A new Peace Pole went up at Phil Chacon Park in Albuquerque shortly after the city's Veteran's Day parade, marking only the second such monument installed in the city. The pole carries the phrase “May peace prevail on earth” in eight different languages, and it was donated by the General Federation Women's Club.
According to KRQE, the unveiling came right on the heels of the Veteran's Day festivities, giving the park a quiet new fixture amid a day of public commemoration. Dave Simon of the City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation Department said Peace Poles have been planted by supporters of peace all over the world, framing the Phil Chacon Park installation as part of a global movement to spread the message of peace across communities and cultures, per the same report.
A Second Pole, Not the First
KRQE's report describes the new monument as the second Peace Pole installed in Albuquerque, though the station's account does not detail where or when the city's first pole went up. Separately, the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice has its own peace pole, installed and dedicated at the front of its building, according to KOAT. That pole is displayed with signatures from community members alongside handwritten messages about peace, and community members gathered there to commemorate International Day of Peace, also known as World Peace Day, the station reported.
Albuquerque now has multiple public markers carrying the same simple message in different corners of the city.
Peace Poles Have a Long History
The idea of planting a pole bearing a peace message in multiple languages is not new, and similar projects have popped up far beyond New Mexico. In Schenectady, New York, a local group called Schenectady Neighbors for Peace organized a project to place its own peace pole in Central Park, with the same “May peace prevail on earth” message rendered in eight languages, including English, Spanish, Farsi, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, according to the Daily Gazette. That pole stood roughly six and a half feet tall, was built from rectangular wood painted white, and cost the group about $300 to purchase, the newspaper reported.
Estimates of how many Peace Poles exist worldwide vary depending on the source and the year. The Daily Gazette's 2011 report cited project co-coordinator Anita Paul estimating about 100,000 peace poles across 180 countries at that time, while a page from the R.G. H. Foundation dated April 2009 put the number at more than 250,000 Peace Poles in 180 countries. The discrepancy likely reflects different counting methods and timeframes rather than a single agreed-upon total, and neither figure represents a current, verified count.
Whatever the global tally, Albuquerque's newest addition at Phil Chacon Park gives residents another physical reminder of that message close to home, standing as a quiet counterpoint to the city's more boisterous Veteran's Day observances held the same day.
