Voices of Belonging and Resistance

On 27 April 2021, PEN South Africa in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre (JHGC), the Sylt Foundation and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) presented “Voices of Belonging and Resistance”, focusing on the current situation in Myanmar.

Board member Bongani Kona represented PEN South Africa at the event which included a poetry book launch and a conversation about the role of contemporary artists with Di Lu Galay. Dr Simon Adams gave an update on the crisis in Myanmar.

Dr. Simon Adams is Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, which works to prevent mass atrocity crimes – genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – throughout the world and conducts advocacy with the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council. Dr. Adams previously worked with governments and civil society organisations in South Africa, East Timor, Rwanda and elsewhere.

Di Lu Galay (born 1986) is a Yangon based (human rights) lawyer and one of the young poets playing an important role in the latest generation of poets in Burma. He is the organiser of the poetry festival “Midnight Poetry Festival” on Facebook – an important platform for Burmese poets. His first volume of poetry “The Murderer’s Handwriting” has been translated into English and German.

The event is available to watch on the JHGC’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nePHJL-Eaxs