On the 5th of July 2008 the third annual African Peace festival was held in Vancouver.
The festival, organized by the African Peace Forum was held at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver. It attracted a lot of performers and artistes like Jacky Essombe, Ezeadi, Jean Pierre Makosso, Lazare, Ogedengbe Drummers, Kutapira, Joe Amouzou, Ndidi Cascade & Deanna Teeple.
Others were Sudanda, DJ MTS, Mandido, Pepe Danza & Navaro, Franco, MC Clement Apaak, Ismaili Muslim Adult Choir and Mukatano.
There was also an African market with music, food, fashion show, dancing, art, NGOs, door prizes and more.
Background of the Africa Peace Forum Society
At the end of 2005, a group of people of diverse origins got together as the Africa Working Group of the World Peace Forum 2006, to illuminate the colours of peace in Africa during the World Peace Forum held in Vancouver in June 2006.
The group identified a number of needs for peace in Africa and developed the program below:
ABOUT THE AFRICA PROGRAM OF THE WORLD PEACE FORUM 2006
There is an urgent need to foster a culture of peace in Africa where conflicts are resolved by dialogue instead of violence. As a matter of priority, the international community should adopt effective and legally binding agreements of arms brokering with common standards on monitoring and enforcement. There is an urgent need to consolidate our global efforts in ending a culture of impunity and lay criminal charges against those who export small weapons to conflict areas.
The Africa Working Group of the World Peace Forum 2006 will concentrate on three priority areas:
Education for peace,
Health issues, and
Justice in Africa.
Participants attending the Africa Working Group activities will engage in discussions pertaining to the search for peace in Africa and the quest for the African people to attain a culture of peace and sustainable development.
HIV/AIDS affects a significant percentage of the African population. Most of the people do not have access to adequate medicine and treatment due to lack of disposable income. In our opinion, industrialized nations must honor their pledge to development and commit long-term development assistance that will allow African countries to implement sustainable development plans.
There is a pressing urgency to restructure Africa’s judicial system so that people’s rights are protected by the state. If a nation fails to protect the rights of its citizens, the international community has the responsibility to protect citizens whose lives are threatened by the state. Special attention should be given to ethnic minorities and marginalized groups such as women, youth and people with disabilities.
By creating societies based on the rule of law, we will be able to reverse the brain drain that forces many African people to flee their home countries in search of a better quality of life and where individual freedoms are guaranteed regardless of their race, color, gender, sexual orientation and place of origin.
The African Peace Festival
As part of the lead up to the World Peace Forum 2006, the Africa Working Group organized the first African Peace Festival on 6 May 2006 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. The event brought together grassroots African and peace activists, artists and NGOs to celebrate and discuss peace and social justice issues in an informal and upbeat setting.
Following the World Peace Forum 2006, the Africa Working Group decided to stay together as the AFRICA PEACE FORUM and subsequently registered as THE AFRICA PEACE FORUM SOCIETY. The society’s first event of 2007 was the 2nd annual African Peace Festival on 23 June at the Wise Hall, in Vancouver, CANADA.
The African Peace Festival has been organized around several main objectives:
To showcase local African artists, musicians, NGOs and entrepreneurs in their work for peace and social justice in Africa and North America;
To raise funds during each festival for grassroots humanitarian projects in Africa;
To expose British Columbians to African culture and artists;
To unite and inspire the African diaspora to work together for peace and justice on the African continent.
In 2008, the African Peace Festival (the 3rd since 2006) is supporting an initiative to raise money for Kekelineva School for the Blind in Togo, which is in danger of closing due to lack of funds. The project was started by Lazare Hounnake, a successful musician and former student of Kekelineva, based in Vancouver. He can be contacted for more information at 604 876 7757.
The 3rd annual African Peace Festival will be held on 5 July 2008 at the Roundhouse in Vancouver, CANADA.
For more information about performing, renting a table or volunteering, please Email Jenny Francis at jenois@telus.net. The Africa Peace Forum Society will also be meeting regularly, to determine and plan future directions, including planning the 2008 African Peace Festival.
Information about the African Peace Forum Society was culled from : www.africanpeaceforum.com
Photos by Joe Amouzou.
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