Yoko Ono Reflects On ‘WAR IS OVER (If You Want It)’ Campaign In New Post
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
“50 years ago,” Yoko Ono writes via Instagram, “John and I had the idea to do the ‘WAR IS OVER! (If you want it)‘ campaign.”
“The experience and the memory of war was deeply embedded in both our minds,” she continued, “and had become the springboard for our efforts to speak out for world peace.”
“We did the ‘Bed-In for Peace‘,” she recollects, “unaware of the fact that we made our beds then, for life.”
She then lists the various efforts of her and John Lennon‘s Peace Crusade, including mailing pairs of acorns to all international Heads of State, ‘WAR IS OVER! (If you want it)’ billboards and the announcement of conceptual nation Nutopia.
“Our white flag, and ordinary bed-sheet,” Yoko Ono contends, “symbolized a surrendering to Peace. ‘Give Peace A Chance‘ was our chant. ‘Imagine‘ was our anthem and a song of prayer. ‘Imagine all the people living life in peace.’ This was a song asking people to imagine, to visualize, and realize our future. It was especially important that it was asking people to use the power of their own minds to make things happen.”
Yoko Ono, now 86, then brings her focus into the present.
“The days of one hero building a castle for all of us are over,” she asserts. “Our world is getting too complex for that. Now we need each of us to be a hero. The human race realized its dreams and innermost desires by wishing together. Sometimes, we got sidetracked and listened to destructive powers within us. When you read the history of the last century, you wonder how we ever survived its violent events. We did. And I am sure we will. They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn.”
“The road to Peace has been longer than John and I hoped it would be,” she concludes, “but sitting here today as I write this, I can still see it waiting for us just over the horizon. Waiting for us to realize it’s already there.”
Lennon echoed similar sentiments in his own lifetime, famously making statements like, “Just the same way we declare war that is how we will have peace. We just need to declare it,” and, “Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.”
