SOUTH ASIAN PEOPLES FORUM

Organizations - Advocacy Organizations

On Saturday last, February 16th 2008 , at the Port Credit Secondary School in Mississauga , 600 people - including many full families - gathered to celebrate the memory of the revolutionary Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984). It was the first Faiz Peace Festival to be held outside Pakistan and was a wondrous occasion of memory, poetry, and political reflection and solidarity which lasted over 5 hours. Faiz’ daughter, Muneeza Hashmi, arrived for the event from Pakistan , bringing greetings from his family and a new documentary film made by her son. Professional and community singers and musicians from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh performed Faiz’s poems in music throughout the night; Mafa, a dancer from South Africa presented a unique collaboration with Askari, a community Pakistani musician on Faiz’ one poem on Africa; Adam Hanieh, of Palestine House, spoke of Faiz’ familiarity with the Palestinian and Arab liberation struggles and his impact on the intellectuals from that region; and Cheran, a poet from Sri Lanka powerfully recited Faiz poems in Tamil translation. Barrister Hamid Bashani Khan spoke on current political situation in Pakistan .Aparna Sundar, a professor of Politics at Ryerson University, spoke of the need to deepen friendship between India and Pakistani people in the GTA , while Ashfaq Hussain, of Asian Television News, gave an eloquent criticism of Faiz’ poems in Urdu. Most enjoyably, Punjabi and Pakistani youth groups danced and presented a youth-driven interpretation of contemporary politics. The evening ended with a collective sing-along of Faiz’ poems “Hum Dekhenge” (We Will find a New Dawn”). The event was organized by the South Asian Peoples Forum, a new political collective in the GTA , which has the promotion of the views of ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘secularism’ in its mandate. SAPF coordinator was ably assisted by Terik Hameed and other artistes in the South Asian community, who volunteered their enthusiasm and energy.
Professor Sara Abraham of university of Toronto , Dr. Khalid Sohail, Syed Azeem, Amer Hussain Jafery, Smina Rayaz, and Zhera Abbas spoke on the occasion.