Bristol Latin American Forum, Saturday March the 10th, 2007

bristol | globalisation | news report Monday March 12, 2007 02:04 by Diogenes of Sinope

Review

Another huge success - Bristol’s Latin American Forum 2007 makes an even bigger splash than last year’s event!

skanking Kebele food stall: One Step Beyond!

As the multitudes once again assembled at UoB’s Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, Bristol’s long awaited Latin American Forum 2007 kicked off in style with an opening plenary by José Sagaz, a London based activist of the Bolivia Solidarity, and Richard Solly of Colombia Solidarity. Together, they placed the struggles and successes of ordinary people in sharp contrast against the soulless forces of power and money.

By the time we emerged from the opening session, the common room was packed full of stalls and people. Everywhere was discussion, colour, laughter, and cups of Zapatista coffee. But no time for that, because the all day film schedule was already in full swing, and simultaneously, the first round of workshops very beginning (mining and climate change in Colombia, death squads and multinationals in Colombia, coca and drug control in Bolivia, higher education in Venezuela and economic reform, again in Colombia). Managing to squeeze some time in after my workshop, I dropped into the film room to watch Libia Villazana’s ‘Latin America in Co-Production’, a thoughtful study of how hidden agendas behind European and US donations to the Latin American film industry constrict its autonomous creative potential.

On to lunch, with a Latin American style feast provided by Kebele Community Centre, the now packed common room like some Tower of Babel intermingling of people and ideas, followed by the second round of workshops, themed on culture (hip-hop in Cuba, the question of the Latin American novel, murals in the Mexican Revolution, and music in Mexico). A third workshop session swung in immediately after (resistance in Oaxaca, Venezuelan alternatives to neo-liberalism, women in Nicaragua, and two case studies of indigenous struggles for autonomy - the Mapuche in Chile/ Argentina, and the Guarani in Brazil).

Precious relaxation time was gained during the Kebele coffee break, before moving on to the closing plenary at the Pugsley Lecture Theatre with the Venezuelan Ambassador to the UK, Sr Alfredo Toro-Hardy. The Ambassador had come all the way from London to speak at the Forum, and engaged an audience of around 120-150 activists and students on the progress being made in his own country on the issues of self-determination, human rights, public health and the eradication of poverty. Speaking about education, Sr Toro-Hardy stated that ‘the US try to accuse our nation of seeking weapons of mass destruction, when all we are implementing is weapons of mass instruction!’ Important questions and an open ended discussion with the Ambassador then brought the day event to a close.

So was that all? Well not exactly, for after a much needed break for food it was time for the evening after-party at The Full Moon on Stokes’ Croft, where internationally renowned Cuban hip-hop artists Obsesión and Los Paisanos with Bristol’s own 16 piece creole salsa band Orquesta Montpelier had the place rammed to the gunwales (capacity of 400), with tragically, many people having to be turned away for lack of space! In this way, between the three live acts and the DJs who spun the tunes, the Latin American Forum 2007 came to an amazing party crescendo! And truly, in the final hours it seemed to my mind as if the words of the great Irish trades union syndicalist and revolutionary James Connolly had sprung to life: ‘A revolution is the carnival of the oppressed!’