Dwarko Sundrani, a Gandhi thinker and social worker from India, will speak at the culmination of Fresno State’s Stop the Hate, Stop the Violence – Build a Culture of Peace Week activities Oct. 2 and 6.

Mohandas Gandhi’s 143rd birthday also will be celebrated at the first of three events at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Fresno State Peace Garden where a monument to the Indian leader is erected. A candlelight vigil for world peace also will be held.

Fresno State President John D. Welty issued a university proclamation  declaring Stop the Hate, Stop the Violence: Build a Culture of Peace Commemoration Week, which the university first observed in 1990.

The  proclamation declares that “Fresno State will neither condone nor tolerate hate-related acts at Fresno State or the surrounding community.”

The Peace Garden, established in 1990 just north of the Henry Madden Library, is home to three other monuments of leaders dedicated to peace movements: Jane Addams, Cesar Chavez and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Stop the Hate Week events conclude in the Peace Garden at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 6 when Sundrani talks.

He is the last active disciple of Gandhi and living the message of his teacher, said Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, professor emeritus of social work education  who is one of the event organizers. Sundrani has founded a network of 360 schools and engages in various forms of social action.

The event also will feature a garlanding and flower ceremony, classical and folk dance tributes, musical tributes, mediation and recitation of a pledge against hate and violence. Community and youth leaders will deliver remarks and guests are encouraged to bring flowers.

A panel discussion on “Women and Non-violence” will be from 3-5 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center (7319 N. Fourth St. in Fresno).

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Kapoor at 559.435.2212 or Dr. N.P. Mahalik at 559.278.2995.

(Copy by University Communications news student assistant Samantha Gibson.)

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