"In the battalion, they teach us about democracy from behind."
Instruments of repression. "Always have been the same shit" THESE CARICATURES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE ANY OFFENSE -
- THEY ONLY REFLECT PERSONAL CATHARSIS OF THE ARTIST!
28.9.09
How some artists deal with the tension in the country...
"In the battalion, they teach us about democracy from behind."Instruments of repression. "Always have been the same shit" THESE CARICATURES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE ANY OFFENSE -
- THEY ONLY REFLECT PERSONAL CATHARSIS OF THE ARTIST!
15.9.09
One month or Two
Finally I find the muse to write some lines again. First of all, I wanted to share some pictures – the last time I wrote too much text. So see below for some impressions of our last visit in San Rafael, which was in July.
And about the past month or two, what do I have to tell you?
Although the situation in Honduras keeps tense and the democratic orden has not been reestablished yet, we try to live our lives as usual...
We attended some concerts of resistance - where lots of artists, national and international, sing, act, play, present poetry or other works – to animate the people and to give a good example of how to peacefully defeat and defend ourselves against the military- / elite- regime that is ruling this country. You can see some impressions of the last cultural events with a clear message: “Voces contra el golpe” (Voices against the Coup)
Right at this moment, the military is celebrating on one side of the city – while the resistant folks is manifesting on the other side. Since yesterday we hear bombs going off every once in awhile. The military seems to be very proud of some old cannons they have – they fired them even in the middle of the night, I woke up by their sounds. It's supposed to be tradition... There's constant helicopter-sound in the air and a little while ago some war-jets circled above the city, showing off their speed and irritating with their deafening noise.
Today, the fifteenth of september, is Honduran “independence day” - usually the military is accompanied by many curious spectators, today they seem to be rather by themselves, most of the people attend the anti-military-manifestation in the center of the city. Arte Acción and its Batucada (Brazilian Drums) is taking position with the people today.
Arte Acción is trying to make this city at least a little more colourful by stimulating the youth to create beautiful arts – and to create themselves in a different way.
Regarding my work, I feel that the ongoing therapeutic activities have a profound effect by now and that my position within Arte Acción is being appreciated more and more. For example, I am given more space and time for various actions – to work with a bigger group of young people, to acquire a better working place with more privacy etc.
Regarding my work, I feel that the ongoing therapeutic activities have a profound effect by now and that my position within Arte Acción is being appreciated more and more. For example, I am given more space and time for various actions – to work with a bigger group of young people, to acquire a better working place with more privacy etc.
Above you see some girls during a latest group activity. Beneath you see some of the girls at their final exposition to reflect on a succesfull art therapy proces:
I am happy about another change in my working atmosphere: Finally we found a Honduran psychologist who works as my direct counterpart since the first of september. Together we will develop groupactivities to treat basic human values and behavior. We'll explain the human development from a psychosocial point of view, making use of creative activities in order to experiment the meaning and importance of having a self-concept and self-confidence; of real communication and reconciliation among other topics...
The psychologist is a motivated young, yet experienced, woman whom I really like to work with. She complements my practical ideas with theoretical, psychological background information and gives the final “Honduran” touch to our common activities, so its content is really understandable for the young people we work with.
The psychologist is a motivated young, yet experienced, woman whom I really like to work with. She complements my practical ideas with theoretical, psychological background information and gives the final “Honduran” touch to our common activities, so its content is really understandable for the young people we work with.
I was surprised and happy how well our first activity went last wednesday. Her way of presenting theoretical information is cited by lots of daily-life examples – spoken out in a spontaneous way – she is ready to put herself in the shoes of the youth, using their way of speaking and interacting constantly with them.
I hope Maria Elena, that is her name, will stay with Arte Acción for a good period of time. She seems to be a perfect candidate for carrying out some seriously necessary psychosocial work within the organization.
3.8.09
The Silent Storm or The Stormy Silence
Hello everyone.
I haven't written anything for almost two months now. The critical situation in the country had to sink in first, before I dared to talk about the happenings publically... now I do not want to keep silent anymore.
