Artists and civil society gather to celebrate Peace Day in Cairo

Darb 1718 cultural centre will host a one-day event organised by local NGO's, CISV Egypt and Masterpeace, to promote peace on the United Nations' International Day of Peace on Friday 21 September. The event will include concerts starting 4pm by local musicians Salalem, Like Jelly, Ze Khodz, High on Body Fat, Ahmed Safi, Abu Mariam, Shady Ahmed and his band, Rash Radio and the Kassettes and possibly more popular bands and musicians. The musical lineup was the contribution of Bikya Bookstore in Maadi, who regularly host small concerts at their venue. Cairo's Peace Day celebration will also include an NGO fair, with NGO booths to raise awareness about their issues, recruit volunteers and promote social development activities, such as Wataneya Society, 350, Alwan wa Awtar and Banaty. There will also be a Kids Corner, with informal education activities on peace that CISV Egypt specialises in. Not only that, but there will also be peace education for adults on conflict resolution and living within diversity. The event is also supported by Culture of Peace, who will be documenting the day. The two main NGOs behind the event have planned smaller events in previous years to celebrate Peace Day. This year they decided to collaborate for a bigger event to reach more people. CISV Egypt is the local chapter of CISV International, an NGO dedicated to educate and inspire action for a more just and peaceful world through multi-cultural informal education activities and programmes. Masterpeace is a global initiative, based in Cairo, aiming to bring together artists from around the world to promote a culture of peace with a bigger aim to host a massive artistic event by the pyramids in 2014. For the week following the event, there will be a series of workshops, film screenings and events revolving around Peace in Cairo, ending with a Street Art Festival on 28 September behind the Ministry of Agriculture in Dokki. The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations General Assembly vote in 2001 after independent filmmaker Jeremy Gilley traveled around the world, meeting world leaders and peacekeepers, trying to promote the concept. He founded the NGO Peace One Day, and its sole purpose is to promote the day, along with peace education and initiatives for non-violence around the world. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Jude Law support the initiative. Programme: Friday, 21 September 2012, starting at 2:00pm Darb 1718 grounds Qasr Al Shamee Street, Al Fakhareen, behind the Hanging Church and Amr Mosque From / Ahram Online