Love Poetry Hate Racism – All across the globe
April 18th – 21st
participating cities include –
Auckland – Wellington – New York – Washington – Minneapolis – Brisbane – Cairns Darwin – Perth – Adelaide – Melbourne – Sydney – Newcastle (NSW) – London – Hebden Bridge – Birmingham – Manchester – Vienna – Amsterdam – Warsaw –– Cork – Limerick – Galway – Derry – Belfast – Athlone – Dungannon – Dublin – Westchester (NY) – Kuala Lumpur – Singapore
Events in Belfast – supported by Belfast City Council
Friday 18th April – 7.30pm – Wine and Words – Belfast Exposed Gallery
Moyra Donaldson – Martin Mooney – Ezekial Johnson – Catherine Brogan
Saturday – 19th April – LPHR – Belfast Exposed Gallery – 7.30pm
Raven – Seamus Fox – Scream Blue Murmur – Thomas Muinzer – Motion Project
The weekend of April 18th-21st, 2008 will see around 50 cities and towns all across the world host events entitled Love Poetry Hate Racism/Celebrate Diversity through Poetry.
These events will use poetry to highlight a global phenomenon where racism is on the rise, whether this comes in the form of attacks on people from ethnic minority backgrounds or government legislation which discriminates against asylum seekers or the vehement anti-Muslim rhetoric that has accompanied the war on terror.
At home, the recent poster campaign of racist material in Banbridge, the many attempts to give credence to “the Rivers of Blood speech” by Enoch Powell and the discussion surrounding the new terror laws which appear to some commentators to target the Muslim community are all worrying developments and show how important the Love Poetry Hate Racism event is. The global element to Love Poetry Hate racism adds to the impact and along with many other anti racism activities aims to put a halt to the rise of racism and racist attitudes.
Chelley McLear, Chair of di-Verse, the organisation formed in Belfast which oversees the global event, said
“Poetry is an art form which is practised all across the world. It is an art form which benefits greatly from being exposed to the practises of many cultures. We feel that people who care about poetry and also feel strongly about the rise in racism can come together this weekend to show their support for diversity in society.
She went on to say, “Those who seek to prosecute racist ideas like the ones evident in recent posters in Banbridge or those who have attacked migrants over the last week in the North West offer us nothing. It is the newly emerging diversity in Northern Ireland which gives us hope for the future.”
Gordon Hewitt, Secretary of di-Verse said, “ It is worth noting that Love Poetry Hate Racism was established as a counter to Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood speech” made forty years ago this weekend. His speech was a calculated racist attack on migrants and has been used by bigots ever since to foster racism. We stand proudly against the ideas that multi-ethnic societies are problematic saying instead that our society benefits from the experience of living side by side with those people from diverse cultural or ethnic backgrounds making Northern Ireland their home.
Last year we pulled together cities and towns all across the world for the first ever Love Poetry Hate Racism. This year we welcome cities like Singapore, Warsaw and Washington as part of our global event. This year we also welcome support from the city councils in Belfast and Derry.”
For more information please feel free to call
Gordon Hewitt on 07742 531 617 – or Chelley Mclear on 07738221625
aislingdoherty.com 