Chipmunk BEAST – GPF London 2008 Celebration

The Peacemakers Beatles Tribute “Hey Jude” – GPF London 2008 Celebration

Successful models of Community Cohesion in Urban Europe

Parliamentarians’ role

The Community Cohesion Focus Group was lucky to have two MPs

Community Cohesion work over the previous year

Saleha Jaffer, Joint Chair of Community Cohesion Working Group, gave a report of the work carried out during the past year.

German Perspective

Mr Inan Bayram, District Parliamentarian from Hamburg, Germany, who is of Turkish origin, spoke passionately about the developments in Hamburg and Germany as a whole, and of bringing better levels of community cohesion.

Youth Service Projects

Elisa Brann and Chigo Ahunany spoke about the Youth Service Projects they organised during Global Peace Festival, giving short reports on how each of their projects brought youth together from different parts of Europe to interact with youth in London,

Italian Perspective

Mauro Sarasso and Mario Falani spoke about their work in Italy.

Work in Birmingham

Mrs Shibion Gorman and Mrs Swaran Talwar both spoke passionately about their women’s interfaith work in Birmingham, which has created great projects in bringing communities together.

Work in Newham

Canon Ann Easter spoke about an excellent model of faith leaders working for community cohesion in Newham, London, when several members of the clergy came together to tackle ‘Paki Bashing’ [as it was called in the early 1980s] in Newham.

GPF London Celebration – Dawud Wharnsby “Midnight”

GPF London Celebration – Dawud Wharnsby “Out Seeing in the Feild”

GPF London 2008 Celebration – Water Ceremony

GPF London 2008 Celebration – ‘This Small House’ Trina & Il-Hwa

Break and Build Climax in Greenwich

Thursday the 20th of November saw the climax of the Break and Build projects, with a finale event in North Greenwich. Over 50 young people from all over the world gathered together to take part in the intercultural themed morning and litter picking along the Thames during the afternoon.

Interfaith Focus Session

Although the popularity of the interfaith focus session could have been predicted, the level of popularity was unprecedented: Extra chairs had to be brought into the conference room even after the focus session had started in order to accommodate the large number of participants.

Environment Focus Session and Display

On entering the exhibition area in ExCeL on Saturday 22nd November 2008, one of the first things that caught everyone’s eye was a dazzling green algae lamp! The contribution to the Global Peace Festival by the Environment Focus Group chaired by C-Green Solutions and the benefits returned were both highly successful. These included a project co-sponsored by the GPF, an exhibition stand and a focus session.