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Bed-Ins For Peace
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Bed-Ins For Peace

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A bed-in is a nonviolent protest against wars, initiated by Yoko Ono and her husband John Lennon during a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. As the Vietnam War raged in 1969, artists Ono and Lennon held one bed-in protest at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and one at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The idea is derived from a "sit-in", in which a group of protesters remain seated in front of or within an establishment until they are evicted, arrested, or their requests are met.

Key facts

Event.title
Bed-in
Event.image
300px
Event.caption
John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the first day of their Amsterdam bed-in
Event.date
and
Event.location
Amsterdam, Netherlands and Montreal, Canada
Event.type
Occupation protest
Event.theme
Peace movement
Event.cause
Vietnam War
Event.target
World media and political leaders
Event.patron
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Event.organisers
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Event.participants
Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Derek Taylor, Abraham Feinberg, Dick Gregory, Murray the K, Al Capp, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Williams
Event.outcome
"Give Peace a Chance" recorded during the Montreal bed-in Press attention Others inspired to throw bed-ins
Event.blank_label
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Event.blank_data
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Event.blank1_label
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via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
demonstration
Country
Canada
Location
Montreal
Image
John Lennon performing Give Peace a Chance 1969.jpg
Participant
Yoko Ono
Organizer
Yoko Ono
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

8 sections
Contents
  • Amsterdam bed-in
  • Montreal bed-in
  • Others
  • In popular culture
  • Commemoration
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

A bed-in is a nonviolent protest against wars, initiated by Yoko Ono and her husband John Lennon during a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. As the Vietnam War raged in 1969, artists Ono and Lennon held one bed-in protest at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and one at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The idea is derived from a "sit-in", in which a group of protesters remain seated in front of or within an establishment until they are evicted, arrested, or their requests are met.

The public proceedings were filmed, and later turned into a documentary Bed Peace, which was made available for free on YouTube in August 2011 by Yoko Ono, as part of her website "Imagine Peace". Other bed-ins have since taken place - the most recent in 2018, when Ono was joined by former Beatle Ringo Starr, actor Jeff Bridges and then-New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, to participate in a bed-in at New York City Hall.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bed-Ins For Peace” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (8)