For public distribution--

Dear Friend, Stranger, Enemy, Lost Love,

"Planet of Love" invites your participation in a simple event celebrating forgiveness, reciprocity, collaboration, atonement (at-one-ment), and "con spiré," a breathing together. Wherever you are on this planet and if you have a moment, 15 minutes or three hours during the following times, we'd love your love-hub:

Milledgeville, Georgia, USA: Between 12:00 AM-11:59 PM EST, February 10, 2010

Dublin, Ireland: Between 5:00 AM, February 10 and 4:59 AM GMT/UTC, February 11, 2010

Baghdad, Iraq: Between 8:00 AM, February 10 and 7:59 AM, February 11, 2010

Beijing, China: Between 1:00 PM, February 10 and 12:59 PM, February 11, 2010

Los Angeles, California, USA: Between 9:00 PM, February 9 and 8:59 PM PST, February 10, 2010

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico: Between 10:00 PM, February 9 and 9:59 PM MST, February 10, 2010


Statement:

The following will occur at Georgia College & State University between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM EST on February 10, 2010, in conjunction with the third annual Symposium on Global Citizenship. We hope you will join us at some point within the 24 hours of that location's day. The divide between oppressor/oppressed, abuser/abused, powerful/powerless, predator/prey, and directed/collateral will be symbolically transgressed through the act of a physical embrace. While we will perform in the southern USA within the following parameters, please feel free to participate in a similar public performance, or engage someone in a private momentary embrace, or in any version of the project that works for you. You will be sharing this act of communion with people whose customs are unfamiliar, people who worship gods other than yours, who dress, speak and appear in a way you may have no experience with. In this way the differences that make it so easy to fear and hate and ignore the humanity of now become irrelevant and subverted through a shared act and a peaceful touch. Our goal is to know that somewhere on this planet within these 24 hours, for at least an instant, two people are not waging war.

Planet of Love--

A proposition: a group of four couples (or triples, quads) standing on the four points of an intersection (avenue, street, waterway, gallery rooms, rooftop, office cubicles, etc), locked in an embrace for an extended period.

The "lovers" may be strangers to one another, or have a previous relationship of some kind (spouses, lovers, siblings, friends, enemies, colleagues, co-workers, parents with children, etc).

The Georgia embrace will last as long as possible, with intermittent resting when needed, for three hours or more before completely ceasing.

Participants will work in groups of four (couples or more) at the four corners of a traveled and/or visible intersection, positioned at least 6 inches above ground level by standing on a platform, box, or some other mode of elevation. Clothing/appearance among various groups may vary within the group but can be considered as an element of the performance. Georgia participants will be dressed in a uniform fashion specific to their location and culture(s), in colors or costume appropriate to the performance as decided upon by the group.

Data on violence, aggression and peace culled from the following sources will be read aloud throughout the performance:

http://www.feminist.com/antiviolence/facts.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/youthviolence/index.html
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;108/5/1222
http://www.splcenter.org/
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/
http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm
http://www.opheliaproject.org/main/who_we_are.htm
and others...

Necessary permits or approvals by authorized agencies are recommended to avoid interruption of the performances. Water and refreshments are recommended as needed.

Documentation of your action is requested for public posting. Please send photographs, video, drawings, etc. electronically to william.fisher@gcsu.edu or by post to Planet of Love, Dept. of Art, CBX 094, GCSU, Milledgeville, GA, USA 31061.

All imagery will be posted to http://billfisher.dreamhost.com/nohate.html

Currently preparing for the event are USA east and west coast Gangs of Four, groups in Australia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, South Africa, Tokyo and Mexico. We hope you'll join us during these 24 hours, or whenever you have the opportunity to disengage from war.

For more information and/or to express your interest in participating, please write to william.fisher@gcsu.edu

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love is a wonderful force which enables the heart to become hard and terrible, cold and unyielding, in the face of any threat menacing the object of this love, like watching the wonder of your sleeping children, knowing your ultimate sacrifice in their defense.
It is not submission, it's incandescent steel; held waiting and watching, never sleeping, never feeling the pain of this refractory vigil.
It is love.