History of PeaceQuest International
PEACEQUEST had its origin in the initiative of Valentin Sevéus who founded in 1983 the foundation with the name Collaboration for Peace. Its purpose was as the formulated in the regulations to “start and support initiatives to promote understanding and compromise between people and nations globally”. At this time the ongoing cold war with strong antagonism between both superpowers the USA and the Soviet Union was resulting in extensive deployment of nuclear weapons in Eastern and Western Europe and continuing development of other weapons of mass destruction. The threat of nuclear war was perceived then as significantly greater than is the case in the beginning of this century, in spite of that the number of nuclear powers is greater today and control of weapon arsenals, therefore, even more complicated.
A smaller office for the new peace organization was established in 1983 in Stockholm with initially four persons employed fulltime, one from USA (Patricia Speer), one from the Soviet Union (All Mirell), one from Poland (Janusz Retke) and one from Sweden (Jan Fjellander). From 1984 Valentin Sevéus and Anna-Greta Eriksson were also employed on a full or part-time basis. Initially, operations consisted of dissemination of information and meetings. The first publication was called Peace letter, a four-page A4 brochure published in 1983 in 20,000 copies. In 1984 the first overseas activities were organized: a study trip for 16 people to Moscow.
PeaceQuest was one of many PeaceOrganizations that advocated a reduction of the number of nuclear weapons during the cold war. The picture below shows the number of warheads during and after the cold war.
Jan Fjellander was Chairman 1983-85 and Valentin Sevéus 1985-1989. During 1985-1987 international summer camps (Härnösand, Gävle, Timrå, Väddö) were arranged with participants from countries including the USA and Soviet Union. The World Peace congress in Copenhagen in 1986 was the start to many contacts with Peace friends in India. In autumn 1986 began extensive activity with peace study weeks in Stockholm with participants from mainly senior high schools throughout the country. Via an agreement with Stockholm’s Municipal
School Administration Board, an international peace center could be established in Vällingby in the former Skattegårds School. There were offices, dining and meeting rooms as well as approx ten conference and planning rooms in former classrooms. The PEACEQUEST center in Vällingby was during four years starting 1986, Western Europe's largest peace center. A large number of courses and meetings were held here. Approximately ten people worked on a part or full-time basis; periodically some were from other countries, mainly USA, Soviet Union and India. Collaboration for Peace was member of Sweden's Peace Council, the Swedish UN association and International Peace Bureau and established good contacts with political parties and government bodies in different countries. The magazine Samtiden was published from 1989 with four issues per year during seven years.
From the late 1990’s, a number of international activities were carried out in Sweden and in other countries. The name PEACEQUEST was used for the first time in 1988 when Collaboration for Peace, in co-operation with partners in USA and the former Soviet Union, arranged a sex week long study program in Sweden, Soviet Union and USA with 50 participants from the three countries. The programme was named PeaceQuest Tour following a suggestion from Susanne Skiar, an employee from Chicago. PeaceQuest International began to be used in 1989 as the name of the growing international network. In 1991 Collaboration for Peace was in the name Co-operation for Peace, appointed to PeaceMessenger by the United Nations.
In 1992 a formal organization was formed with the name PeaceQuest International in Washington, DC, with a smaller office run by Alan Frisk, American participant in the 1989 PeaceQuest Tour, as coordinator. This office organized, amongst other things, study programs for Swedish teachers and youths in Washington and in New York City. Subsidy applications to different institutions in the USA didn't give desired results; therefore operations were discontinued after a couple of years due to insufficient financial resources.
During the later years of the I990's independent groups were started outside of Sweden with help from our Stockholm office. As the first
international active Peace organization we established an office in Riga — called The Baltic Center — in collaboration with local Peace and environmental friends. An organization called Cooperation for Peace was formed in Berlin following a German initiative. A Cooperation for Peace group was also started in Jekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk). This was repeated even in New Delhi after a visit of the then vice Chairman Katarina Elvin, rector from Taby. Many other international contacts were formed and developed and gave those actively
involved valuable experience.
