MAP's 11th Annual Peace Celebration was a Great Success!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Gay Men's Chorus led the evening with a moving performance and received a standing ovation. Unfortunately, we do not have an audio recording of that portion of the evening.

We were read sections of a letter from Keith Ellison (audio available) and Mark Ritchie addressed us in a video he prepared over the weekend (audio available). Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (noted author, activist, speaker and professor of Peace and Justice Studies at St. Thomas University) delivered a passionate and rousing keynote address on the "Economics of Peace." (audio available) He was followed by Dr. Bharat Parekh (Physicist, consultant and MAP delegate for the United Nations Association of Minnesota) who summarized the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the work that he is doing to achieve them in Minnesota (audio available).

Listen to the speaking parts of the evening here (Real and WMP are streaming):

Pastor Robbins Welcome (2:24min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Intros - Dick Bernard, Julie Madden (3:21min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Julie reads Keith Ellison letter (5:50min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Julie Introduces Jack (0:58min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer keynote address (34:33min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Julie Introduces Bharat (1:39min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3
Dr. Bharat Parekh on UN-MDG (25:11min)	Real Player	Windows Media Player	Download mp3

Preceding and following the talks, attendees meandered through the "Millennium Village" area where La Loma tamales (the most delicious in Minnesota we'll venture to say) were available as well as other refreshments. Tables sponsored by member organizations occupied by knowledgable people offered a chance to converse and find out more about their work while prominent displays also informed about the United Nations MDG.

NOTE:
Keith Ellison, the newly elected US Congressman for the Minnesota 5th District and Mark Ritchie, the newly elected Minnesota Secretary of State had been originally scheduled to speak at the celebration, but after winning the election, both, regretably, needed to be out of town that week. We were able to shoot a video with Mark Ritchie that was shown at the celebration and received a letter from Keith Ellison that was read at the celebration. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused those who received tickets before the change.