( ENSPIRE Community Spotlight ) In an Effort To Spread Light in a Troubled World, PeaceTech Lab Recognizes Today’s Most Inspirational Peacebuilders in the International Peace Honors
ENSPIRE Contributor: Anastasia Hanna
On Sunday, January 17th, PeaceTech Lab presented the International Peace Honors live on their YouTube channel as a new custom to celebrate the achievements of the most influential and impactful leaders of our time. The tenacious efforts of these leaders have created a more prosperous and peaceful world for all. If you’re unfamiliar with PeaceTech Lab, they are a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data to accelerate and scale peacebuilding measures. The purpose of the event is to inspire, entertain, and show what peace is all about to remind audiences that we all have the power to take action.
Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winner and singer-songwriter Natalia Jiménez hosted the event. This year’s honorees included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allery and Infectious Diseases; Ricky Martin, singer-songwriter and Human Rights Activist; Opal Tometi, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; Amazonian Chief Raoni, environmentalist and leader of the Kayapó people in Brazil; Ricardo Montaner, singer-songwriter and humanitarian; and Vint Cerf, an American internet pioneer known as one of “the fathers of the internet.”
Special appearances included Stephen Curry, American basketball icon of the Golden State Warriors; Eva Longoria, actress, and activist; José Andres, celebrity chef and humanitarian; and Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States. There were international performances by Alejandro Sanz, who performed “La Quiero a Morir”; Columbian singer Camilo and his wife, Evaluna Montaner, shared a rendition of their most recent hit “Amen”; world-famous musician and activist Sting shared a passionate version fo his song “Fragile”; and finally, Laura Pausini performed “Lo Si” from the movie The Life Ahead with Sofia Loren.
In between presentations were vignettes that showed the audience how courageous people in communities around the world were doing their part to build peace every single day. Humanitarians were shown working to improve our quality of living, strengthening the capabilities and credibility of our institutions, and stabilizing our political, social, and economic systems to help inspire the attitudes and behaviors that will make our society more inclusive and equitable. Audiences were informed that peace is quantifiable and that we all have a part to play. Throughout the event, viewers were urged to become a voice of peace by texting ‘peacetech’ to 44321.
For updates, follow the event on social media @internationalpeacehonors, and to make a donation to contribute to peace, you can do so at https://internationalpeacehonors.org/donate/. You can watch the archived video of the virtual event here.
