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The Adelaide Peace Festival.
 "If you build a house, you start with one brick. If we want to build peace, why not start with one day?" So said British film-maker Jeremy Gilley, and it was Gilley's singular vision and subsequent documentary of the same name in 1998 that went on to become The International Day of Peace: a day of global ceasefire and non-violence established in 2002, supported by the United Nations and now marked in the calendar on September 21.
Calling on countless world governments, organisations and individuals around the world, the cause is the prime inspiration behind Youth Hostel Association SA's third annual Adelaide Peace Festival. Di Caught and Tanya Schroeder, two of the event's organisers, are both fervently excited about making this year's festival the biggest yet.
"That's right," enthuses Caught, "and that's why we've got a diverse range of acts and happening, and there's many different community groups involved as well. And because it's free means that people can check it out without outlaying any money.
"YHA's mission has always been to bring people together and educate them about different races, ages and cultures, and everything so it's educating about tolerance between people. YHA is really a lot more than just backpacking; they give people an opportunity to learn. The people who stay in hostels are the sort who are there to learn and meet people and that's why YHA started this, and that's why we got involved with it also. Then the festival got bigger because Tanya saw the movie and then became really passionate about it. She then met Jeremy Gilley, who single-handedly approached the United Nations and got people on his side to have them actually recognise the day, so this is one thing we can do to help make people aware."
"We also want to make people aware of other cultures and their talents and what they can bring to our culture," Schroeder continues. "We've got a lot of migrants here and, for instance, for the Sudanese people this is a great way to welcome them into the community. A lot of the performers have been great and aren't charging anything for doing this and that's how we can afford to do it, and as you can see we've got a lot of sponsors. If big businesses didn't think we had the merit then they wouldn't have given so much. And there's a lot of people who have worked behind the scenes that also don't get paid, so it's affected a lot of people and they're just happy to contribute because they believe in it."
It's this belief that originally started as a small whisper and grew into a loud roar, is further validated by Schroeder by stating that: "Not everyone is going to respect a Christian holiday, but I believe that ceasefires have been known to happen on Christmas Day. And it has already actually happened on Peace One day in some countries in Africa, so it has had some effect. If you look at the website [www.peaceoneday.org] you can see all the different countries and their commitments and the successes that they've had."
The Adelaide Peace Festival is hosted by Triple J's Steve Cannane and Kaurna Elder Georgina Williams.
Steve Jones
 | Adelaide Peace Festival happens in Light Square at midday on Sun 18 Sept and features Lior, Sophie Koh, Thami Soli Miotshwa, The Yearlings, Problem Pony, The Casio Brothers, Trochus, Studio Flamenco, Las Chicas Bombas, Cultural Fusion, Soul Capoeira, Japanese Dance Theatre, Drum Atwerne, Aturu Taru Taiko and The Amazing Drumming Monkeys. |
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