Intro – Maria Bota

The Ripples of Hope Festival took place in Manchester 17th-19th September 2021, a celebration of the power of people to make human rights a reality for us all. We are exploring the challenges we face as communities and individuals and exploring how, together, we can make human rights a reality everywhere.

As part of the festival we commissioned Writing Squad poets to respond to the 28th Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that states: “everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realised.”

The poets worked with festival guest Jay Bernard in two online workshops. At the outset Jay shared the words of Eleanor Roosevelt.

“Where do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood s/he lives in; the school or college s/he attends; the factory, farm or office where s/he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.”

This captures exactly what the festival and the Writing Squad are all about. We are delighted to have been able to offer this opportunity for some of the latest Squad recruits to work with Jay. I hope you enjoy the results.

Maria Bota
Ripples of Hope Festival