Peacefest was spawned by opposition to the Iraq war and has since become the country's biggest alternative music event. This year there will be a record number of bands and as usual, tomorrow night around dusk, everyone will be encouraged to hold hands and dance in a circle repeating the word peace.
It sounds impossibly idealistic to believe this will achieve a great deal but Peacefest has grown partly because it's different from the other annual commercialized festivals like Spring Scream, Ho-Hai-Yan and Formoz. Its revenues entirely benefit charities and its accounts are an open record, published on the Hoping for Hoping Web site (www.hopingforhoping.com).
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MOLMOL, ALIA AHMAD AND KLOIE PICOT
Even so, singing and dancing has not brought peace. The Iraq war is still raging and there appears to be no end in sight to conflict and destruction around the world. While Peacefest has succeeded as an event, its reason for being seems forgotten.
"Peacefest appears not to have anything to do with the war," said Sean Wratt, one of the activists behind Taipei's 3,000-person street protest against the Iraq occupation four years ago. "It's more about charity work and good deeds."
Wratt said this reflects the inability of people to change the course of governments, particularly that of the US. He said he naively believed mass protests would work in a similar way to the anti-Vietnam war movement four decades earlier.
"Governments are more powerful now. I thought the biggest anti-war rally ever [when 8 million to 30 million people marched in 800 cities worldwide on Feb. 15, 2003] would make a difference. But it didn't."
Instead, a month later, the US and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq after issuing reports accusing the country of hiding weapons of mass destruction and linking Saddam Hussein with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
"The AIT (American Institute in Taiwan) thought we were getting in the way of its weapons deals, the government didn't like the anti-Americanism that was developing, so we were told to stop and if we didn't we would be deported. The party was an alternative form of protest."
"A group of us were sitting in Da-an Park and I asked Lynn [Miles] what peace was in Chinese and he said 'heping.' I said, 'Hoping?' and Peace Dave [Nichols], said, 'Hoping for Hoping.' That's how the name came up. Hoping for peace," Wratt said.
A month after the invasion the first Peacefest was held in a herb garden near Lungtan, Taoyuan County, and a good time was had by all.
Four years later we know there were no weapons of mass destruction. Blood has been spilled for oil (activists in Taipei marched under the banner "No blood for oil"), terrorists have poured into the quagmire that is Iraq and the world is a more dangerous place.
The peace campaigners were, in hindsight, right about their opposition to the war but no longer actively campaign against it. Former protesters, mostly expat English teachers like Wratt, are less influential and a new breed of local activist has emerged.
For festival organizer and member of the The Anglers, Scott Cook, Peacefest could not stop the war therefore it has to deal with it.
"Now, it's not a protest against the Iraq war so much as it's a demonstration of an alternative to the whole culture of violence and coercion that sprung this war, and will continue to spring others."
Monica Chao (趙秋君), another organizer, said Peacefest was developing into an organization that would be government recognized and have more influence. It has therefore changed its message.
"In the first year the goal was to stop the war because it had just started. But after four years we have changed our emphasis toward the environment, green issues and helping people through charity work."
Dave Nichols is still involved in Peacefest as an organizer but he has dropped the moniker "Peace Dave," which symbolizes the more realistic approach the group now has.
"It started out with anti-war campaigners and free thinkers but the audience and organizers have expanded to include public authority workers in Lungtan. It's a sign of increased maturity and pragmatism and maybe this is how we should look at Peacefest," Nichols said.
"Perhaps we can't change the world by singing and dancing in a circle but by making an effort through cooperation. It's not going to stop the war but it will promote peace consciousness."
To paraphrase the Nobel laureate and landmine campaigner Jody Williams, at a recent meeting of peace prizewinners in Jordan, "Singing and dancing isn't going to bring peace, that will take hard work."
Peacefest is easily criticized for its hippy chic and airy-fairy idealism but it takes time and effort and is done voluntarily, and may last longer than the war in Iraq, which would be a victory of sorts.
