Pip Bennett shares her amazing experience at the Oxfam International Youth Partnership event in Sydney in October.

We just received a belated thank you from the Free West Papua Campaign for our coverage of The Pacific Youth Festival in Tahiti last year, so thought we’d pass it on!

Say no to the G20 and the new world disorder!The movement for global justice, a fair and participatory economy, an inclusive and egalitarian society and ecological sustainability won’t grow itself!

I knew that my going to the PYF would be a liberating home-coming of sorts, to a place in Polynesia which is a significant part of both my family heritage and cultural identity.

For myself personally, the Pacific Youth Festival was a chance to reflect on my own culture and identity, and to think about my place both in the Pacific and in Aotearoa.

Tahiti. Sun, sand and… socio-political activism? This may not be the most likely combination, but for over 1000 youth from around the Pacific region, it seemed to do the trick.

Nicole Mathewson describes the Pacific Youth Festival - from pre-departure nerves to an experience that taught her more about culture, respect and love than she learned in all her years at primary and secondary school.

Just Focus member Omar Hamed writes about his experience at the Pacific Youth Festival in Tahiti, and how he and another JF member, Char Clark, got caught up in the middle of the struggle for self-determination in Tahiti.