GLOBAL PEACE ACTIVISTS ATTEND WORLD PREMIERE
OF THE LABYRINTH OF THE BUTTERFLIES THEATRE SHOW IN COSTA RICA
November 5, 3008, San José. Wings of the Butterfly
Women peace activists from around the world attended the world premiere of the theatre show The The Labyrinth of the Butterfly on November 4 at the Centro para las Artes of the National University of Heredia.
Among them were the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, Mujeres de Ruta Pacifica (Women's Peaceful Way) in Colombia and Women in Black from the Middle East.
The more than 20 women were invited to Costa Rica by Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE) took part in a workshop about the use of information technologies in war and conflict situations, from October 31-November 4, 2008.
Besides having been invited to the premiere of the show, many of the women activists are featured in the show.
"We Colombian women want to live and without violence" (Women's Movement Against the War - Women's Peaceful Way)
Photo by Katerina Anfossi of FIRE (www.radiofeminista.net)
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A grandmother from the group, "Grandmothers & Mothers
of the Plaza de Mayo"
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Says a character in the show, a Mesoamerican weaver portrayed by actress Raquel Hernandez, “I hear their chants. I recognize them… they are the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. It’s the chant of women of the Peaceful Way of Colombia and the Women in Black… I feel like in a dream when I hear their voices… You know, I was so uncomfortable with this world, poor world! He is not at fault… I was so angry with the way in which we interact with each other that I started to weave and little by little I got to know these women; always weaving in silence because their resistance is a different one… ”
Women in Black hold a vigil at the
2005 International
Women in Black Conference
in Jerusalem
Photo by Margaret Thompson of FIRE
Directed by Ailyn Morera, The Labyrinth of the Butterflies is set in “the place where never-told stories are told.” One of those stories is the daily resistance to war and armed conflict of women throughout the World.
About these women, FIRE states that “…throughout the history of the humanity, and particularly during the 20th century, many women in both national and international spaces of articulation have constructed actions of resistance to war and alternatives for peace. And women living in war have created spaces to carry on their lives in the crossfire in which they are entrapped. Women organizing alternatives in these contexts have created spaces for health, personal affirmation, and dealing with grief and loss. Likewise they have formed meeting spaces to construct actions of solidarity and accompaniment, collective actions to identify or confront the accused, and actions of resistance and non-violent civil disobedience, all expressed through a symbolic political language about the effect of war on women’s bodies and lives.”
Women from communications initiatives that give women a voice towards peace also attended the world premiere. They came from Peru, Mexico, Kenya in Africa, the United Status and Costa Rica. Among them are journalists such as Sara Lovera, founder of a women’s press agency in Mexico, Ana Maria Portugal of ISIS information network in Chile and Mavic Cabrera of the International Tribune Center.
Also present were activists from Nicaragua and Guatemala who struggle for political solutions to the conflicts that continue today, despite peace processes in their countries that do not include an end to violence against women and have in fact deepened policies that have impoverished the majority of the population. The women weave the social fabric from a different paradigm that challenges violence and injustice as ways to “peace.”
For more information about the show go to www.wingsofthebutterfly.org.
For more information about FIRE and the workshop go to www.radiofeminista.net.
Madres de Plaza de Mayo, are Argentine mothers and grandmothers who have fought against the impunity of forced disappearances that took place during the military dictatorship (1976–1983), politicizing motherhood.
Ruta Pacifica de
las Mujeres (Women's Peaceful Way) (1996) in Colombia is a national feminist political group that seeks a negotiated end to the armed conflict in Colombia and to make visible the effects of the war on women.
Women in Black for justice against war is a global initiative that was born in the Middle East in 1988, which rejects and resists violence, militarism and war in specific regions but which rapidly became a women's movement active in all regions of the world, opposing all wars.
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