Bristol Latin American Forum Report Back

bristol | globalisation | news report Monday March 03, 2008 10:53 by Kevin - BLAF

On Saturday the 1st of March, the Bristol Latin American Forum took over Bristol University's Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies for a third year running. The forum incorporated plenaries, information stalls and workshops by a wide range of Latin American organisations and solidarity groups with performances, motif explanations and practicals by music, dance and cultural outfits, food and drink by the Kebele Social Centre, an all day film screening by Cinema Klandestino and a World Café 'interactive topic discussion' experiment - leading on to a rip-roaring after party at The Kuumba Centre. As in the years before, the day was a huge success.

9.45 am: Kebele cafe readies to face the fray!

The day kicked off with people milling around stalls, picking up and studying programmes as musicians and workshop organisers prepared and set up their equipment. In the main lecture theatre, brief introductions were given by Matthew Brown and Ben Pearson from Bristol University. A group of contemporary Bolivian musicians (Tradición Andina) then led off with traditional Andean instruments, guitars and an electronic drum. Half way through this performance, the musicians were joined by costumed dancers in a colourful and energetic indigenous dance that expressed the life and history of the Andean peoples (see movies).

The plenaries were kept to a minimum this year, with Amancay Colque from the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign speaking on the current struggle in her country, Andy Higginbottom from the 'Frontline Latin America' newspaper giving a political and economic overview of the continent, and Venezuelan Consular to the UK Alvaro Sanchez talking about recent events and ongoing projects in Venezuela, followed by a short question and answer session (see movie).

Then followed three rounds of workshops, with 6-7 to choose from in each session, punctuated by a bargain Latin American style lunch provided by the Kebele Social Centre. The workshops ranged far and wide in topic and approach, (for example) discussing the impact of climate chaos on Latin America, on through an up to date account of the indigenous Mapuche people's struggle for self-determination, through a history/ practical demonstration of Capoeira dance and its key place in Afro-Brazilian culture, to the role of photography in public memory of the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina. And while all this was going on, Cinema Klandestino was running a continual stream of Latin American films in a separate room.

Finally the day's events came to a close with a World Café, a relaxing but dynamic experiment in collective discussion, facilitated by Claire Hall of Espacio and Hilary Cole of Cuba Solidarity, before a much needed break and the evening's after-party at the Kuumba (see the follow on sections 'World Café' and 'After Party' below for more).

Lunchtime: Forum stalls in full swing

Afternoon: Cumbia workshop with Colores de Mi Tierra