The Maine Campus Online

Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News

Media Credit: pattie barry PAX PLAYERS - Nationally acclaimed gospel performers Kim and Reggie Harris were part of the entertainment lineup at the Hope Festival. The duo recently released a new CD, "Get on Board."

Media Credit: pattie barry BUBBLES, NOT BOMBS - Volunteer Vicki Nesin from LincolnPeace.Org, an organization to raise awareness of the violence in Iraq, blows bubbles at the Hope Festival Saturday.

Last Saturday nearly 70 groups from around the state of Maine invited students and members of the surrounding community to join them and give peace a chance.

A wide variety of peace, environmental, multicultural and feminist groups gathered for the 13th annual Help Organize Peace Earthwide (HOPE) Festival from noon to 4 p.m. in the University of Maine Field House. The festival, which was organized by the Eastern Maine Peace and Justice Center, also featured musical performers and other entertainers, local craftsmen selling their wares, arts, crafts and entertainment for children, and locally grown and organic food.

The festival, in its third year held at UMaine, featured groups promoting such diverse causes as the Baha'i faith, demilitarization of space and "fat pride." The groups, of course, all shared at least one common cause - promoting peace.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for us to come and learn from each other, and really shine a light on what's possible," said Lynn Ellis, coordinator for the Maine Department of Peace. The department is working and lobbying for a U.S. Department of Peace to be established as part of the executive branch, with a secretary that would "sit at the policy table with all the other departments and look at what solutions there are, what alternatives there are," according to Ellis.

The organizational fair featured 65 groups from eastern Maine, each representing an aspect of peace and social justice. Ilze Petersons, program coordinator of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, put together the organizational fair and publicized the event, and feels that the festival is indicative of the momentum of the peace movement.

"It's so inspirational and energizing for the coming activism in the year ahead. And seeing all the good people doing so much good work is really heartening." Petersons also cited the March 17 demonstration in Bangor that commemorated the 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq. Media documented the Bangor demonstration across the country, including newspapers in Florida, San Francisco, Connecticut and Boston.

The festival showcased the wide breadth of grassroots democratic activism that Maine residents regularly engage in. There were groups at the festival informing attendees of their self-sustaining, environmentally friendly communities and many others selling handmade crafts and locally grown food.

"We're so lucky because I think we feel like we can really make a difference here. I think in larger states that people don't think they can," Petersons commented on the variety of grassroots citizens action groups in attendance.

As Petersons commented, the HOPE Festival certainly bodes well for the future of the peace movement. Ellis is also optimistic about the future of the movement and its potential achievements.

"So much of what we do is about problems, and I feel like we really equally need to look at what possible solutions there are. We do need to give people 'hope,' literally. There's a sense of despair, a lot these days, with the violence that's in our society."

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