Yoko Ono: (smiling) "Hello! I'm very happy to be here again, whenever I come to Venice I feel as if.... something about it makes me feel like I came home, and maybe I think, seriously, that in my past life, maybe I lived here. I don't know, but the feeling is that old building, any old building and the water going through it. This makes me feel very at home. That's it. Thank you for keeping the beautiful city as it is. I hope the cities come to be like this for the longest time. I know it's very difficult to do that, but... (she ends these words smiling but changes to serious) I'm very concerned that some people don't care about the culture and the civilization that human race has built, maybe in ten thousand years or five thousand years, between that, and they like to destroy it, and I feel very sad that our culture and civilization has been destroyed so much by now."

OPENASIA and ONOCHORD

"This project called Open Asia is such a beautiful project and is very meaningful because it is already reaching out to Asia and artist to make it and it's a communication of Asia, sort like allowing Asians to come and express themselves, and I think it's very beautiful, and that's why I came all (2.26) to tell you that and share these feelings with you and this time I'm doing this "Onochord" (She shows the Onochord postcard and smiles). This is because I feel that now in this world there is so little to love, because everybody is frightened, confused and angry and so there is not very much love in the world. (She shows the little flashlight) so I want to promote love and I thought of a morse code. A morse code is S.O.S that kind of thing and I don't know how I would like to do it, not to say S.O.S, but to say I love you to each other, so I brought this set twisted code and then you think like C.O.D.E, like a message, and so Chord like in music ,so it's called Onochord, C.H.O.R.D. I think it would be very nice...I think I brought about... (she turns to the head of the press conference and asks him how many of these?... Head of the press conference: four thousand). Four thousand! Yes four thousand! (Smiling openly) I brought about four thousand of these, so I want to give up away these little flashlights and you say I..(she flash one time)... Love...(she flash two times) ...You...(she flashes three times while smiling), and the reasons why it is that way like I is one, Love is two, You is three (and flashes again), is because I wanted to make it very simple, so all of us do it. And tonight about ten thirty I will be in San Marcos Square and anybody who wants could get this. I think that we are giving some out now, right? Yes! (Some flashlights, posters and postcards of Onochord and leaflets of Open Asia were given to the journalists at the press conference) We can give this now to you if you want and .., Oh we've already did!., so please hold on to it and at ten thirty, please come to San Marcos Square, I'll be there and we would all say I love you to each other (she smiles and send light flashes to the journalists. The Italian translator interrupts her to make the Italian translation of all that Yoko has said. Yoko looks at her while she translates with a smile and she seems to understand what she says. )

Yoko: "Because now.... (smiling) I'm sorry I didn't think in translating. I'll shorten up. Because now people are just concentrating on fear, confusion and anger (and she turns with a smile to the translator and invites her to make the translation. Up from here she'll do it this way, but I'm going to forget about the translator). and therefore just one moment in our lives tonight. I like... us to think about love instead of fear, confusion and anger. And of course we should...if tonight you hold this Onochord flashlight and... whenever you have a chance to send a message to anybody you want. I would like to see a lighthouse making this Onochord 1,2,3 (and she moves her open hand) whenever they want. I would like to see ships doing it. I would like to see a building a whole building light up go 1,2,3 (and she snaps her fingers) and make a message of love to the world. And I think that tonight we should start to do this all of us. And I start that in Venice! Because this is where my love is, well my love is in many places (I would like you could see the smile and the expression she has rolling her eyes while saying this. She smiles sweetly and shy and seems a little embarrased. Delicious Yoko!) , But this one is very special and I like that year that I'm doing this in Venice in Italy, because to me Italy is a country of emotion and Venice is epitomizing that. Because love is a very old emotion, and I feel that this city expresses that old emotion. Are there any questions?"

(There is a little of reorganization of the people around her at the table and she smiles and makes very funny expressions with hands and face while waiting for the questions)

Question: (I can't hear it. The tape sound is of a very poor quality and the journalist seems to be very far from the camera and I'm not that good at English.)

Yoko: "John and I ... (She turns to the translator and asks her if she is going to translate the question of the journalist. The translator translates the question, but again the sound has disappeared) Well I don't know that... in a very magical straight way John and I met in London and from then on we stood for peace and love. And when I do this kind of event. Well it is... I was inspired to do, but still I think that I'm still with John in spirit."

Nutopia

(Question about Nutopia that I can't hear)

Yoko: "John and I created the country called Nutopia, not Utopia, because there was utopia as a concept already and we wanted to create a new concept, so we just add N on it Nutopia, and is a country, well that is a concept of country and we all are citiziens of that country."

"And in my apartment in Dakota, Dakota Building, John said OK, we put a little plaque that says Nutopian Embassy, so in the back door, in the kitchen door it says Nutopian Embassy, (and laughs) even now we have that."

(Question by a journalist who tells her in Italian that he doesn't believe in that Nutopia and reminds her of the recent killing of children at a school in Chechenia)

Yoko: (with a sad and serious face) "Nutopia exists!... (and she turns to the translator and says to her) I think that it is so very important. You have to translate all what I'm saying. (and returns to look to the journalist to answer the question) Nutopia exists into our minds and because of that some people want to rebel against it. The reason some want to rebel against it is a good proof that it exists."

