As tensions rise in the Persian Gulf over Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s intransigence with United Nations arms inspectors, U of T chaplains are calling for peace.

The chaplains are organizing the first annual Peace Week, a series of speakers and workshops featuring a roster of well-known journalists and activists. The events will take place Feb. 2–8.

“I’ve always had a social activist bent,” said Guru Fatha Singh, co-ordinator of the event. Singh said he wanted to hold the event because of what he called “the media manipulation and the sheer lies coming out of the White House.”

“The war is a fabrication…They had to have a bogeyman,” Singh added.

The chaplain said he became interested in the Iraq situation after reading a book by former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark called The Fire This Time.

“Iraq used to be [the U.S.’] best friend,” Singh said.

The first event will be a multi-faith prayer service on Sunday, Feb. 2 at Hart House. “We want to start off on a humble note,” Singh said.

On Monday, St. Mike’s Brennan Hall will host a workshop with a more “localized focus,” Singh said—a workshop on “Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism on Campus.” A donation of $15,000 for Peace Week from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences made the event possible, the chaplain added.

Tuesday will feature a lecture on “Economics without War” by Stephen Lewis, a U of T professor and current UN special envoy.

On Wednesday, Gwen Dyer will speak on “The Prospects of Disarmament” at Brennan Hall. Dyer is an author, military historian and journalist.

“He’s quite knowledgeable. He’s optimistic that globalization can work out for the best,” Singh said.

Jody Williams, the Nobel-prize winning founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, will speak on “The Art of Effective Activism” at the MacMillan Theatre on Thursday. “She was working on raising American consciousness in Central America” before winning the Nobel, Singh said.

Friday’s speaker is Craig Kielburger, founder of the charity Free the Children, which attempts to end child labour. Kielburger, a student of Trinity College, will speak about “Education and Peace” during a Jewish Shabbat dinner in the Music Room of Hart House.

The week will be wrapped up with a concert on Saturday, at the MacLeod Auditorium.