humanitarian support. The event raised $35,000 for

the eye hospital.

The second event was another first for Prem Rawat, travelling to

Russia for the very first time.

There he addressed students of the Synergy University at the Library

of Foreign Literature, Moscow, one of the most prestigious venues in

Russia.

This was an extraordinary event, addressing a new generation of

young people, born after the end of the Communist era and perhaps

one of the highlights of the year.

Europe

The tour continued into July and August with a further ten events in

North America as the build-up to the Australian Amaroo event ap-

proached.

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usa

Kensington Palace with the Chairman of the St. John Eye Hospital, Philip Hardacker, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, and Dr. David Verity of the Moorfield’s Eye Hospital

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In mid-August as part of their European Union Pledge to Peace in

Brussels in 2011, young students from the United World College

Norway decided to hold the Nordic Peace Conference in Oslo where

speakers and projects for peace would be presented.

Prem Rawat was invited, but unable to attend, as his schedule re-

quired him to be in Mexico. Instead he sent a special direct-to-cam-

era message, addressing the students on many key peace issues.

The reaction was powerful and many students and staff expressed

their excitement and passion at hearing this video. Many speakers

commented and further invitations to speak have arisen as a result.

Norway

The finale of the Nordic Peace conference in Oslo with students and speakers

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Just before the Amaroo event another direct-to-camera video was

sent to the Third World Festival of Peace in Brazil. Held at an enor-

mous park in Sao Paolo the audio of this special video was broadcast

throughout the park’s extensive PA system with an estimated one

million people hearing the audio.

On the way to Australia Prem Rawat arrived in Fiji giving a donation

on behalf of The Prem Rawat Foundation to Empower Pacific, a local

charity helping flood victims on the island.

Before arriving in Australia, Prem visited New Zealand to be received

at a formal Maori welcome ceremony usually reserved for Presidents

Amaroo Australia

Prem Rawat being received by Maori elders

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and royalty, marking the deep Maori respect his message of Peace.

This was followed the same day by an event in Auckland.

As September arrived, over 4,000 people attended the five day Ama-

roo event. Alternating between the amphitheatre and a camp¬ground,

hours were spent listening to inspiration with many wonderful expres-

sions and humorous moments.

Before leaving Amaroo, Prem was invited to give a special video mes-

sage to the Elton John UN Peace Day concert to be held in London on

21st September. This short video was shown amongst such luminaries

as Sir Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono and Ban Ki-Moon, who all sent their

own messages. The video can be seen on TPRF’s Youtube channel www.

youtube.com/tprfyt along with the Nordic Peace Conference video.

Following Amaroo there was a tour of Australia before returning to

Malaysia for the second time in the year for Prem Rawat to receive

the highly prestigious Brand Laureate lifetime achievement award.

Only three others had previously been awarded this highest honour

given by the Asia Pacific Brands Association:Nelson Mandela, Hillary

Clinton and Heinz Fischer (President of Austria).

asia

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An award ceremony entitled “7 Billion Reasons for Peace”, was attend-

ed by leading VIPs including ministers and The Crown Prince of Perak

Region, Malaysia. The event was reported that night on national TV to

a large audience with The Crown Prince giving Prem Rawat the award.

Invitations to speak in Vietnam and Cambodia were received as well.

The tour of Asia continued with visits to Penang, Taiwan and Hong

Kong, followed by a return to India for a short series of events but

again with large numbers exceeding 140,000.

Prem Rawat receiving the Lifetime Achievement award from HRH The Crown Prince of Perak Region, Malaysia

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The tour now entering November moved to Mauritius, where the first

thing that Prem did was to extend the tour, adding an additional five

events.

The day before speaking in Mauritius he was interviewed by the na-

tional TV channel, the Mauritius Broadcasting Company. This appeared

on MBC TV, the main channel on the island. MBC will show the event on

national TV in a few weeks’ time.

africa

Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation interview prior to the event in St Louis

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From Mauritius the tour went to the island of Madagascar for the

first time, the second new country visited in 2012. The event was small

with around 400 people attending but many seeing Prem Rawat speak

for the first time.

