1000 poets from 42 countries read poems for Free Africa

The AsiaN Correspondent

CAIRO: The international coordinators of World Poetry Movement (WPM) had their meeting after the one-month campaign entitled “Free Africa.”

In the meeting held on October 8,  2023, WPM General Coordinator Columbian poet Fernando Rendón highlighted the strength and beauty that the World Poetry Movement shown by carrying out 160 actions in the Free Africa campaign.

More than 1,000 poets from 42 countries participated in it, deploying a great initiative in each country, a very wide variety of dissemination pieces, which showed a lot of love from the members of the Movement and cleared the doubts of the difficult moment that was crossed after the withdrawal of the European comrades.

Fernando Rendón invited those present to take stock of the campaign and proposes to reflect on the upcoming tasks of the Movement.

Rati Saxena, India, said that the action was very strong and timely, many poets and people in India did not know the African situation and managed to relate the problems of that continent with those that are lived in many other countries: the lack of freedom, the excessive exploitation of nature and the plunder by some powers.

There was participation of established poets and a new generation, who were happy to share with the four invited African poets. He also highlights the multiplicity of languages that were manifested in the action, and concluded by saying that the action was consistent with the objectives of WPM and the poets, who are at the side of the suffering peoples.

Vadim Therekhin, Russia, told the gathering poets that in Russia, activities were held in Leningrad, Kaluga and another province in September, so he could not participate very widely in the Free Africa action, since his country is also going through a difficult time and everyone’s concern is focused there. An activity was developed in the Writers’ Union.

Ashraf Aboul-Yazid spoke about the anthology “Nano Poems for Africa”, from the 2023 Silk Road Literature Series, poems by more than 150 participants from 50 countries. In the Free Africa Campaign, he read selected poems by them at an online event. He added he also worked on the media coverage of the campaign, which is important to highlight the efforts and contributions of all WPM.

Keshab Sigdel, Nepal considered that the action has been a success, which made a lot of critical readings and reflections. He recommended that a summary of the situation being denounced and the objectives that the campaign seeks to achieve be collected for future actions. In his country, an activity was carried out at the University in Nepal. He explained the future plans of the Translation and Editing Committee, which met a few days ago, to work on several digital anthologies in different languages.

They are supporting Achour’s initiative to make an anthology of the poems read in the Free Africa Campaign, which will be collected in each country by each national coordinator. He also explained the development of the Poetry Planetariat Newsletter that he hopes will come out in February and will have a section called Free Africa. They are also requesting books from authors to form a digital Library, in PDF, on the WPM website

Ana Maria Oviedo, Venezuela, pointed out that the activity in the Movement was remarkable, that although Venezuela has more infrastructure to develop more actions, each of the actions that were carried out are important and valuable, much more so when they are carried out in difficult conditions. In her country, 24 activities were carried out, the most art was registered in the school and he highlighted a forum at the African Studies Center.

All of them deepened the knowledge of the situation of the African peoples, which is known in your country because for years you have been advancing a policy of South-South relations. In conclusion, she expressed that the campaign showed beauty and solidarity, a beautiful and strengthened Movement, which can act quickly. Now in Venezuela they are concentrating on an action to defend the Essequibo that is in dispute and there is a threat of conflict.

Matt Sedillo and Vanessa Torres chose to develop mostly virtual actions in which very diverse poets, Afro-descendants, Latinos and representatives in Spanglish were grouped. An alliance was achieved with the Mexican Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, which has a very important work and impact on networks, and hosted one of the virtual activities. They also managed to get the participation of poets with wide influence who multiplied the impact of the actions.

In the presence of Dorothy Payne, there was a development of a strong action in San Francisco. They highlighted the response of many poets who approached the Movement and the new interest that was generated in front of WPM. Given the breadth of the country, their plans are to work the country dividing it by northeast, northeast, center, etc. zones. They also seek to bring poets from many other origins who live in the United States closer.

Oscar Saavedra and Maribel Mora, Chile, had two major activities held at the University of Chile and they worked on the literary workshops that are already working. There is quite a stir around WPM in Chile, they are growing slowly and organized so that the people who enter assume responsibilities. They analyze the campaign in a positive way, the way the page grouped the information received allowed gathering and giving an overview of the campaign.

Hanan Awwad, Palestine, evaluated the action very positively. Many poets came together to express their thoughts and principles, and solidarity with the African peoples. Poems were written and exhibited in Ramallah during its International Book Fair. She called on WPM to express itself against the oppression and dispossession that the Palestinian people have been experiencing for so many years, suggesting that a campaign be made for Palestine, and appreciates the messages of solidarity that have arrived so far.

Ali Al-Amri, Jordan, said that he was busy with his editorial work; but he saw that the campaign was very successful, that it was activated in many countries, and he supported it with communications and the interview with poet Saley Boube, Niger, in Weekly Publisher magazine . He supports the idea of an anthology of poems for Palestine and a day of support for Palestine.

Tarek El Tayeb regretted not having been active and prefers to pass his responsibility to another poet who can devote more time to the work he lets himself do. He emphasizes that he will always be with WPM.

Fernando Rendón Supported the proposal to make a WPM statement in support of Palestine, demanding a definitive solution to the conflict and the full recognition of the Palestinian state.

He proposed to Ali and Hanan to work on it.

He also supported the proposal to make an anthology of poems for Palestine, which faces the powerful Israeli military force. He believes that now is not the time to call for another global action, having just finished the September action. The meeting ended with these conclusions.