What happened here is terrible and it is still happening. I feel, it is the perfect example for what is going on in the whole world on different scales. A small group of very powerful and rich people control the poor, the uninformed and the uneducated ones in order to receive more power or at least lose none of it - and to benefit themselves personally by repression, creation of hate and stimulation of fear through mediatic propaganda and the use of weapons.
Here in Honduras the example is an extreme one. There is extreme poverty and extreme wealth: The country itself is not poor - only that its rich recources are benefitting a very small group of people.
This group of people, stimulated by and in eager exchange with the shiny capitalism of North America, did obviously not agree with the socialist tendencies of the last and still official president Zelaya. As the caricature below shows, president Zelaya promoted the change of the constitution, which would have given a voice to the poor majority of the country's population, giving them a voice: indigenous groups, farmers, youth, women, teachers, workers in the health sector etc.
But as this could have taken away a little crumb of the mega-super-cake that the elite of this country keeps consuming, action was taken against this socialist president.
By military force -one early morning at the end of june - he was made to leave the country. Some hours later, the parliament had already sworn in Mr. Micheletti as de facto president. This man and his powerful mates are ruling the country still, more than one month after the coup.
Many people are actively resisting and protesting against this new government. There has been much violation of their rights to express themselves. They are limited evento manifest peacefully, to call for the reinstallation of a real democracy. People with a critical opinion towards the new "president" and his followers, asking for respect of the human rights and freedom of expression and movement, have been arrested, beaten, threatened and even murdered.
The local media, owned by the same powerful, rich people - are very manipulative. It reminds me of the Nazi-propaganda before the second world war, that we studied about in school. There's lots of lies and false information in the press. Hate and fear is delibirately created. The local media are denying the coup d'état that took place. The little, critical media have been taken off the air. The big newspapers assure how much peace and democracy there is right now. In the meantime, the military is repressing the resistant people with guns and sticks.
Naturally, the local press confirms that military is only active to maintain order and tranquility. And that the activists are the violent ones, creating terror and chaos.
This is what worries me most. There is a scary polarisation between the people, stimulated by the press. The news only talk about "white" and "red" people. The white ones are the supposed supporters of Micheletti: "democratic and peaceful" - in reality, their leaders are acting like dictators, using military forces to maintain the power. On the other hand there are the red ones, the social activists, by the media known as dangerous "communists and terrorists."
Of course, in the local news they say that there is more people, supporting the new president than the old one. But intern, alternative information states the opposite! The resistence is powerful - there is many people, especially in the rural, poor areas of the country that do not accept this self-named government. They ask for new rules and regulations - written by the people themselves and respected by the powerful. They also ask the actual powerful to leave the country. All these persons of the elite / the so called "bourgeoisie" are known for having exploted the country's recources only for their own benefit during the past decennias. Some little groups of upper/media class people - a minority in this country - without much background information, convinced by the lying media, may be supporting this new government.
Personally, I find it difficult to see a solution to this problem. I admire the peaceful resistence, the movement in favor of respecting human rights and turning into a real democracy. There have been taken many actions - marching, singing, playing concerts...
An extended armed conflict between the people would be the worst. Of course, there must be some who would profit from a little war - otherwise there wasn't so much creation of division and hate between the people.
In the end, I think it is mostly a conflict between rich and poor, once again, dressed into the robes of a "political crisis, socialist / communist movement, democratic approach." In the end, it is as it is always: The rich are benefitting from any conflict of the poor. The more weapons there are sold, the more money is made!
I would love to convince myself that there will be no more violence. There has been enough in only one month of instability. I notice that there is fear. As the activists are feared, also the soldiers are scared. This is what disturbs a lot. Supposedly the military is controling the folks sometimes keeping them quiet, sometimes hitting them brutally - but the military is the same poor folk! I saw the faces of some of them - many are not even 18 years old, they came to the military because there was no other chance to feed the family: parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles... who knows for whose benefit these guys are actually working . I am sure they give little about the fact that they really protect the richest of the rich in this country - they just want to earn money to be able to survive.
Let's hope for the people of Honduras - lower, middle, even upper class - uniformed or not, educated or not - that in the end they stick together: promoting a peaceful, social identity. Not letting themselves destroy by a greedy national or international elite that stimulate the confrontation between everybody.
