[Sust-mar] Tuesdays in May - Panzos Exhibit Events in Fredericton

Sun Apr 29 04:42:46 EDT 2007

Sorry for x-postings.

Panzós: 25 years later... is a breathtaking exhibit featuring original
painting, descriptive banners, and portrait, journalistic and forensic
photography by Guatemalan artist Marlón García Arriaga. The exhibit
centers around the lives, opinions and actions of the survivors of the
Panzós massacre -especially the women survivors, who have been at the
forefront of the resistance. The story vividly told through the exhibit is
a story that all Canadians must experience, feel and understand. This is
the hope of the artist who says he is searching for Canadian conscience in
a Guatemalan genocide.

The Maritime tour opens at the University of New Brunswick Art Gallery,
Memorial Hall, on May 1 at 7 pm. Exciting weekly educational and social
events featuring the artist, guest speakers and film screenings will be
held at the Gallery throughout the month of May.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

TUESDAY, MAY 1- 7:00
Opening of the Panzós exhibit. Speakers: Marie Maltaise - Welcome; Judy
Loo with the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network on the
Mining the Connections Campaign; Tracy Glynn with the Mining Advocacy
Network (jatam.org) and Mines and Communities (minesandcommunities.org) on
the growing resistance to mining abuses. Film screening of Sipakapa No Se
Vende/Sipakapa is Not for Sale (60 min, rightsaction.org). Sipakapa No Se
Vende tells the story of the Maya people of the Sipakapa region of
Guatemala resisting a Canadian-owned gold mine development. This event is
held in conjunction with a week long global days of action against Barrick
Gold, and Goldcorp, the Canadian gold mining company that now owns the
gold mine in the Sipakapa region.

TUESDAY, MAY 8- 7:00
ALCAN'T in India. Film screening of U.A.I.L. Go Back (22 min.) and Alcan't
in India ((10 min.). U.A.I.L. Go Back features members of an indigenous
community in India opposed to a proposed mining project backed in part by
Montreal-based ALCAN. The project has exposed villagers to the brutality
of corporate globalization as they continue to resist despite severe
police repression including the murder of three local activists. Alca't in
India tells the story of activists confronting Alcan's shareholders in
Montreal. For more info: alcantinindia.org

TUESDAY, MAY 15- 7:00
Blood Diamonds and Sierra Leone. With Andrew Gbongbor from a conflict
diamond region of Sierra Leone. "The conflict - begun by rebels who
claimed to be ridding the mines of foreign control - killed 50,000 people,
forced millions to flee their homes, destroyed the country's economy and
shocked the world with its images of amputated limbs and drug-addled boy
soldiers. An international regulatory system created after the war has
prevented diamonds from fueling conflicts and financing terrorist
networks. Even so, diamond mining in Sierra Leone remains a grim business
that brings the government far too little revenue to right the devastated
country, yet feeds off the desperation of some of the world's poorest
people.."-New York Times,
March 25, 2007.

FRIDAY MAY 18-AUDITORIUM- ****GRAND OPENING- 7:00.
An evening with the Artist. Marlon Garcia Arriaga, will lead guests
through the exhibit. Musical entertainment by Cesar Morales. With
Guatemalan snacks. This event will be held in the Auditorium.

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 7:00.
Stopping Mining Abuses At Home and Abroad. Special guest speakers Joan
Kuyek with MiningWatch Canada, Aviva Chomsky with the North Shore Colombia
Solidarity Committee in Salem, Massachusetts and Inka Milewski, science
advisor with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. Canadian mining
companies have earned a reputation abroad and at home for human rights
abuses and environmental crimes. Approximately 16% of New Brunswicks
electricity is generated from Colombian coal that is associated with such
abuses as forced displacements, violence and increased poverty and
sickness. This coal is burned in what is known as the industrial sacrifice
zone of
Belledune, New Brunswick. For more information on Colombian coal, visit:
arsn.ca For more information on Belledune, visit: conservationcouncil.ca

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 7:00
The 29th anniversary of the Panzós massacre. The artist, Marlon Garcia
Arriaga, Guatemalan painter and forensic photographer, will speak on his
lifes work and the exhibit. He will explain the events  that led him to
focus on scenes of the destruction caused by mining conflicts, as well as
the present day context in Guatemala where indigenous people still
struggle against the destruction of their land and livelihoods by
foreign-owned mining companies.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Information from several organizations concerned about Canadian mining at
home and overseas will be available at the UNB Gallery for the public to
take away and digest during the exhibition period. These organizations
include the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, the Atlantic
Regional Solidarity Network, Development & Peace's Canadian Mining Called
to Account campaign, the Presbytery Church in Action Committee, CUSO and
its partners supporting communities affected by Canadian mining in
Indonesia,
Thailand, and Peru, Mining Watch Canada, the Halifax Initiative, the
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, the Fredericton Social Network,
Fredericton Peace Coalition, and others.

BACKGROUND INFO

Panzós, Guatemala, May 29, 1978 - 800 Mayans from the village of Panzós
gather in the town square to protest their land, homes and crops being
expropriated for a nickel mining project owned by the Canadian company,
Inco Ltd. Mama Maquin, a Panzós woman, leads the march into the town
square with her daughter, grandson and granddaughter. The Mayor addresses
the crowd and gives a signal to the military that have surrounded the
square. The military open fire. Thirty-five people are executed in the
square. Eighteen others drown in the Polochic River trying to escape. In
total, 53 people lose
their life including Mama Maquin, her daughter and grandson. Only her
granddaughter survives.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Marlón García Arriaga, Guatemalan painter and photographer, was ten years
old when the sad news of the Panzós massacre reached his classroom. In the
year that followed the massacre, his teachers filled the classrooms walls
with newspaper clippings that expressed the opinions and deep frustrations
of adult Guatemalans on the massacre and the shift in Guatemalan army had
begun to obey national and international interests and had reached the
ominous decision to initiate a series of actions leading to genocide, with
1978 through the early 1980s being the dimmest of those years. In 1997,
with his feet inside of the mass grave that held the bodies of the Panzós
massacre, alongside the women of FAMDEGUA (Association of Relatives of the
Disappeared and Detained of Guatemala), he made the decision to create an
exposition of his paintings inspired by such moments, testimonies of
survivors, newspaper clippings from the time of the war, photos from
historical archives, and testimonies of intellectuals and activists who
have confronted the power of the Guatemalan state and the Canadian mining 
company, Inco.

"To the women and men of Canada: My life and the lives of all Guatemalans
have an undeniable historical link with yours. Together, our histories
make one history, but with two distinct faces. We are two peoples
implicated in one genocide; with two distinct perspectives of the
opportunity to be human.
 - Marlón García Arriaga.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
The Maritime tour of the exhibit is coordinated by the Maritimes-Guatemala
Breaking the Silence Network and is linked to the Atlantic Regional
Solidarity Networks Mining the Connections Campaign (arsn.ca). For more
information, contact Judy Loo at 455-9068 or Tracy Glynn at 458-8747,
tracy at jatam.org

JATAM (Mining Advocacy Network)
Jl. Mampang Prapatan II, No. 30
RT 04/07 Jakarta Selatan
Indonesia 12790
Phone: +62(0) 79181683
Fax: +62(021) 7941559
http://www.jatam.org
http://www.minesandcommunities.org