UN75

Wales’ Temple of Peace and Health was opened in November 1938 – just months before the outbreak of World War 2 shattered the hopes and dreams of many, as the world was once more engulfed in conflict a mere 20 years after “Never Again” had become the annual refrain of Remembrance. It seemed the Peace Heritage of the 1920s-30s movements for Welsh internationalism had been cast aside.

Remembering a Social Revolution

However, the end of hostilities swept in an era of enormous social change – with the founding of the United Nations, the National Health Service in the UK, establishment of Universal Charters of Human Rights, and the ‘beginning of the end’ for colonialism as many nations of world began the journey towards independence.  Many Welsh men and women played an instrumental role in these movements, with Wales’ Temple of Peace and Health at the Heart of activism and social change through the 1940s and 50s.

Out of the Ashes of Conflict – Building a Better World

As the UK prepares to mark the 75th and 80th anniversaries of many major WW2 events (between 2019 and 2025), WCIA will be focusing on what followed WW2: the desire to build a better world through the founding of the United Nations and universal charters of human rights, that have underpinned peaceful co-existence and global development to this day.

Welsh people have played a profound role in the story of the United Nations over the last 75 years. Between 2019 and 2024, WCIA will mark the anniversaries of a number of major UN events by exploring Wales’ heritage of action on human rights, community stories, local to global responses, and attitudes towards human rights and international cooperation now and looking to the future.

WCIA Heritage Project Activities

Building on the HLF-funded Wales for Peace programme from 2014-19 – which marked the centenary of WW1 and uncovered hidden histories form Wales’ peace movements of the interwar years (1918-39) – WCIA will be seeking funding, project partners and developing work with community groups and volunteers to explore this next era of Wales’ internationalist peace heritage: the ‘United Nations’ era. Project activities we hope will include opportunities to:

• Explore, catalogue, digitise, interpret and make publicly accessible the Temple of Peace Archives post-WW2, and related collections held in the National Library of Wales and elsewhere.
• Where possible, gather oral histories from veterans and social activists of the 1950s-70s, with a focus on ‘building a better world’ and social change.
• Develop academic networks and student research placements exploring post-WW2 peacebuilding and social change, and drawing lessons for today.
• Develop creative digital storytelling, citizen journalism and creative writing projects that bring hidden histories to life, inspire activists and changemakers today, and inform policymaking.
• Develop community arts and creative responses, and offer a platforms for display / sharing with public audiences in a way that inspires conversations about challenging contemporary world issues such as Brexit, Climate Change, social inclusion and equalities, and Human Rights.
• Develop Touring Exhibitions that stimulate hidden histories projects, community conversations and critical thinking around Wales’ role in the World, from the perspective of specific communities (geographic and communities of interest).
• Build a Digital Legacy of all heritage materials, stories and project activities, that is easily accessible and inspiring to current and future generations.
• Develop Learning Materials and Classroom / School projects that support teachers to deliver the new Welsh curriculum by drawing on Welsh internationalism;
• Facilitate Young Peacemakers Awards and Youth / Schools Conferences that enable shared learning between networks of young people, teachers and policy makers.
• Ground the development and delivery of Wales’ International Strategy, in a deepened knowledge and understanding of Wales’ Internationalist heritage.

Marking Anniversaries

The table below draws together just some of the significant dates from the post-WW2 ‘peace building era’, that WCIA hope to mark over 2019-24 – and to draw inspiration from for work with communities and civil society groups to explore how these issues remain relevant, and how people can take action today.