International Festival for Humanity 2002
March 25th to 27th - McGill University - Montreal, Quebec
The International Festival for Humanity (IFH)
was conceived in October 1997 when students in Lima, Peru organized the first
Youth Festival for Democracy. This Festival expressed
the desire of young
Peruvians to live in a country that respects democracy, human rights and
liberty of expression.
This celebration included poets, circus performers, musicians, actors, photographers, painters, and sculptors who used their art as a means to express this desire. The first Youth Festival for Democracy was successful in allowing individuals to express their ideals through effective non-violent means.
The Project, an international student organization based out of McGill University, is a student movement that seeks to sustain and celebrate the values and creative spirit articulated by these youth in Peru. The Project encourages discussion, critical thinking, and action regarding issues of local, national, and international scope of social, economic, and political relevance. As a group of diverse individuals, The Project recognizes diverse political opinions as crucial to the commitment of questioning the world in which we live.
Maintaining the powerful legacy of the Festival in Peru, the IFH 2002 will be celebrating its 4th year at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. This year, the IFH is about communicating our desire for change. It strives to inspire people to discover their ideals and to instil a commitment within them that will compel a desire to act. The Festival promotes critical thought, deconstructs assumptions, and refutes imagined limits of powerlessness.
In a climate of growing global economic hegemony and rapid changes in human existence and interconnectedness, the IFH 2002 addresses six focus areas - international law, technology, social inequality, identity and conflict, media and marketing, and environment - which guide our desire to reconsider the way our world is built, to question the compromises we have accepted, and to examine the whys of our choices. With their strength of expression, art, drama, and speakers are at the forefront of how the IFH 2002 seeks to make its message resonate within its audience.