If anyonelikes more intern information on this topic, look at these sites or articles:
Alternative, informative Blog about plausible background of the Coup:
http://machetera.wordpress.com/
Blogs by resistent folks of Honduras, created in Spanish:
http://honduras-en-resistencia.over-blog.es
http://honduraslaboral.org/leer.php
Artikel und vieeel Hintergrundinformation auf Deutsch:
http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/153741.verhaertete-fronten-in-honduras.html
http://womblog.de/2009/08/08/otto-reich-und-der-staatsstreich-in-honduras/
What happened here is terrible and it is still happening. I feel, it is the perfect example for what is going on in the whole world on different scales. A small group of very powerful and rich people control the poor, the uninformed and the uneducated ones in order to receive more power or at least lose none of it - and to benefit themselves personally by repression, creation of hate and stimulation of fear through mediatic propaganda and the use of weapons.
Here in Honduras the example is an extreme one. There is extreme poverty and extreme wealth: The country itself is not poor - only that its rich recources are benefitting a very small group of people.
This group of people, stimulated by and in eager exchange with the shiny capitalism of North America, did obviously not agree with the socialist tendencies of the last and still official president Zelaya. As the caricature below shows, president Zelaya promoted the change of the constitution, which would have given a voice to the poor majority of the country's population, giving them a voice: indigenous groups, farmers, youth, women, teachers, workers in the health sector etc.
But as this could have taken away a little crumb of the mega-super-cake that the elite of this country keeps consuming, action was taken against this socialist president.
By military force -one early morning at the end of june - he was made to leave the country. Some hours later, the parliament had already sworn in Mr. Micheletti as de facto president. This man and his powerful mates are ruling the country still, more than one month after the coup.
Many people are actively resisting and protesting against this new government. There has been much violation of their rights to express themselves. They are limited evento manifest peacefully, to call for the reinstallation of a real democracy. People with a critical opinion towards the new "president" and his followers, asking for respect of the human rights and freedom of expression and movement, have been arrested, beaten, threatened and even murdered.
The local media, owned by the same powerful, rich people - are very manipulative. It reminds me of the Nazi-propaganda before the second world war, that we studied about in school. There's lots of lies and false information in the press. Hate and fear is delibirately created. The local media are denying the coup d'état that took place. The little, critical media have been taken off the air. The big newspapers assure how much peace and democracy there is right now. In the meantime, the military is repressing the resistant people with guns and sticks.
Naturally, the local press confirms that military is only active to maintain order and tranquility. And that the activists are the violent ones, creating terror and chaos.This is what worries me most. There is a scary polarisation between the people, stimulated by the press. The news only talk about "white" and "red" people. The white ones are the supposed supporters of Micheletti: "democratic and peaceful" - in reality, their leaders are acting like dictators, using military forces to maintain the power. On the other hand there are the red ones, the social activists, by the media known as dangerous "communists and terrorists."
Of course, in the local news they say that there is more people, supporting the new president than the old one. But intern, alternative information states the opposite! The resistence is powerful - there is many people, especially in the rural, poor areas of the country that do not accept this self-named government. They ask for new rules and regulations - written by the people themselves and respected by the powerful. They also ask the actual powerful to leave the country. All these persons of the elite / the so called "bourgeoisie" are known for having exploted the country's recources only for their own benefit during the past decennias. Some little groups of upper/media class people - a minority in this country - without much background information, convinced by the lying media, may be supporting this new government.
Personally, I find it difficult to see a solution to this problem. I admire the peaceful resistence, the movement in favor of respecting human rights and turning into a real democracy. There have been taken many actions - marching, singing, playing concerts...
An extended armed conflict between the people would be the worst. Of course, there must be some who would profit from a little war - otherwise there wasn't so much creation of division and hate between the people.
In the end, I think it is mostly a conflict between rich and poor, once again, dressed into the robes of a "political crisis, socialist / communist movement, democratic approach." In the end, it is as it is always: The rich are benefitting from any conflict of the poor. The more weapons there are sold, the more money is made!
