Call for Peace 01 | Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed Peace Action

introduce

Bed-ins for Peace is a two-week nonviolent protest against war designed as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. With the outbreak of the Vietnam War in 1969, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono held a protest at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, during which they remained in bed. The idea grew out of a sit-in, where a group of protesters sits in front of or inside an establishment until they are expelled, arrested, or their demands are met. The public action was filmed and later turned into the documentary Bed Peace, which was made freely available on YouTube in August 2011 by Yoko Ono as part of Yoko Ono's website, Imagine Peace.

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Lennon and Yoko Ono knew their marriage in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969, would be a huge news event, and they decided to use it to promote world peace. Lennon admitted: "We knew everything we did would be in the newspapers. We decided to use the space we would occupy anyway, by getting married, to advertise for peace," before adding: "We would sell our products, We call it 'peace'. To sell a product, you need a gimmick, and the gimmick we think is 'the bed'. We thought of 'the bed' because the bed is the easiest way because we're lazy."

They spent a week on their honeymoon from March 25 to 31 in the Presidential Suite (Room 702) of the Hilton Amsterdam Hotel, inviting the world's media into their hotel room every day from 9am to 9pm. As in an unorthodox move like the nude cover photo of The Two Virgins, the media expected them to have sex, but instead, the couple just sat on the bed in their pajamas. "Like an angel" in Lennon's words - talking about peace, with the slogans "HAIR PEACE" and "BED PEACE" written on the bed.

"We were like two angels in bed, with flowers around us, peace and love on our heads," Lennon said in The Beatles' anthology. "We got dressed; the bed was just an accessory. We wore pajamas, but they didn't look much different from everyday clothes, nothing, buttoned all the time." Ono said at the time: "We think Amsterdam is a very Important place, because it has a very fresh and alive interest. We think that way, rather than going out to war. We should be in bed: everyone should be in bed and enjoying spring.”

Lennon also told reporters: "The other side has war every day, not just news, but old John Wayne movies and every damn movie you see: war, war, war, war, killing, killing, Kill, kill", "Let's say, let's get some peace in the headlines, peace, peace, peace, just for change!" So we think that many of the world's headlines of March 25, 1969 were "Bed honeymoon couple", which is very interesting. oops! Isn't this good news? Seven days later, they flew to Vienna, Austria, where they held a press conference.

In April 1969, Lennon and Yoko Ono presented acorns to world heads of state, hoping they would plant the acorns as a symbol of peace, and asking to meet them. Due to the couple's very public persona, Peace in Bed in Amsterdam has been well-received by fans and has received a lot of press coverage. After the incident, Lennon became rather frustrated when asked if he thought the operation was a success. He insisted that the media's failure to take the couple seriously was part of what he and Yoko wanted: "Not being taken seriously is part of our strategy. Our opponents, whoever they are and whatever they do, don't know how to deal with it. Humor. We do." However, Yoko also caused controversy among the Jewish community when he claimed in a press conference that Jewish women could change Hitler by being his girlfriend and sleeping with him for 10 days.

Montreal, Canada

Their second plan of action was supposed to take place in New York, but Lennon was banned from the U.S. over a 1968 marijuana conviction. So they planned to hold the event at the Sheraton Ocean Hotel in the Bahamas. They flew there on May 24, 1969, but after a night in the heat, they decided to move to Canada. They first landed in Toronto, staying at the King Edward Hotel. They were interviewed by Immigration Canada, where Lennon was detained for two hours, with immigration officials arguing with him over whether he could enter Canada, and the next day he attended a hearing on his bond for release and was given a 10-day sentence. Guest identity. The choice is between Toronto and Montreal. Because they needed news coverage from NYC, they decided to move it to Montreal because of its proximity to NYC.

They flew to Montreal on May 26 and stayed at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in rooms 1738, 1740, 1742 and 1744. During their seven-day stay, they invited Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Dick Gregory, Murray the K, Al Capp, Allen Ginsberg and others, all but the hostile Capp sang the peace song "Give" Peace a Chance", recorded by Andre Perry in a hotel room on June 1, 1969. While the peace operation in bed may not have affected the timing of peace talks, as the war would not end until 1975, the song, written during the movement at the time, became one of the most famous anti-war songs. That became the rallying cry for a new wave of protest marches in the fall.

Perry also recorded Lennon and Yoko Ono singing Yoko Ono's song "Remember Love" after the others left the room. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation conducted the interview in the hotel room, and the reaction to the incident in the US media was mixed. In December 1969, Lennon and Yoko Ono spread their message of peace on a billboard that read "The war is over! As long as you wish. Merry Christmas from John and Yoko Ono". The billboards were erected in 11 major world cities.

Self-evaluation

Lennon felt that being in bed could put pressure on politicians involved in these discussions, especially given that US President Richard Nixon had just been sworn in on his position on ending the Vietnam War with the US. At the time of the protests, some Vietnamese officials had been in talks in Paris for months amid a deadlock in negotiations. Lennon was right in his criticism of the peace talks at the time, saying: "In Paris, the Vietnam peace talks have gotten to the shape of sorting out the table they're going to sit on. These talks have been going on for months. We've been in bed for a week and we've got a lot of achievements.”

The naive and somewhat naive mentality of the couple's victory is something Yoko Ono would later reflect on as part of her career as MoMO many years later. "John and I went to bed and thought, 'The war is over.' How naive we are, you know? But the thing is, things take time. I think it's going to happen, and I think we're going to have a peaceful world. But it was just a little more time than we thought at the time," reflected Yoko Ono.

Inspiration extension

Since 1969, Peace in Bed has been reinterpreted and repurposed for protests by many artists, most notably Marijke van Warmerdam and her gallerist Kees van Gelder at the same Amsterdam Hilton in 1992 and in Miami in 2005 center of attention. In 2006, Viva Voce also featured a fictitious MV for peace in bed. In 2010, a major contemporary art centre in Liverpool hosted a 62-day event, Bed-in at the Blue-coat, modelled on the events of Lennon and Yoko Ono, bringing together artists, social activists, community groups and Others put on 62 shows a day. "Things to do for a better world." Yoko Ono also expressed her blessings and sent a video message. The project began on October 9, Lennon's 70th birthday, and ended on December 9, marking the 30th anniversary of his death.

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Ken Dashow of New York explored the concept on his Beatles Revolution podcast, arguing that Lennon and Yoko Ono admit that the concept of bed rest is silly, but that's where they like it. It was a light-hearted demonstration to ask the world for peace. Why not end the war, they ask? If we have to choose between going out to war and staying in bed, stay in bed.

Street protests often turned into clashes between police and unarmed demonstrators, and the sit-ins often ended with the authorities dragging protesters away. In their bed, John and Yoko Ono can't be accused of getting in the way of anyone, after all they are paying for a hotel room and who can be accused of hurting who they are sitting quietly in bed? The couple has been portrayed in many reports as stupid or overly idealistic, but ultimately there isn't much to write about other than Lennon and Yoko Ono's repeated calls for world peace. They don't really do anything else.

But one Oberlin music major said: “I was fortunate to interview students in Fort Lauderdale over the Easter break to see how they reacted. If sleeping makes this country aware of the fact that we want peace, then I said we should sleep." His girlfriend said, "After a week in Fort Lauderdale, I needed to sleep seven days and seven nights, even if it wasn't for peace."

All we are saying is give peace a chance. -John Lennon