Youth Peace Festival

In celebration of Youth Day, the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) hosted a peace festival under the theme, “Promoting sustainable livelihoods and the resilience of young people for a better tomorrow.” The festivities were held at the Albert Luthuli Plaza near the Civic Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, where around 1,500 youths from all over Cape Town gathered for IPYG’s first offline event since the outbreak of COVID-19. The peace festival was held in remembrance of the youth who lost their lives during the Soweto Youth Uprising on June 16^th, 1976.

The IPYG South Africa said it hopes this event will bring awareness of the need for an increase in peace projects within in the communities, the importance of volunteering, and the dialogue of significantly reducing all forms of violence. As a way to cope with the violence in the community in South Africa, the IPYG South Africa promoted the achievements of HWPL at a private level to show how noteworthy they were in that it presents a “new model of peace” to the global community.

At these events that took place all afternoon, guest speakers presented the strides their organizations have taken towards peace and urged the attending youth and students to get involved in advocacy efforts for a conflict-free society. Also, in the order of highlights of the event, the participating young people marched in solidarity with the ‘We Are One’ pickets in their hands, calling for an end to the ongoing violence within the Cape communities in hopes to becoming one for peace.

 

>> Speech of Uzair Rossier, a Student of Bonteheweul High School