THE CAPITAL is once again set to jostle and jingle to the sights, sounds and smells of Asia, Africa, Europe and other parts of the world as migrant support group KISA stages its annual Rainbow Festival this Sunday for a 13th year running.
Under the motto ‘Cypriots and Migrants United against the Crisis’, the festival aims to use dance, music and food from around the world to highlight “the need to deal with the economic crisis together with migrants, who are its most vulnerable victims, and not against them”.
KISA representative Doros Polycarpou yesterday warned against holding migrants as the main ‘culprits’ of the crisis and creating a sense of competition with other vulnerable segments of society.
“History teaches us that using migrants and other vulnerable groups as scapegoats in crises such as the present one acts as a boomerang against society itself and its institutions, against democracy and human rights,” he said.
Polycarpou pointed to Ireland as a good example of correct state behaviour during the crisis. While France and Italy have a worse track record, he said, the Irish on the other hand recognised the role played by migrants in the last 20 years and implemented policies to protect them from the worst impacts of the crisis and ensure their viability in the country.
The festival is organised in collaboration with migrant communities, foreign students, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot bicommunal organisations, human rights activists and cultural groups and will be divided into two parts.
The first is this Sunday from 11am to 5pm at the Nicosia municipal gardens, also known as CyTA park. The second festival will be held for the first time in Larnaca at Finikoudes beach on Friday, November 5, from 5pm to 10pm.
The Rainbow Festival has been held each year in Nicosia for 13 years, bringing culture, food, music, dance, art and general good times to Cyprus from all over the world. It is usually a chance for the migrant population living here to show off their talents on stage or simply release some nostalgia in front of a welcoming audience.
To KISA’s dismay and confusion, the lively shows have yet to enter the hearts of the capital’s local residents, with Cypriots representing a minority at the event. More recently, the festival has attracted large numbers of Europeans though, noted Polycarpou.
The festival is put together on a shoe-string budget, restricting KISA’s ability to implement its wish to spread the cultural event to all towns in Cyprus. The last three years, the festival has also been held on the beach in Limassol, proving much more popular among Cypriots in the coastal town.
However, this year, the migrant support group decided at the last minute to change location and hold the festival in Larnaca instead to counter a “provocative” anti-migrant march there.
KISA hopes to provide a counter-message to the demonstration planned against migrants by the Greek Resistance Movement (KEA) with the participation of the Pancyprian Anti-occupation Movement (PAK) and the Movement for the Salvation of Cyprus that same day.
Polycarpou said these groups use slogans like ‘No to the Islamisation of our Nation’ and call for the immediate deportation of illegal migrants and end to the ‘provocative benefits and other excessive privileges of so-called political refugees’.
Apart from the music, dancing and drumbeats, the Rainbow Festival offers an array of tasty food from abroad, exhibitions, information kiosks, a lively children’s corner and bazaar.
Those involved in staging the event include Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, Pontians and communities from: Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Kurdish Democratic Commission, the Philippines, Burma, Ghana, Vietnam, Palestine, Georgia, Congo, Iran, India and Egypt.
Entrance is free and for those wanting free bus transport from Nicosia to Larnaca or Limassol to Nicosia, call: 22878181.