Environmental issues received greater importance in operations during the first years of the new millennium. A number of PEACEQUEST members participated in the UN's environment conference in Rio the Janeiro in 1991, among them Jakob Ström from Täby, who was Chairman of Collaboration for Peace 1989-1993. Han was replaced by of Anna-Karin Olsen from Helsingborg, one of the
participants in the PeaceQuest Tour in 1988. Anna-Karin was replaced in 1994 by Karin Johanson from Järfälla, former organisations secreterary at the Peace centre in Välllingby and Andreas Drufva from Västervik. Malin Berggren and Jon Möller, both from Skåne, were appointed as the new Chairman pair at the annual meeting in 1995.
The first SIDA subsidy was received in 1994 for a three-year trial period during 1994-1996 with Peace promotion activities in connection to schools in developing countries. Activities began in the states of Karnataka in southern India, in Zambia and in Chile. In Karnataka and Zambia were formed the organisations PeaceQuest/Karnataka and PeaceQuest/Zambia. These activities provided the organization with extensive insights into the possibilities and difficulties that exist in developing countries with running school and association based activity with peace and democracy issues.
Valentin Sevéus and Jan Fjellander were Board members in Collaboration for Peace and subsequently PeaceQuest/Sweden during 1983-1995 and employed fulltime in the organization until 1997 respectively 1999. Then Valentin Sevéus resigned in 1997 from the position as general secretary in PeaceQuest/Sweden he had held since 1990 he took the initiative to develop activities in PeaceQuest International. He was Chairman until 2003, when Anders Bengtsson replaced him at the same time as Stig Zandrén was appointed General Secretary. Anders Bengtsson and Stig Zandrén resigned from their positions in the association PeaceQuest International at the annual meeting in 2006 with reference to the difficulty to collaboration successfully with PeaceQuest/Sweden. Valentin Sevéus returned at the same time to the position as Chairman in PeaceQuest International. Since year 2009 the Chairperson position in PeaceQuest International has been held by
Fataneh Nik-khakian (2009), Christina Valdes (2010), Rodrigo Hidalgo (2011) and Anna Hay (2011). The current chairman of PeaceQuest International is Henrik Kindblom.
In PeaceQuest/Sweden the Chairperson position during recent years has been held by Malin Berggren (1997-99), Christina Wassholm (1999-2001), Joel Lindh (2001-2002), Stina Magnusson (2002-2004), Jenny Jonsson (2004-2006) and from 2006 Katarina Sandström. In 2005, Fredrik Jansson was appointed as General Secretary. Focus on youth activities has successively become stronger. Operations in Zambia have during this time continued with support of subsidies from the EU. Important lessons have been won by continuing collaboration project with organizations in Belarus, Palestine and Israel.
For over twenty years time thousands of people from a successively growing number of countries have participated in different activities arranged by PEACEQUEST. Many important lessons and experiences have been gained by the different participants. Leaders and members in PeaceQuest International and PeaceQuest/Sweden face the new millennium with equally important and challenging
tasks based on the lessons of these experiences at the same time as building strategies for the future.
School Administration Board, an international peace center could be established in Vällingby in the former Skattegårds School. There were offices, dining and meeting rooms as well as approx ten conference and planning rooms in former classrooms. The PEACEQUEST center in Vällingby was during four years starting 1986, Western Europe's largest peace center. A large number of courses and meetings were held here. Approximately ten people worked on a part or full-time basis; periodically some were from other countries, mainly USA, Soviet Union and India. Collaboration for Peace was member of Sweden's Peace Council, the Swedish UN association and International Peace Bureau and established good contacts with political parties and government bodies in different countries. The magazine Samtiden was published from 1989 with four issues per year during seven years.
From the late 1990’s, a number of international activities were carried out in Sweden and in other countries. The name PEACEQUEST was used for the first time in 1988 when Collaboration for Peace, in co-operation with partners in USA and the former Soviet Union, arranged a sex week long study program in Sweden, Soviet Union and USA with 50 participants from the three countries. The programme was named PeaceQuest Tour following a suggestion from Susanne Skiar, an employee from Chicago. PeaceQuest International began to be used in 1989 as the name of the growing international network. In 1991 Collaboration for Peace was in the name Co-operation for Peace, appointed to PeaceMessenger by the United Nations.