I would love to convince myself that there will be no more violence. There has been enough in only one month of instability. I notice that there is fear. As the activists are feared, also the soldiers are scared. This is what disturbs a lot. Supposedly the military is controling the folks sometimes keeping them quiet, sometimes hitting them brutally - but the military is the same poor folk! I saw the faces of some of them - many are not even 18 years old, they came to the military because there was no other chance to feed the family: parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles... who knows for whose benefit these guys are actually working . I am sure they give little about the fact that they really protect the richest of the rich in this country - they just want to earn money to be able to survive.
Let's hope for the people of Honduras - lower, middle, even upper class - uniformed or not, educated or not - that in the end they stick together: promoting a peaceful, social identity. Not letting themselves destroy by a greedy national or international elite that stimulate the confrontation between everybody.
If anyonelikes more intern information on this topic, look at these sites or articles:
Alternative, informative Blog about plausible background of the Coup:
http://machetera.wordpress.com/
Blogs by resistent folks of Honduras, created in Spanish:
http://honduras-en-resistencia.over-blog.es
http://honduraslaboral.org/leer.php
Artikel und vieeel Hintergrundinformation auf Deutsch:
http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/153741.verhaertete-fronten-in-honduras.html
http://womblog.de/2009/08/08/otto-reich-und-der-staatsstreich-in-honduras/
11.6.09
Sunny Rain
A time of various thunderstorms, earthquakes and heavy rain falls have refreshened the city and nature around here - yet there's tension in the air. Not only on a climatic level - also politically and even within the same Arte Acción, things seem to be changing... I am not going to dig into the political atmosphere - for anybody interested, please look at http://www.hondurasthisweek.com/national/1131-where-is-the-fourth-box-taking-us
On Arte Acción's level, we are trying to make a plan for the next months, including an official art therapy programme - that so far exists on paper, but only parts of it have begon to be implemented into practice. As you know I started with collective therapy a few weeks ago. Luckily the girls keep coming each week - with enthousiasm and openness to share and experience their personal, creative development process. Now, the reflections go a little deeper. The girls start to talk about personal needs and wishes, about negative feelings, pain, confusion . The last time, two of them made a painting that they did not even want to reflect on.In another situation I had an individual confrontation with one of my clients, where she suddenly told me all about her past, her difficult relationship towards her mother who never protected her, even not when she was abused by her stepfather. A story, that is not the first of its kind. What caught my attention especially, was that she said that she would like very much to "leave behind" the role of the insecure child. She said she would like to feel stronger and with more confidence towards herself and others.
Within the short future, we'll have teambuilding activities, with the youth such as with the adult team of Arte Acción. I am looking forward to work with Sija - a Dutch dancer (and soon to be dancetherapist) who will come to Tegucigalpa at the end of july in order to share some of her abilities within Arte Acción. I hope we will arrange some nice, creative exercises together - to stimulate the personal and social formation of all team-members.Yes. There are lots of activities planned - ready to evolve in practice.
Me myself, I am reading much and trying to establish my place of peace and rest. This city - especially these days, with much humidity, mosquitos and tension in the air - has quite some tiring effect on me. Often, I have to go running or at least moving a lot - to get rid of the accumulated stress - or hang in front of a ventilator, to keep the mind cool.
22.5.09
El Salvador - Suchitoto
Last weekend we visited our friends Onix and Cristina. Onix used to be my neigbour in Honduras. Him and Cristina, his Spanish girlfriend are some of our beautiful capoeira mates and friends.
Cristina works in Suchitoto - a sleepy, old village in the middle of El Salvador. With much touristic potential for its colonial style little houses, and a big lake to its side. From Cristina's place you have this beautiful lakeview.
All kinds of animals gave us company : During night huge toads, big bats and giant insects. During the day frogs (in Onix' head), toad-eating snakes, insect-eating lizards and chanting blue/yellow/red feathered birds.
We took long walks around the lake, visiting an amazing waterfall with incredible stonestructures.
We found three wild turtles in their natural habit: Between a little water, plants and mostly mud.
Driving around with one of Cristina's colleagues, we visited wide grassfields and a big hacienda. We heard some stories about El Salvador's heavy history (as war has taken place until 1992).
We also saw some of the present problems: The big lake being conteminated with waste - every day a little more - without any consideration for nature.At least, in Suchitoto you are able to drink the water from the well - that is a big exception in El Salvador and in Central America in general. My Honduran friend tells me about the times before they started selling "purified water" - everyone drank the water from the tab. Then, in the nineties, there was a cholera epidemic, supposedly caused by conteminated water. Ready, for the purified water business to start!
