IBBY Pakistan's Poster Campaign
Monday, December 8th, 2008This week we have watched with shock and horror the events unfold in Mumbai, India . Our sympathies go out to all those affected by the tragic events, especially the children. Last week I posted about Bookaroo – India’s first ever festival of children’s literature. The event was a huge success and organizers had hoped to take the event to Mumbai in the New Year. Now it remains to be seen if that will happen.
Our new issue of PaperTigers focuses on the timely themes of war, peace and social justice in relation to children’s books. How can we help children to cope with the divisiveness and contradictions at play in the world today? How can we help them to feel that they have the power to change things for the better? PaperTigers Managing Editor Aline points out “At no other time in recent history have these themes been more relevant or their challenges more urgent than they are now”. How true!
With the events in India fresh in my mind, I am reminded by a campaign to encourage reading that the Pakistan chapter of IBBY started following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007. As the country plunged into violence and civil unrest, IBBY Pakistan initiated a poster campaign in an attempt to “counteract the daily subjection of the children to images of terrorism, destruction and despair.” IBBY Pakistan states:
“The aim of the poster campaign is to encourage reading and school
attendance, cut the drop-out rate and allow the next generation to move forward out of the current cycle of destruction.The organization is putting every effort into a nationwide poster campaign that will bring children and books together with information, knowledge, and awareness of peace and tolerance towards each other: issues that are often neglected in their lives today. IBBY Pakistan believes that with these methods they can begin to stop what they see as brain washing of the young by the virulent campaign of violence they see around them every day.”
