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Belgian ecologist Eric Van Monckhoven, Renzo Spiteri and his band TRANIA, local funk band Zizza Ensemble, French singer-songwriter Rouage, writers Immanuel Mifsud and Adrian Grima, and Koperattiva Rurali Manikata are among the guests of the fair trade festival WorldFest at the Upper Barracca Gardens on Sunday 22 June between 4.00pm and 10.00pm. Ethnic food and Fair Trade drinks will be on sale from 6.45pm onwards.

Hundreds of Fair Trade handmade crafts and jewellery from disadvantaged communities in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean will be on sale together with an ever increasing range of foodstuffs, drinks, cds of world music, musical instruments, clothes, ornaments, and local products from Koperattiva Rurali Manikata.

Fair Trade and reducing the carbon footprint

The theme of this year’s seventh edition of WorldFest is “Fair Trade and the Environment” and coincides with a worldwide campaign among fair organizations. The public forum between 5.30pm and 7.00pm will focus on "Climate Change and Global Justice." University lecturer and SKOP coordinator Vince Caruana, sociologist Anna Zammit and Eric Van Monckhoven will be the main speakers.

Eric Van Monckhoven focuses mainly on culture, grass roots organisations, community empowerment and networking. He has worked in many different countries, mainly in Scandinavia, Italy, and West Africa.

“I am interested,” says Mr. Van Monckhoven, “in the normal citizen, in social and environmental issues. I try to find the connections between being a human being, our environment and where we come from. Somehow whole cultures have lost the memory of their past. So I'm interested in the most ancient cultures in the world where people have kept alive their traditions: indigenous people, aboriginals.”

The change of the world’s climate is undisputed. It will affect both North and South, but on different levels. In southern countries over 1.1 billion people are living in absolute poverty. Already, they are living and working under harsh climatic conditions: natural disasters such as storms, droughts and floods threaten lives directly. As a result of climate change such events will happen more often and with greater intensity. It is lives in the South that will be most at risk.

Fair Trade, which is present in Malta through Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust, the only local Fair Trade organisation, is a force for protecting the environment while promoting sustainable development. Fair Trade favours the sustainable use of natural resources and production methods that are not capital and oil intensive, favouring hand production and organic agriculture – to reduce the carbon footprint. Because Fair Trade is committed to paying a living wage and works in long-term partnerships, it enables producer partners to invest in environmentally friendly production. In turn, these initiatives promote environmental awareness locally and internationally.

Music to our ears

Multi-percussionist Renzo Spiteri returns to WorldFest, this time with his new band Trania, which also includes the well-known Walter Vella on flutes and saxophone, and Mark Attard on keyboards. The second band playing on the night are the reinvigorated local funk band Zizza Ensemble who will be playing some of their new numbers which will feature on the album they are currently recording.

This year’s two-hour free live concert starts at 8.00pm with French singer-songwriter Rouage and poets Adrian Grima and Immanuel Mifsud, who will be presenting irreverent new verses inspired by climate change and its effect on people and the environment.

WorldFest 2008 is dedicated to Lília do Amaral Azevedo, a Brazilian peace and justice activist and good friend of the Maltese fair trade cooperative who passed away on 31 May. She was a guest of WorldFest in 2004.

Entrance to the festival and all events is free. WorldFest is organised by the volunteers of Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust that run the world shop L-Arka in collaboration with the project Playing Fair Alternatives which is supported by the EU, IFAT and the NEWS! network of fair trade shops.

In Maltese

It-Tibdil fil-Klima u l-Kummerċ Ġust fil-WorldFest
22 ta’ Ġunju, il-Barrakka ta’ Fuq, 4.00pm-10.00pm

L-ekoloġista Belġjan Eric van Monckhoven, il-grupp Trania ta’ Renzo Spiteri, il-grupp Malti ta’ mużika funk Zizza Ensemble, il-kantawtur Franċiż Rouage, il-kittieba Immanuel Mifsud u Adrian Grima, u l-Koperattiva Rurali Manikata se jkunu wħud mill-mistiedna tas-seba’ edizzjoni ta’ WorldFest, il-festival tal-kummerċ ġust, li se jsir il-Ħadd, 22 ta’ Ġunju, fil-Barrakka ta’ Fuq, bejn l-4.00pm u l-10.00pm.

Id-dħul għall-attivitajiet kollha, inkluż il-kunċert li jibda fit-8.00pm, se jkun b’xejn. Mis-6.45pm ’il quddiem se jinbiegħ ikel Afrikan imsajjar apposta għal dan l-avveniment annwali use jinbiegħ xorb tal-kummerċ ġust b’ingredjenti minn bnadi differenti tad-dinja. It-tema ta’ din is-sena hija “Il-Kummerċ Ġust u l-Ambjent.”