Ok. For now you have enough to read and I better do not go on about any conspiracy theories, that seem to become more practic each time and less theoretic. What a world! I hope you enjoy the pictures of the beautiful side of humanity and nature!
Best wishes to everyone!
Working. Traveling. Working more.
Hola Todas y Todos!
Finally a new update. It is already end of may! Time flies by.
I hope summer has arrived for you with all its beauty over there in the North and the West. Here, the people talk about "winter coming soon" - because of the more regular rainfalls and heavy thunderstorms after a hot day. It is funny. We are sweating nakedly, yet talking about winter...
I am still in the settling proces here in Tegucigalpa. Trying to get installed in our new home, getting to know my work with Arte Acción. Things have changed. Only yesterday, we had a crisis-meeting within the organization. The money is getting rare, projects are finishing - donations by international coorporations stop. Evaluation reports must be written, new projects must be formulated - everybody is sacrifying oneself in order to carry on. It is hard to be a cultural, social organization with no governmental help, no ongoing support. When there are projects, everybody needs to sacrifice a lot of energy - to fulfill the expectations of the donators.
Social system is completely missing in these kind of countries. But Honduras is NOT a poor country! The majority of the people is poor - and only some very few families are richer than rich.
Consumism is very present everywhere! The shopping malls and buyingcenters are full of people - the supermarkets have much more cashiers than what I am used to in Europe -and still you always stay in line before you can pay.
When you come out of the market - little boys bid for money. Their eyes half closed , smelling like a tankstation of so much glue they inhaled .
Yesterday one of these boys saw me at a bank machine. It didn't accept my card . When the boy asked me for one Lempira and I had nothing to give to him, I explained that I could not take any money from the bank. He said: "It is because some guys came and took out suitcases full of banknotes of the machine. Now there is nothing left..."
Later I saw the boy again, I thought I would buy him some food rather than giving him cash. He told me he wanted chicken - from one of the American fast food restaurants that are EVERYWHERE: in all colours, in all varieties but with the same crappy food.
I bought him some fried potatoes that a woman sold on the streets. Suddenly there where three boys behind him, big eyes - wanting potatoes as well. Much better than chicken!
I feel that the Arte Acción's mission is very important. The young people we work with could be in the same position - their testimonies tell us that they would hang around on the streets if Arte Acción didn't exist. Through creativity, we reinforce the youth, help them to make conscious decisions - starting for example with their food choice, ending with personal development: We support them to determine dreams and values, personal needs and limits - we help them to take themselves and each other seriously and to trust in themselves. It sounds complicated maybe... HOW can a game or a theater play, a painting or dancing really benefit the human development? Creating self-confidence, stimulating communication - true communication with oneself and real communication with one another.
In the meantime there have been 4 succesfull girlgrouptherapy sessions realized. Its outcome is meaningful. Yesterday we worked out a dramasession -using masks again, like in Ecuador. This time, lots of therapeutical proces took place. The girls are all young adults, quite accostumed to creative activities and reflection. Every girl played with a selfmade mask, expressing a self-chosen emotion. The girls created either a monologue or a dialogue, expressing the emotion reflected by their mask in a presentation of a 5 minutes scene.
During the reflection in the end the girls shared some significant experiences...
I feel that I could relax and get rid o some accumulated feelings
I realize that we easily project our emotions on somebody else, making fun of somebody or getting angry with somebody - instead of searching for the emotion and its reason inside of ourselves
I feel that we need to strengthen our self-confidence, our confidence with others - we need to practice to make REAL contact, also fisically - not only smiling and superficially talking to each other - as if we were wearing a mask always - it is difficult to make real friends
I feel that what I express here is born inside of me and not because of a compromise I have made with somebody from the outside
I feel that here I am free to ask others about their expriences; I feel free to ask "why" am I here; I feel free to express what I like to express.
It was a nice session - I gave my compliments to the group. Openness towards each other is growing and they start trusting in honest contact. Until now almost every one of the participants has shown up to all of the sessions. They are always eager to meet again - some of them said that the therapymoment is their highlight of the week.
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