FAIRE fights on

Local group has fun, fosters awareness

Matthew Abra, volunteer staff

It was a mix of fun and funds at the Park Theatre on Jan. 23, as the growing organization FAIRE (Fostering Awareness of International Rights for Everyone) held a presentation on the connection between China’s hosting of the Olympics and the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Having generated an impressive $7,000 in funds from the sale of their 2008 human rights calendar, the evening included FAIRE’s donating the proceeds to Winnipeg Harvest, Oxfam, Siloam Mission, and Welcome Place. It was a successful drive, to say the least.

The first half of the evening was mostly occupied with that “fostering awareness” that FAIRE’s title explicitly promises, including the screening of an excerpt from the documentary The Devil Came on Horseback and a talk from Adam Muller, a U of M professor who teaches the course Representations of Genocide. The fun came after the intermission with musical performances by Sheena Grobb, a local singer-songwriter, and Hott Dog, a rapper. We, as the audience, finished off the night on our feet clapping along to Dog’s tune Let’s Stop Genocide in Darfur. I think the song was about stopping the genocide in Darfur.

You’ve got to hand it to them, since their conception in April 2007 by Chuck Duboff, FAIRE has built considerable steam as a dominant presence for educating Winnipeg on issues pertaining to human rights. Made up of over 40 members — mostly high school students — the word is getting out about their straightforward agenda. I must even concede that the Free Press beat me to the punch and already produced an article about the event, one with pictures and everything. I, however, am less interested in simply handing FAIRE some exposure and more compelled to give them a well-deserved thumbs-up to go along with it.

When I was in high school the only organization I can remember belonging to was “Assiniboine Park on Friday Nights.” I don’t recall even being aware of groups such as FAIRE at the time, but even if I had been, I will not claim now that I would have been all over that bandwagon. It wasn’t until university came a-knocking that my eyes opened to the dignified voice that still remains in youth, so I must commend these teens for their early cases of idealism.

But they are still teenagers and, if the Park Theatre was any indication, they can still present serious matters in a playful fashion that maintains their youthful convictions. It is a cultural formula that I think needs to be more frequently employed. Perhaps then the “me’s” of high school will graduate far better informed. Graduation is, after all, supposed to be that moment when you enter the “real world.” If anything, groups like FAIRE provide young people the prospect of entering that world with compassion and awareness. As Duboff put it, “These kids are here because they care.”

I personally love the idea of having fun while caring. It’s only FAIRE.

For more information on the group, you can e-mail them at faire.wpg@gmail.com. And I heard whisperings of a website being in the works.