A few days later a visit to the maximum security wing of Zonderwater

prison in South Africa was added, where the peace education pro-

gramme has been running for over four years, and has been having a

profound effect on the inmates there.

Introduced by the prison’s Zulu choir, Prem spoke to inmates and took

expressions.

Speaking after the event, some of the inmates said it was the high-

light of their lives. One offender said it was the only day he had felt

happy in prison. Requests to take part in the peace education pro-

gramme are now flooding in as word gets out.

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Following an event in Johannesburg, the tour moved to Ghana where

Prem Rawat, watched by tribal elders and representatives of the

Ashanti King, officially opened the third TPRF Food for People facility

just outside Accra.

Ministers and other VIPs attended the main event in Ghana the day

before.

The last WOPG scheduled event of the year was Benin, held in a large

stadium, the largest event ever held in Africa exceeding 6,000.

Ghana audience enjoying the event

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The last speaking engagement of 2012 to which Prem Rawat was in-

vited was held at the Italian Senate in Rome. Attended by the Presi-

dent of the Italian Senate, the second most powerful political position

in Italy, the former Prime Minister, Emilio Colombo, ministers, other

leading Italian celebrities and politicians, the event was broadcast live

on the internet and via satellite, as well as being reported on national

TV.

In between conducting two TV interviews, Prem Rawat spoke in per-

son to students who watched the main event through a live feed at

the Senate, answering questions and responding to their invitation

for him to speak at their college next year.

The Italian Senate, Rome

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If we look at the statistics for 2012 they are extraordinary.

Eighty-one speaking engagements across sixty-three cities in

twenty-seven countries.

An estimated 730,000 people attended these events and heard Prem

Rawat speak live.

A further 7.7 million people listened to him through virtual events,

we¬bcasts, radio etc. but excluding TV audiences.

He spent over one hundred and forty-eight hours on stage.

He conducted one hundred and three flights, travelling 105,000 nau-

tical miles, over four times around the planet spending two hundred

and eighty hours in flight. He flew on ninety days of the year and

spoke on one hundred and forty-three days during 2012.

In 2012 73,000 people attended a Key 6 session, taking the total since

1971 past 1 million for the first time. 2013 is likely to be bigger still with

the support teams looking to expand capacity to cope.

Through every one of your efforts it really has been an exceptional

year for the message of peace. Thank you.

The Year in Numbers

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It is perhaps fitting to conclude with a comment made after the cer-

emony by Dr. K. K. Johan, the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Brands As-

sociation in Malaysia, which best encapsulates the year:

“We are the world’s only branding foundation and is set to honour men

and women who have done incredibly well, who have impacted soci-

ety, the country, and the nations… We have honoured Nelson Man-

dela, Senator Clinton, Heinz Feisher… Steve Jobs, and many many big

names all over the world.”

“Constantly we receive many nominations. The award is as good as the

recipients. It has a lot of recognition and pride.”

“Prem Rawat is an incredible man. Can you imagine a man who has sac-

rificed so much over the last 40 years to promote peace? I don’t think

anyone could have done better.”

“We have a lot of respect for this man. He is so humble, so human. You

see the virtue in that man. When you are around him you can sense the

presence of peace. He is such a peace loving caring person. He is so

deserving. No one else is so befitting than Prem Rawat.”

Concluding Remarks

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“The theme 7 Billion reasons for Peace, I think there are 7 billion rea-

sons why we should give this award to Prem Rawat.”

“He is a man of such standard and excellence we cannot but help love

that man for all that he has given to the world. Most importantly he

inspires, he impacts and influences lives all over the world.”

“The wonderful thing about this man is that this is the man for the

21st century. He has the message for the 21st century. We just thank

him, 7 billion reasons to thank him for championing and supporting

peace all over the world.”