In 1992 a formal organization was formed with the name PeaceQuest International in Washington, DC, with a smaller office run by Alan Frisk, American participant in the 1989 PeaceQuest Tour, as coordinator. This office organized, amongst other things, study programs for Swedish teachers and youths in Washington and in New York City. Subsidy applications to different institutions in the USA didn't give desired results; therefore operations were discontinued after a couple of years due to insufficient financial resources.
During the later years of the I990's independent groups were started outside of Sweden with help from our Stockholm office. As the first
international active Peace organization we established an office in Riga — called The Baltic Center — in collaboration with local Peace and environmental friends. An organization called Cooperation for Peace was formed in Berlin following a German initiative. A Cooperation for Peace group was also started in Jekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk). This was repeated even in New Delhi after a visit of the then vice Chairman Katarina Elvin, rector from Taby. Many other international contacts were formed and developed and gave those actively
involved valuable experience.
Environmental issues received greater importance in operations during the first years of the new millennium. A number of PEACEQUEST members participated in the UN's environment conference in Rio the Janeiro in 1991, among them Jakob Ström from Täby, who was Chairman of Collaboration for Peace 1989-1993. Han was replaced by of Anna-Karin Olsen from Helsingborg, one of the
participants in the PeaceQuest Tour in 1988. Anna-Karin was replaced in 1994 by Karin Johanson from Järfälla, former organisations secreterary at the Peace centre in Välllingby and Andreas Drufva from Västervik. Malin Berggren and Jon Möller, both from Skåne, were appointed as the new Chairman pair at the annual meeting in 1995.
The first SIDA subsidy was received in 1994 for a three-year trial period during 1994-1996 with Peace promotion activities in connection to schools in developing countries. Activities began in the states of Karnataka in southern India, in Zambia and in Chile. In Karnataka and Zambia were formed the organisations PeaceQuest/Karnataka and PeaceQuest/Zambia. These activities provided the organization with extensive insights into the possibilities and difficulties that exist in developing countries with running school and association based activity with peace and democracy issues.
Valentin Sevéus and Jan Fjellander were Board members in Collaboration for Peace and subsequently PeaceQuest/Sweden during 1983-1995 and employed fulltime in the organization until 1997 respectively 1999. Then Valentin Sevéus resigned in 1997 from the position as general secretary in PeaceQuest/Sweden he had held since 1990 he took the initiative to develop activities in PeaceQuest International. He was Chairman until 2003, when Anders Bengtsson replaced him at the same time as Stig Zandrén was appointed General Secretary. Anders Bengtsson and Stig Zandrén resigned from their positions in the association PeaceQuest International at the annual meeting in 2006 with reference to the difficulty to collaboration successfully with PeaceQuest/Sweden. Valentin Sevéus returned at the same time to the position as Chairman in PeaceQuest International. Since year 2009 the Chairperson position in PeaceQuest International has been held by
Fataneh Nik-khakian (2009), Christina Valdes (2010), Rodrigo Hidalgo (2011) and Anna Hay (2011). The current chairman of PeaceQuest International is Henrik Kindblom.
In PeaceQuest/Sweden the Chairperson position during recent years has been held by Malin Berggren (1997-99), Christina Wassholm (1999-2001), Joel Lindh (2001-2002), Stina Magnusson (2002-2004), Jenny Jonsson (2004-2006) and from 2006 Katarina Sandström. In 2005, Fredrik Jansson was appointed as General Secretary. Focus on youth activities has successively become stronger. Operations in Zambia have during this time continued with support of subsidies from the EU. Important lessons have been won by continuing collaboration project with organizations in Belarus, Palestine and Israel.
For over twenty years time thousands of people from a successively growing number of countries have participated in different activities arranged by PEACEQUEST. Many important lessons and experiences have been gained by the different participants. Leaders and members in PeaceQuest International and PeaceQuest/Sweden face the new millennium with equally important and challenging
tasks based on the lessons of these experiences at the same time as building strategies for the future.