(and she repeats) "The reason that people want to rebel against it it's a good proof that Nutopia exists. I think that it was a terrible thing what happened in Chechenia, but we have to still keep our hopes, and instead of giving up, we have to keep on sending the message of love to each other." (and she starts again sending messages of "I. love.. you..." with the flashlight)

"Ah by the way! You say that I am the ambassador peace, we are all ambassadors of peace, you are too. Everybody in this room is ambassadors of peace."

"Love is giving, with joy"

"Just the fact that we are not participating in the war, the fact that we are here, and we are what we are, makes that we are in the peace industry, all of us." (People applause)

(I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "I wanted to say something to you (and looks at the one who made the question about Chechenia and said he didn't believe in Nutopia), that when I say about the peace ambassadors, and that we should not lose this hope. I'm not saying as an optimistic person, a simple optimistic person, I'm saying it because of the fact (with watery eyes) that my husband was killed by the same violence that the Chechenia children suffered." (Yoko is on the edge of tears)

Question: For you, what is love?

Yoko: "Love is giving, with joy." (Yoko smiles) (Applauses)

(Question that I can't hear)

Yoko: "I think it's very dangerous to determine that we will never have a totally peaceful world. There would always be violent people? I don't believe in that. By now we can say that there is always old age, there is always education, that we die... Even that may be changed, and we know that. This is a very interesting time in our life that on one hand it seems that you can destroy the whole planet and on the other hand it seems like we can be ridden and total free of all the suffering that we have. So it depends on us . We have the choice. We can destroy ourselves, or we can not only survive and free ourselves but maybe do something fantastic for the Universe."

(I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "I'm not totally overjoyed about life at this point, but I'm still sharing hope for myself and for my friends and for the world. Because I still feel that we have the choice. We are gonna make that choice. We have to remember that we are all together anyway. It's the boat which if the world sinks, we all sink together. When on earth, on the planet even when we are in our dream, our hearts are beating together in unison. Have you realized that?"

Question in Italian: Have you forgiven your husband's assassin?

Yoko: "One: I'd like to keep something private. John and I used to say that our apartment the Dakota is a conceptual monastry, just for the two of us. And because when we go out of Dakota, we get so many people communicating with us, so it's very important that we had silence and quietness and my apartment is a very small space compared to the world, and I need that for my peace of mind."

(I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "There's always a rumour that I'm buying a house. "

Journalist in English: "No , no it's not any house, it was yours, the one you were born. (There are some rumours and discussions in the room among the journalists that seems to recriminate something to the one that has made the question and Yoko looks at them with a certain curiosity for knowing what's happening in the room and she turns to the man at her left and to the translator and says "That's why I have my apartment." (and laughs openly)

(I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "We all have our closets and I have my very unique situation, and I' m an artist so that I'm used to a situation to be most creative in that city."

(I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "The only thing I'm doing about Africa... The two things I'm doing... One: is every year, is a John Lennon Tribute concert in Japan and I go there and promote the concert and participate in it. And the money that is raised with that concert goes to creating schools in Africa for African children. We have built 20 schools already (smiles openly) because it's very cheap to build schools there, and we are thinking, hoping that we can make a hundred schools. That's one, the other one is that there's gonna be a CD (Note by the transcriptor: Last year they released the CD "Songs for Life" that included "Hard Times Are Over" and "Power to the People") that comes out to raise money for AIDS in Africa, and there's one of my songs in it called "I didn't know". It is actually a love song and I didn't know that you are suffering any by knew it over that come so quickly to you, but we are using it as "I didn't know" the problem in Africa of AIDS and I want to come so quickly to you. It's a love song to AIDS patients, patients in Africa, and I thought oh it's very nice. When I wrote it, it was just a love song, but now we are using it to reach to african AIDS patients. Of course we would have to be to the doctors to actually find a cure for AIDS and take care of the AIDS patients in a typical sense, but you can reach out to them with love and that's what we are doing."

( I can't hear the question)

Join the peace industry

Yoko: "I came to say this. I want to say this, that I have said many times probably: but the world is divided in two industries: One is the war industry and the other is the peace industry. And the people in the war industry they are totally together. They don't have to talk to each other even, they know exactly what they want to do. They wanna go out there, kill and make money. But the people in the peace industry, which are us, (and points with her hand to the whole room) we are so idealistic that each one of us criticize the other peace person in the peace industry.

And we are always just arguing and we are wasting our energies doing that, so let's just forgive each other and see that we are in the peace industry and that's all that counts. Even if you are not marching for peace just be yourself, being a florist, being a merchant, being a taylor, anything. That way you're conributing to the peace industry."

(Question: In which way we can contribute to that?)

Yoko: "You know, you should be kind to each other, you should come together, hug each other, love each other, express our love to each other and we should make it work. We should finally create a world that is a totally an earth for us. So let's do it!" (Yoko smiles)

"OK That's it!"

(A journalist shouts: ONE MORE QUESTION!, but I can't hear the question)

Yoko: "I think that you are too much of a critic (Yoko smiles). I am not, I'm just a human being."

more information

Watch ONOCHORD documentary by Yoko Ono
Read Yoko Ono's ONOCHORD instruction