One
projects that promote harmony between the different cultures present in New York. On
September 13, 2003, after nine months of preparation, Movement One organized the
First Queens International Poetry Festival which was held in the beautiful auditorium of
the Flushing Library, America's busiest library.
Over two hundred people attended and participants included: Huang Xiang who has
written over fifteen books and who was imprisoned twelve years in his native China
because of his role as a leader in the Democracy Wall Movement during the Cultural
Revolution; and Jyotirmoy Datta, editor of News India-Times and author of several
books. During Indira Gandhi's crackdown on civil liberties, Datta was imprisoned
because he defied censorship orders and continued publishing the critical cultural
magazine, Kolkata.
Besides the participation of twenty poets from eleven different ethnicities, the festival
included a demonstration of words and drumming by members of Cabildo
Kanda7Tumba,an Afro-Cuban spiritual society, as well as a musical performance by
sitarist Dawoud Kringle and the New Culture Ensemble.
After the success of the first festival, the organizers decided to register their group of
pirates as a not-for-profit organization in New York State.
In the past year, Movement One has organized several programs, including the
Second Queens International Poetry Festival. The coalition continues to foster good
relationships with both the community it serves and other arts organizations.
In the past two years, the coalition has secured co-sponsorship from
such respected organizations as The Queens Council on the Arts, Poets House, The
Queensborough Public Library, Gathering of the Tribes, The Afrikan Poetry Theater
and several writers organizations such as RAWI (Radius of Arab Writers in America)
and Wen Xin She Literary Organizations.
Local business in Queens, NY such as Terazza Cafe and Laziza Sweets of New York
have also contributed to sponsor coalition projects. Finally several individuals have
donated to Movement One on the condition they remain anonyomous. Amongst these
is a used car dealer who was an activist in his country of origin.
Movement One is proud of the working relationship it has with the Queens Council on
the Arts. Besides co-sponsoring the first and second Queens International Poetry
festivals, the Council commissioned Movement One in 2004 to curate the East/West
Festival of Near Eastern, which was considered a resounding success.
After the global violence that was unleashed in the fall of 2001, Movement One asserts
there is a better way to live. Through truthfully delving into each other's cultures,
through creatively working together, that better way to live will not just be a dream, but a
reality.
