• PROF JEFFREY LEVETT [GREECE] HONOURED WITH ACADEMY AWARD IN LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY AND FELLOWSHIP OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ETHICS.
• ANXIETY, FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY – POETS DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF MANKIND
• WORLD POETRY CONFERENCE CONCLUDES AMID ANXIETY, CONCERN FOR LOSS OF HUMAN VALUES, INSENSITIVITY AND INSANITY ASSERTING HOPE IN THE POWER OF THE POET TO SCRIPT A BETTER FUTURE FOR MANKIND.
• FROM HIROSHIMA TO GAZA: HUMAN HISTORY IS A TRAIL OF SUFFERING
• ARE POETS MARGINALIZED IN SOCIETY ?
• WHY THERE ARE NO FULL TIME POETS? SOCIETY MAKES NO ALLOWANCE FOR THOSE WHO FEEL FOR IT AND WHO SPEAK FOR IT.
A Report :
5th World Poetry Conference, organized jointly by Aazaad Foundation (Regd) and International Academy of Ethics, concluded after three days poetic outpourings and discussions by the stalwarts of poetry from all corners of the world. It was no surprise that hardly any poet talked of beauties of nature, or read any poems addressed to his beloved. It appears anxiety, fear and uncertainty born of wars, social and political upheavals, disruption of the value system and the assault of the AI – have contributed to the change in the perceptive systems of the modern generation of poets and scholars.
The Romantics like William Wordsworth, and their love for nature, cannot console a generation which is suffering from lack of jobs, and if they have jobs, they have lack of leisure. Writing about the joys of nature can be an intellectual luxury unless we are talking about problems of ecology. Drugs, arms, and a careerless youth stare them in the face. And this situation is compounded, adding insult to injury, by the political craftsmanship which has replaced statesmanship of golden years. Thus, the poets who reflect the society in its brutal details in their poetry, do not find any consolation even in poetry. Still we are diehard fans of the Muse. We assert our faith that these helpless conditions have only one panacea. And that is Poetry. Only literature can lift the society from the morass of careerism, capitalism and corruption. The only sad aspect of this situation is that the Poet is not the hero of the masses. He has disconnected himself from society, and his poems too do not reach the masses. This disconnect between literature and the mass is the result of a social and political narrative which does not want the youth to be awakened to their conditions, and fight for their legitimate rights.
Amid this scenario, the poets meet, about a hundred of them, from countries as far as Greece, America, Uzbekistan, Italy, Kyrgyztan, Phillipines, etc. and roll out poems which one after the other, dwell on the fault lines of our civilization. There was singular lack of joyous activity on the poetic front. No doubt, it is for the poet to fight the battle of the people on fronts where they cannot fight it: on the level of perceptions. But, it was felt that poets are now ranged not against small evils, but against a greater evil, it is the political establishment which has a vested interest in promoting evil. This turns this fight into an epical battle in which every poet is engaged, and fighting individual battles here and there.
HONOURS SESSION:
In the Honours Session, moderated by Dr. Parneet Jaggi, Organizing Secretary of the WPC, Dr. Jeffrey Levett, Hony, President, World Philosophical Forum, Athens, ‘ was decorated with Academy Award for Lifelong Achievement in Literature and Philosophy. He was also conferred the lifetime Fellowship of the International Academy of Ethics. Other poets who were honoured and who read out their poems included Dr. Basudeb Chakraborti, Chairman, Organizing Committee, Dr. Bina Singh, Hamid Nazarkhah Alisaraei, [Iran], Jai Ram Seshadri, and Principal Surindra Lal, whose book of short stories ‘Alive in the Procession of the Dead’ was released. A special mention was also made of Dr. Jernail S. Anand’s upcoming book of philosophy SKEPTIK, which presents a volley of ideas which can infringe settled thought. At the outself, Dr Jernail S. Anand, Chairman, welcomed the poetic fraternity and observed that those who hate poetry are barbarians. He quoted Shelley: “He who the voice of poesy disdains, is a barbarian be he who he may”. If we are now turning barbarous, the simple conclusion is that we have turned away from poetry, and literature. And it is a fact of contemporary society.
INTERNATIONAL POETIC CONCLAVE-II
On day one [18/11/23], 20 poets representing countries like Israel, Mexico, US, Italy and New Zealand recited their poems. The highlight of the conclave was three very sensitive poets from Israel. War dominated the poetic discourse.
Apart from Guests of Honour, Sh. Bhagirath Choudhary, Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma, Sh. Arindam Roy and Dr. Molly Joseph, the Conclave had stalwarts of poetry from different countries: Rawle Iam James [Canada], Zlatan Demirovic [US], Ed Cordevilla [Phillipines], Dr. Zamia Poran Zion [Israel], Daniel Rivach [Oxford] Sheshana Vega [Israel] Eva Petropolou Lainou [Greece] Millica Lilic [Serbia] and Sabyasachi Nazrul [Bangladesh]. Dr Maja Herman Sekulic welcomed the guests on behalf of the Organizing Committee and expressed the hope that the WPC 5 would be a great success like previous years and focus on the idea of Poetry as the Last Hope of Humanity.
