Afri (organisation)

Afri (Action from Ireland) is a Dublin-based NGO that promotes human rights, peace, justice and environmentalism, especially in the Global South, with a focus on injustice caused by conflict. Its patron is Archbishop Desmond Tutu.[1] Another patron of is former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday.[2]

It is a member of the International Peace Bureau, Dóchas, the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Act Now on 2015, and IDEA (Irish Development Education Association).[2]

Its offices are in Phibsboro, Dublin.

Mission

Its mission is the promotion of global justice and peace, and the reduction of poverty; this includes, but is not limited to, the progressive reduction of global militarisation.

History

Initially, as of 1 September 1975, AfRI was taken from the phrase "Aid from the Republic of Ireland". At the International Conference on World Peace and Poverty in 1982 the Afri name was re-designated, now meaning "Action from Ireland".[3]

Annual events

Famine Walk
Doolough memorial erected by Afri and unveiled in 1994 at the seventh annual walk led by Arun Gandhi to commemorate the Doolough tragedy and the end of the apartheid.[4]

Each year since 1988, Afri has hosted a Famine Walk to commemorate the Great Hunger at Doolough in south County Mayo.[5]

Feile Bride

Feile Bride celebrates and reflects on the spirit of St Brigid’s millennium-old message of justice, peace and hope. It happens annually in Kildare around the start of Spring in February. Its roots may be traced back to an episode in 1983 when five young men from Derry learned how to make Brigid Crosses and donated the proceeds from their sale to Afri. This developed into a schools’ campaign, the Brigid Peace Cross Campaign. Ten years later, in 1993, the first Féile Bríde was organized, to celebrate the success of the schools’ campaign, intended as a ‘one-off’ justice and peace conference. It was held in Kildare and has been re-run there every spring-time since.[6]

Hedge school

Since 1998, Afri has runs a hedge school at different places around Ireland, which has become an annual event reflecting on 'contemporary issues of injustice and oppression through conversation, debate and music'.[6]

Campaigns

Afri initiated a national “active citizenship” campaign in 2010, after a Government-initiated 'Active Citizenship Office' was closed the previous year, saying “traditional sources of authority have proven to be ineffective”.[7][8]

Afri were co-organisers of the POSSIBILITIES event, which in 2011 welcomed the Dalai Lama to Ireland.[2]

More recent campaigns have included two petitions organised via Change.org:

  • Ban Fracking On The Island Of Ireland (2014)
  • Uphold our constitution! Inspect war planes using Shannon Airport (~2014)

Their partnerships with the global south include the Kenya Pastoralist Journalist Network and the Niger Delta communities.[2]

Afri also work in Northern Ireland with the charity Children in Crossfire.[2]

References
  1. "Archbishop Tutu speaks out on Corrib as seven are arrested '...Dr Tutu stated that, as patron of the Irish peace and justice group, Afri...'". 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2009-05-11. Archived copy retrieved 10 April 2017
  2. Fran Brady Writings: 'Causes', dated 2014, at franbradywritings.com Accessed 15 April 2017
  3. History of Afri, at afri.ie Accessed 1 May 2017
  4. Meagher, Allen (11 May 1994). "1,000 join Mr. Gandhi on 'Famine Walk'". The Mayo News. p. 35.
  5. Áine Ryan, 17 May 2016: Remembering the Rising at the Doolough famine walk: "...While the walk examines the causes and effects of famine, the Food Sovereignty Assembly, now in its third year, asks ‘how do we resolve the issue?’..." at mayonews.ie Accessed 10 April 2017
  6. Website, www.afri.ie Accessed 15 April 2017
  7. Afri 'active citizenship' campaign for 2010, in 'CHANGING IRELAND' ISSUE 30/31 p.12 Accessed 11 April 2017
  8. "Rights body Afri plans citizenship campaign" 23 November, 2009, at irishtimes.com Accessed 10 April 2017
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