Chile Solidarity Forum - March 6, 7pm
Chile 20 years after the so called “Chilean Democracy”
Chilean People facing new challenges under pro-Pinochet rightwing government
DIRECTOR PENNY GLASS FROM CHILE COMMUNITY THEATRE “PASMI” SPEAKING AT MELBOURNE - AUSTRALIA
This event also will be A Night in Solidarity with community actions in Chile supporting poor people and Indigenous Mapuche people affected by the recent earthquake.
Saturday March 6, 7pm
251 High Street
Northcote
Toast and drinks afterwards celebrating International Women’s Day
Presenting a short documentary: “De la carreta al teatro” - Pasmi’s community theatre work in prisons. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Since 1994, Teatro Pasmi has worked in Santiago with diverse communities, those which are marginalised and excluded from the “success-oriented” and individualistic mainstream.
“The recent elections (January 17, 2010) proved the failure of the Concertación coalition (Social-democrat Coalition in government since 1990 after Pinochet Dictatorship) to make profound reforms in Chilean society and, with the Piñera government (Pro-Pinochet sectors which will take office next March 11), we can only expect a direct attack on community activism, social programs and workers’ rights.”
Food and drinks available,
More info: lasnet@latinlasnet.org, or calling 0400 914 944
Cultural and community activism faced with the challenges of Chile today
Working with marginalised and excluded communities
Since 1994, Teatro Pasmi has worked in Santiago with diverse communities, those which are marginalised and excluded from the “success-oriented” and individualistic mainstream. Most recently our work has been focused in three areas: work with prisoners; work with adolescents with mental health problems; and constant touring projects in the Santiago periphery denouncing gender violence.
In these 15 years, we have developed a community theatre practice and methodology that aims at provoking social change through individual and community protagonism, building action-based networks based on common objectives.
Teatro Pasmi’s work in prisons: Chile has the highest prison population per capita in South America, tough sentencing laws, high recidivist rates and a highly militarized prison institution. If we add to this the fact that Chile has one of the highest income inequalities in the world, as well as a decimated public education system, it is not hard to imagine that almost all of the prison population comes from the marginalised sectors. Our continuous work in two Santiago prisons during almost nine years has provided the opportunity to create a “space of freedom” within the perverse Chilean prison system, where participants express their social criticism through theatre, and theatre provides them with a group process that promotes trust, self-esteem, protagonism and another way of thinking about the world.
Chilean political context: In post dictatorship Chile, community organisation is atomized and, although the government discourse promotes community participation, this is not the reality. The arts sector is oriented towards “form” rather than “content”, and community arts work is invisibilised and unsupported. The recent elections proved the failure of the Concertación coalition to make profound reforms in Chilean society and, with the Piñera government, we can only expect a direct attack on community activism, social programs and workers’ rights.
Please confirm your attendance to lasnet.latinosolidarity@gmail.com, or 0400 914 944
Building Solidarity with Latin America... Building Bridges... Organising Globally... The power of Grassroots Organisations
Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET),
www.latinlasnet.org
lasnet@latinlasnet.org