On 19/11/23, the second day again, around 35 poets from different countries joined the discourse. While Dr Rama Krishma Rama Krishna Perugu chaired the 3rd session, Sudipta Mishra , Dr Manju Chouhan , Dr D.S. Dalvindersingh Grewal Prof Seema Jain , Prof Geethanjali Dilip and Dr Suneet Madaan were Guests of Honour in the three sessions. The Guest Poets included Stella Theresa Luna Tariq Muhammad , Dr Shamenaz Shaikh , Dr Zbigniew Roth Bindi Sharma, Pramod Kumari and Surababhi Sharma, Alessio Arena, Mili Das, Suhina Biswasmajumdar Dr Ssushmindar Cour, S.S. Pujahari, Himanshu Jena, Bholanath Das, Dr Leslie Bush, Dr Ljubiša Jovanović r Ljupco Mihajlovski, Dr Tejaswini Patil Dange M.A. Rathore, Inderjit Singh, Dr Sayeeda Sharmin Prof Satinder Sethi.
The event was curated by Dr Sarita Sharma, Dr Shobha Sharma, Meenakshi Goswam and Dr Sandhya Rao K.
On the third and last day, 26/11/2023, in a marathon session, moderated by noted poet Harinder Cheema, 45 poets participated. Sh. Vinod Khanna chaired the first session which was co-chaired by Rockstar of poetry, Raj Babu Gandham. Guests of Honour were Ruki Kocen [Netherlands] and Shikdar M. Kibriah from Bangladesh. Guest poets included, Mehul Dave, Manjula Asthana Mahanti, Kalipada Ghosh, Dr. Anu Girdhar, Dr. Sonia Batra, Zahro Shamasiya [Uzbekistan] and Debdoot Mukherjee.
The Second session, deftly curated by Dr. Sushmindarjeet Kaur, was chaired by poet and bureaucrat Mukul Kumar, who is an eminent poet and novelist. The Co-Chair was Dr. Kul Bushan Razdan, former Head, Dept. of English, Jammu University. Dr. Rajendra Kumar Padhi [Odisha] and Dr. Dalip Kheterpal were Guests of Honour.
This session had remarkable poets from M.D. University Professor Manjeet Rathee, Dr. Tamali Neogi Prof. Saranya Francis, Dr. Saroj Padhi, Charles Lipanda Mahigwe [Malawi], Kamar Sultana, Dr. Rita Chugh, Dr. Savita Kothewala Patil , Dr. Renu Gupta, Prof. Vijaya Lakshmi Potu, Akshay Kumar Das, Bipasha Majumdar De and Umutay Ehralieva [Kyrgyztan]
The third session, eminently curated by Dr Shalini Yadav, was chaired by eminent poet from Canada and Bosnia, Ibrahim Honjo, and co-chaired by great junglepoet from Nigeria, Dr. Mutiu Olawuyi. Sage poet Ravi Ranganathan and Dr. Desh Bir Sharma [former Principal, were Guests of Honour. The Guest Poets in this session were Dr. Sheela Banu, Hela Jenayah [Tunisia], Dr. Jas Kohli, Dr. Franca Colozzo [Italy]. Dr. Rosie Lidia, Prof. Mohini Sharda, Ashu Garg, Prof Manminder S. Anand, Samar Partap Singh and Suchismita Ghoshal.
Apart from the participants, the gallery of the Conference was peopled by eminent poets and scholars and high priests of poetry like Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma, Dr Rawle Iam James and so many scholars who loved poetry.
The 5th World Poetry Conference was rounded off with a message from Dr. Maja Herman Sekulic, Vice-President of the IAE, followed by Vote of Thanks by Dr. Molly Joseph, Chief Coordinator. The entire programme was hosted by Prof. Randhir Gautam, Coordinator of IAE.
The final takeaway from the Conference was a deepening sense of loss, angst, fear of human insanity, and a looming sense that, if we do not change, history might repeat itself. However, the poets expressed faith in the curative and transformative powers of poetry and asserted that if they speak in one voice, the political establishment will be forced to take their feelings into account. However, it is to be lamented that the poets form only a marginalized section of society, which is crying hoarse for human welfare, yet has no takers in society, not even those who are suffering constantly. This is true of literature too, which has been subjected to similar treatment in the Universities.
THE FALL OF THE POET
It took me a lot of time finally to realize
Why the society
Does not look at us Poets
As we look at ourselves.
We consider ourselves divinely inspired,
And we talk of the stars and the skies,
Whereas the people in the street,
Want us to talk of stars and stripes.
Our jibes on nature, flowers, women,
Beauty, morality,
And our upholding of virtues
Like goodness and honesty
Nothing cuts ice with the poor man in the street,
Who has been denied a square meal
And whose kids cannot get education
Nor can he marry off his daughter.
We tell him you are being exploited
He looks at us, and wants to know
Is there any other way
Can I dress his dripping wounds?
We are the elite of the society.
Who talk of stars, flowers, beauty,
Charms, love, and things
Which are mere illusions for men.
The poet has no status in society,
Occasionally, they are branded as great men,
But most of the breed end up
Honoring each other on consumable paper.
I also remember how it all started.
The kings wanted jesters who could please them
Or poets who could praise them.
In exchange for a few gold ‘mohurs’ .
The modern times have given us
A sense of belonging to this society
And struggling for justice.
And, society have closed libraries on us.
Poetry is the only scripture which talks
Of the pain of the people.
Do you find poetry and literature
In the syllabus of modern Universities?
The society is run by the elite.
And the Universities too have elite sections
Literture sections have been got vacated
And allotted to commerce and technology.
So, dear Willy Loman, your Poet is already under threat.
Your sympathizer is facing a death sentence.
Still, it is his duty to raise his voice,
And fight for justice which has been denied to you.
– Dr. Jernail S. Anand
Chairman, International Academy of Ethics.
