“Peace is no violence , and everybody grooving, if you don’t mind the word.”

With typical dry humor, John Lennon summed up the ideal that he and wife Yoko Qio are working for all over the world.

The long-haired Beatle kicked off his campaign for world peace last week in Don Mills with a press conference at the Ontario Science Centre.

Dressed all in black, Lennon and Yoko announced a “peace festival” for Mosport Park July 3, 4 and 5.

“We don’t want to set up a holocaust, you know. It will be peace, poetry or whatever. We’ll ask everyone we know to take part.”

Lennon said Canada had been chosen to start the campaign “because we feel there’s a bit of hope here.

“Canada’s vibes are good. We like Canada, we like your image. We like the things you do. You talk to China.”

He hoped the festival would be “such a good scene that we could take it to Russia and around the world.”

Lennon said young people should use the established media to promote their beliefs.

“Our hope is with youth. They will be the establishment. There’s no point in breaking it down because you’ll have to build it up again.”

Asked why he was using a new method to achieve peace when others had failed, Lennon said: “That’s like saying why bother going on with Christianity when Jesus got killed.”

Lennon gave an example of what he hoped to achieve when he said: “If there is another Hitler in the world, we hope this time someone will see him and stop him. Youth will be watching.”

Lennon said he felt the same about peace as he did when the Beatles started in Liverpool’s Cavern.

“I don’t care how long it takes to achieve peace. No matter how much it costs, we feel it is cheaper than somebody’s life.”

Yoko said part of the couple’s aim was to “make violent people feel ashamed of their violence.”