Peacefest: Hoping for Hoping
Performance Schedule
Tonight
9pm: Locals and Yokels Jam
10pm: Ren Jian Bao Puppet Theatre (Shijr Dream Community punk-sensibility puppet show called Sad, Funny, Fucked-up, Beautiful Puppet World)
11pm: Faye & the Slacks (Faye Blais, Geoff and Phil cut up dirty with folk, bass and Djembe)
11:45pm: The Anglers (A full-moon farewell party from the purveyors of roots 'n' rock)
12:30am: Public Radio (A hot pot of soul, punk, country, even latin jazz and reggae)
1:15am: .22 (Said to be "dirty, funky and funny")
2am: DJ Marcus Aurelius (Vinyl Word contributor, party person, basketball player and a wiz on the wheels of steel)
3am: Dragon (Original raver and trance fanatic)
Tomorrow
11am: Macedonian Music Band (Mother Theresa was from Macedonia, like the music this band plays)
11:45am: Paparazzi (We're not, they are. Jazz, latin and rock)
12:30pm: New Hong Kong Hair City ("Bringin' it like it need to be brotten," according to their Web site)
1:15pm: Sophie and Cemelesai, from Totem (圖騰樂團) (Aboriginal rock you want to dance to)
2pm: Divebomb (Rules Tainan, plays high energy punk, "with a smirk")
2:45pm: Full house (Rockabilly and ska, with attitude)
3:30pm: Charlie Swiggs (Axel Schunn and company keep plugging away and finally make it to Peacefest)
4:15pm: The Idiots (They said it, they mean it, rock 'n' roll)
5pm: Mister Green ("You will feel peace when you see him. Great voice and hair style," says Scott Cook of The Anglers)
5:45pm: Muddy Basin Ramblers (A hybrid band, ecologically and musically sound)
6:30pm: Peace Circle (Everybody hold hands and make a circle. A highlight of previous Peacefests)
7:45pm: To a God Unknown (Instrumental rock, unlike Yes)
8:30pm: Militant Hippi (Manboys in search of a sound)
9:15pm: The Admissionaries (Familiar faces with a new name)
10pm: Pan Africana Cultural Troupe (African beats, infectious smiles and dance music)
10:45pm: Boogie Chillin' (The highlight from last year's Peacefest, according to organizer Dave Nichols)
11:30pm: Uli & the Brood (Funk, reggae, new name)
12:15am: Heavy Smoker (A young punk band with allusions to grandeur)
1am: Rocket Grrrl (Loud and freaky)
2am: Stereotypes (DJs Cap and That Guy) (Hip-hop, like Stereo MCs)
On the Chillout Stage: Viba (Mood music) and MoShang (Laid-back beats)
Sunday
11am: Song Circle
11:45am: Native Space (A bit of everything, expect the unexpected)
12:30pm: Ad Hoc (They will rock you)
1:15pm: Rabbit Is Rich (Rock with an itty-bitty of disco)
2pm: BoPoMoFo (Firm favorites on the indie scene with their Chicago blues)
2:45pm: 88 Guava Seeds (八十八顆芭樂籽, garage rock and twisted blues)
3:30pm: The Money Shot Horns (台中, a self-described Taichung super group with a big sound and lots of energy)
4:15pm: Festival Finale
How to Get There
If you are driving, take the Number Three Formosa Freeway to the Lungtan Interchange, follow brown signs to Shihmen Dam (石門水庫) for 7km. Turn right where Provincial Highway 4 meets Provincial Highway 3 and follow the signs to Kunlun Herb Gardens.
There are buses (NT$85) from the Kuokuang bus depot near Taipei Main Station; the Yalien bus stops on Renai Road, Xinsheng and in front of Gongguan MRT; the Tailien bus can be caught at Sungshan Airport.
From Lungtan you can get taxis up to the herb garden. There is a shuttle service from the garden up to the venue.
Other Details
Address: Kunlun Herb Plant Tourism Garden (崑崙藥用植物園), 8-2, 1st Neighborhood, Kaoping Village, Lungtan Township, Taoyuan County (桃園縣龍潭鄉高平村一鄰8-2號)
When: From tonight, 9pm to Sunday 4:15pm
Cost: A day pass is NT$500, a weekend pass is NT$600, and admission is free on Sunday
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