World Poetry Movement meeting decided to call for the Planetary Poetry Action in October specifying the genocide carried out by Netanyahu’s government in Israel.
Correspondent, Colombia
World Poetry Movement (WPM) coordinating committee and national coordinators met on Saturday to discuss the poetry actions ahead and accepted a proposal to call for the Planetary Poetry Action in October specifying the genocide carried out by Netanyahu’s government in Israel.
From the Coordinating Committee there were Rati Saxena (India), Vadim Terekhin (Russia), Alex Pausides (Cuba), Oscar Saavedra Villarroel (Chile), Abdulla Issa (Palestine), Zolani Mkiva (South Africa), María Ángeles Pérez López (Spain), Christine Peiying Chen (New Zealand/China), Ashraf Aboul-Yazid (Egypt), Keshab Sigdel (Nepal), Khalid Raissouni (Morocco), and President Fernando Rendón (Colombia). They were joined by the WPM national coordinators; Christos Koukis (Greece), Enrique Sanchez Hernani (Peru), Cao Shui (China), Shirani Rajapakse (Sri Lanka), Huu Viet (Vietnam), Mohsen K. Rahjerdi (Iran), Nicolas Antonioli (Argentina), Marcelo Reis de Mello (Brazil), Rudy Alfonso Gómez (Guatemala), Zabier Hernández (Colombia),and Gloria Chvatal (Colombia), both Gloria and Vadim helped in the translation with three languages spoken; Spanish, English and Russian.
Fernando Rendón presented his proposal to call for the Planetary Poetry Action in October. The proposal was accepted by all and it was only requested to specify that the genocide is carried out by Netanyahu’s government in Israel. It was agreed to include everyone’s signature to the declaration and to start sharing it in networks and among WPM members.
Abdulla Issa, agreed with the terms of the declaration and expressed the gratitude of the poets and the Palestinian government for the commitment and work of WPM and its coordinators in each country. He reminded everyone that November 29 is the day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. He also reminded everyone that the Palestinian Writers Association is working on an anthology of poetry for Palestine and invited those present to send poems.
Those present were asked to extend the call to their contacts and to work on the organization of the October action.
Cao Shui informed that he will extend the call to Chinese poets. He invited poets to send poems against fascism and war and in solidarity with Gaza and Palestine to be translated into Chinese and published in numerous newspapers and magazines in his country, China. He expressed his commitment to carry out various actions in his country.
Huu Viet reports that many poems for Palestine have been collected in Vietnam which he will share with WPM members and that the Vietnam Writers Association supports WPM’s actions.
Christos Koukis proposes to develop a WPM event lasting 24 hours, to be deployed country by country, from east to west of the globe. All agree that it is a beautiful idea and that it would be appropriate to carry it out on November 29, the day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
It is expressed that this action is an old dream of WPM, which is contemplated in the Strategic Plan 2023-2028: to achieve a world itinerants or migration. It is proposed to analyze the technical and operational feasibility, which will depend on the commitment of all WPM and the coordinators in each country to gather poets and to produce the events. The responsibilities in each country would be to identify the poets, find the poems to be read, ideally their translations into English and Spanish. It is also required the commitment for the realization of the transmissions by regions or continents that will be coordinated with the following regions.
The national coordinators report on the actions to be carried out in their countries: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, (at least 24); Brazil, action for Palestine with the Landless Movement and virtual action with representatives of the 26 states of their country.
Read: WPM Publishes ‘Poetry Planetarait’ in Solidarity with Palestine
In Cuba, they will focus on the date of October 12, which commemorates the European invasion of America, they will carry out actions in all the provinces, also in January they will hold a Congress for Palestine, for peace and justice and against wars, 1000 artists will meet, there may present some of the anthologies that are being worked on in different countries, in February, will be the Havana Book Fair which will also be dedicated to Palestine. India (at least 7 events with an equal number of languages); Guatemala, 4 events, two in person in Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango, with many national poets, another event will be virtual with national and international poets and an action of realization of murals for Palestine. In Spain they are working on an anthology for Palestine with images and texts that is very advanced, they will have activities in the Film Festival where he offers to present virtually the anthologies that are being advanced in different coordination.
Khalid Raissouni is working with the Union of Writers of Palestine to carry out activities at the Casa Árabe and the Autonomous University of Madrid. In Nepal, activities are announced in Kathmandu and other cities; he also reports that in recent month’s events and demonstrations have been organized in support of the Palestinian people.
In South Africa, a virtual event is announced, which will have a good resonance and diffusion in networks. In Morocco they will advance activities with the House of Poetry of Morocco, they are also working on an anthology of poets of the world for Palestine.
In Chile they are also working on an anthology of 450 pages, they will work on the media strategy, while in Argentina, videos of Palestinian poets will be made to be uploaded to networks, they are making progress in the preparation of the anthology of poetry in Spanish, Arabic and Spanish, the South Atlantic Poetry Festival will be held in November with several events in support of this campaign. In Colombia, at least 15 activities will take place. Peru, at least 3 events.
Several coordinators speak of the importance of advancing a strong media strategy, nourished by union, in which everyone shares and interacts with the WPM pages and networks, to give greater projection to our action and to work with words to counteract the action of the powers that impose extreme violence on the people. It is also important to send our manifesto to the political authorities in our countries.
Ashraf Aboul-lYazid noted that it was important, last year when WPM had its October events for Africa to get dozens of designs, in different languages. He also called artists in connection with poets to have posters to be promoted with poetic lines for Palestine, against war.
Finally, a proposal of greetings from WPM to the emerging BRICS Writers Union, written by Fernando Rendón, was read and approved by those present. The meeting took place in a fraternal atmosphere of commitment to the purposes of WPM.
Read: World Poetry Movement urges international agencies to protect the Palestinian people
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