Fil-5.30pm se jsir forum pubbliku dwar “It-Tibdil fil-Klima u l-Ġustizzja Globali” bis-sehem ta’ l-edukatur Vince Caruana u s-soċjologa Anna Zammit mill-Università ta’ Malta, u l-espert Belġjan Eric van Monckhoven li ġej Malta apposta għal dan il-Festival. Fil-kunċert ta’ mużika live li jibda fit-8.00pm se jieħdu sehem il-kittieba Adrian Grima u Immanuel Mifsud li se jippreżentaw poeżiji ġodda dwar it-tibdil fil-klima u l-impatt li qed iħalli fuq il-bnedmin u fuq l-ambjent. Magħhom se jieħu sehem ukoll il-kantawtur Franċiż Rouage. Il-perkussjonista magħruf Renzo Spiteri se jerġa’ jieħu sehem f’dan il-festival, din id-darba bil-grupp tiegħu Trania, li jinkludi lill-mużiċisti stabbiliti Walter Vella fuq il-flawtijiet u s-sassofonu, u Mark Attard fuq il-keyboards. Il-kunċert jagħlaq bil-grupp ta’ mużika funk Zizza Ensemble, li bħalissa qed iħejju l-ewwel album tagħhom. Fil-WorldFest se jdoqqu wkoll materjal ġdid miktub għal dan l-album. Din is-sena se jkun hemm mijiet ta’ prodotti tal-kummerċ ġust maħdumin minn komunitajiet żvantaġġati fl-Amerika Latina, l-Asja, l-Afrika u l-Mediterran. Dan ix-xogħol ta’ kwalità maħdum bl-idejn jinkludi xogħol ġdid ta’ l-artiġjanat, ġojjellerija u affarijiet għad-dar minn pajjiżi bħall-Eġittu. Se jkun hemm firxa ikbar minn qatt qabel ta’ prodotti ta’ l-ikel, xorb, cds tal-mużika mid-dinja kollha, strumenti mużikali, ħwejjeġ, tiżjin, u prodotti tal-Koperattiva Rurali Manikata (www.manikatafarmers.com), li għandha wkoll rwol soċjali u edukattiv importanti.

L-edukatur Vince Caruana, is-soċjologa Anna Zammit, u l-ekoloġista Eric Van Monckhoven se jkunu l-kelliema ewlenin f’forum pubbliku dwar “It-Tibdil fil-Klima u l-Ġustizzja Globali” bejn il- 5.30pm u s-7.00pm. fil-ħidma tiegħu Eric Van Monckhoven jiffoka fuq il-kultura, l-għaqdiet li jiffurmaw fost in-nies komuni, il-valorizzazzjoni tal-komunità u t-tkattir tal-kuntatti bejn in-nies u l-għaqdiet. Ħadem, fost l-oħrajn, fl-Italja, f’bosta pajjiżi Skandinavi u fil-Punent ta’ l-Afrika. “I believe,” jgħid van Monckhoven, “that the natural world is a living memory, a piece of art that took many generations to build up and that there is much to learn from it. While ‘modern people’ have almost become illiterate in terms of nature, ‘Ancient people’ easily speak about it as the ‘Book of Life.’ And from my experience, this is not only poetry.” (http://blogspot.migmoes.com) F’dawn l-aħħar snin, tgħid Nathalie Grima mill-Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust li qed imexxu l-WorldFest, aktar nies saru konxji tat-tibdil fil-klima u kif qed jaffettwa l-ambjent tad-dinja. Ir-riċerka qed turi li komunitajiet żgħar li jgħixu f’pajjiżi li għadhom qed jiżviluppaw fin-nofsinhar tad-dinja, għandhom l-inqas “carbon footprints,” jiġifieri jagħmlu l-inqas ħsara lill-ambjent fil-ħajja ta’ kuljum tagħhom. Madanakollu, huma wkoll l-iktar nies li qed ikollhom iħabbtu wiċċhom ma’ nuqqas ta’ sigurtà fil-ħajja ta’ kuljum, ngħidu aħna fil-provvista ta’ l-ikel u l-aċċess għad-djar, għax jgħixu fil-pajjiżi li l-aktar qed jintlaqtu mit-tibdil fil-klima. Eżempju riċenti ħafna ta’ dan huwa t-traġedja umana u ambjentali bla qies li ħalla warajh l-urugan li attakka lil Myanmar. Eżempju ieħor huwa dak ta’ komunitajiet indiġeni li kellhom jitilqu mill-gżejjer żgħar tal-Paċifiku fejn għexu għal mijiet, jekk mhux eluf ta’ snin, minħabba li l-livell tal-baħar qed jogħla u jipperikolalhom ħajjithom. WorldFest 2008 huwa ddedikat lil Lília do Amaral Azevedo, attivista Brażiljana favur il-paċi u l-ġustizzja u ħabiba tal-koperattiva Maltija tal-kummerċ ġust, li mietet fil-31 ta’ Mejju. Azevedo kienet waħda mill-mistednin speċjali tal-WorldFest fl-2004. Il-festival tal-kummerċ ġust WorldFest qed jittella’ mill-voluntiera tal-Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust bi sħab ma’ IFAT, man-network tal-ħwienet dinjin bl-isem ta’ NEWS! u mal-proġett Playing Fair Alternatives li rċieva finanzjament mill-UE.

Dawk li jixtiequ aktar informazzjoni dwar WorldFest 2008 u dwar il-koperattiva ta’ voluntiera li tmexxi l-ħanut dinji L-Arka fi Triq San Pawl il-Belt, jistgħu jċemplu fuq 21 244 865 jew 2131 5562. Inkella jistgħu jiktbu lil kkg@maltaforum.org jew iżuru s-sit www.l-arka.org.