São Paulo – The refugees and Iraq’s culture takes center stage at the seventh edition of the South American Festival of Arab Culture that begins this Friday (18) and ends March 31. The festival is organized by the Arab and South American Library and Research Center (Bibliaspa) and is always scheduled for March as a way to celebrate de day of the Arab community in Brazil, which is March 25. There will be a film festival, lectures, debates, workshops, art presentations and exhibitions.
According to Bibliaspa’s director and curator of the festival, Paulo Farah, also a professor at São Paulo University (USP), the refugees living in Brazil will participate in the debates and do presentations. “The festival’s goal is to promote peace and celebrate cultural diversity. This year we want to underscore the cultural and intellectual heritage of the refugees. Thus, we will have a program in which they are the protagonists or that cover their reality”, he said.
The main reason for taking the refugees to the festival’s center stage is the increase in the number of people that request and receive refuge in Brazil due, especially, to the Syrian conflict. Bibliaspa has been taken in these refugees and developing a specific programing to integrate them in society and labor market. Some of the festival’s events are collecting school supplies.
In the state of São Paulo, the program will spread through the cities of São Paulo, Barueri, Diadema, Embu das Artes, Guarulhos, Itapecerica da Serra, São Bernardo do Campo, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, Sorocaba, Taboão da Serra and Santana de Parnaíba. In Paraná, the cities chosen are Maringá, Curitiba and Paranaguá. Florianópolis. In Santa Catarina, Florianópolis. IN Rio de Janeiro, the capital Rio de Janeiro. In Espírito Santo, Vitória, with Olinda being chosen in Pernambuco and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
On March 31, São Paulo’s state Congress will host the debate “Refugees: reception and rights in the legal field and other branches”. One day earlier, Ribeirão Preto will host the debate “Human rights, reception and integration of refugees in Brazil”.
Iraq is present in the event through the exhibitions “Iraq: archaeological treasures and destruction of world heritage”, with images and objects, and “Iraqi Tapestry”, of tapestry, both to take place in the city of São Paulo. The festival will also cover other countries and matters related to the Arab world. Palestine will be the topic of a lecture and artist Carmen Zaglul will present her drawings in the exhibition “Ânima: ao encontro da minha essência” (Ânima: towards my essence), which focus on her Lebanese origins. Dance presentations, exhibitions and calligraphy workshops are also in the program. Debates and lectures end on March 31, but some exhibits go on until April 18.
7th South American Festival of Arab Culture
March 18 to 31, 2016 – Exhibitions until April 18
Further information: https://issuu.com/bibliaspa9/docs/folder_festival_saca_2016-_issuu/1?e=14626305/34087794
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
