Theatre of the Oppressed and Feminism

Teatro Imagen y Sanación

2011-06-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hola a tod@s, esta es mi primera entrada en el blog y quiero compartirles una experiencia que tuvimos hace poco con Teatro Imagen en una ciudad al sur de México, en Tabasco, donde comencé a trabajar con TO este año.

Se trataba de un ejercicio muy sencillo de Teatro Imagen, donde trabajábamos algunas imágenes de opresión para transformarlas a través de estatuas en otras que representaran una situación ideal, un cambio. ¿Han usado este ejercicio? A pesar de que llevábamos poco tiempo trabajando con TO, el grupo ya estaba (y está) bastante integrado pues llevan años de conocerse y hacer teatro, danza y música juntos.

Estábamos muy animados en el ejercicio cuando una de las participantes decidió probar a hacer una escultura y en un segundo estalló en llanto. La opresión que estaba manifestando en su escultura era un abuso sexual. Todo el grupo se conmocionó, se hizo un silencio sepulcral. La participante continuó con su trabajo y comenzamos a integrar a otros participantes para hacer la transición de la situación opresiva a la ideal. Todos participaron en silencio y con mucho respeto, dando ideas geniales y poderosas para la transformación. La chica que estaba haciendo el ejercicio observaba todo atentamente, las lágrimas escurrían por su rostro.

Cuando finalizó el ejercicio, después de ver varias propuestas por aproximadamente cuarenta o cincuenta minutos, el grupo se unió en un abrazo.

La participante nos compartió después que esa opresión la vivió cuando era niña y jamás la había contado a nadie. Fue sorprendente escuchar el testimonio de otros participantes que se abrieron a contar sus experiencias dolorosas referentes al abuso sexual infantil. Lo cierto es que fue enriquecedor y catártico para todos. Cuando terminó la sesión, la chica que realizó el ejercicio era otra, se le veía más ligera y me dijo "sentía una opresión en el pecho siempre, y ahora ya no la siento. Me siento bien"

He participado en muchos grupos de teatro, en algunos grupos de ayuda, en terapias, en cursos de desarrollo humano, de yoga, de risaterapia, de psicodrama, y jamás vi una sanación tan poderosa.

¡Que viva el TO! ¡Que viva Boal! ¡Y que vivan todos los multiplicadores alrededor del planeta!

feminismos y TO

2011-04-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

Hola a todas (voy a traducir con un traductor on-line asi que pido disculpas de antemano porque no se como va a quedar) En realidad es cortito, es una pregunta, un tema sobre el que me apetecía discutir y es sobre los vícunlos entre el Teatro del Oprimido y los feminismos, es el TO feminista por definición?

A mi personalmente, como se que a algunas de nosotras porque ya lo hemos ido hablando por ahi, me sorprende como coinciden: convertir lo personal en político, partir de las experiencias propias, no hablar por la otras, cuestionar relaciones de poder y dominación...

Pienso en el TO como metodología de investigación feminista. No se si tenéis referencias sobre esto o vuestra propia experiencia...o ideas que se os ocurran....

bueno pues esto que es en lo que ando.... igual cuando tenga mas cosas podré subirlas por aquí para poder comentarlas entre todas

Abrazos!!!!!

Aida

Hi all (I will translate with a translator on-line so I apologize in advance because itis not how it would look)
Actually it is very short, is a question, a subject on which I wanted to discuss and its on the vincles between the Theatre of the Oppressed and feminisms, its TO feminist by definition?
For me personally, as it is for many of us because we've been talking about, the similarities are amazing: to turn the personal into the political, to start from the own experiences, not to speak for the others, issues of power and domination ...

I'm thonk in the TO as a feminist research methodology. I don't know if you have references about this or your own experience ... or ideas you can think of ....

well its what I am thinking about.... maybe when I have more things I canupload them here to discuss them among all

Hugs !!!!!
Aida

Pre-estreno Teatro Foro - Barcelona

2011-03-02T03:26:00.000-08:00

Tengo el agrado de invitarles al pre-estreno / ensayo abierto para amig@s, de la pieza que venimos creando con L'Aranya:

LUNES 14 DE MARZO - 19 HORAS - CENTRO CÍVICO ZONA NORD
(dos minutos desde la estación de RENFE Torre Baró)

Teatro Foro:

¿CÓMO SER FEMINISTA Y NO MORIR EN EL INTENTO?
(título "in proggress" ;-)

Súper actrices:
Manuela Acereda
Aida Iglesias

Escenografía, proyecciones y atrezzo:
Aida, Manuela, Mariana

Música y escenografía sonoras:
Duncan Magee
Leo Bettinelli

Dirección artística/curinga:
Mariana Villani

El foro será grabado, editado y subtitulado para participar del encuentro de TO y Feminismo en Paris, les esperamos, necesitamos, abrazamos con muchas ganas.

Vuestra presencia es muy importante para nosotras, no sólo para hacer el foro en sí, pero para recibir vuestro feedback sobre lo visto y así mejorar la pieza para el futuro.

Con gusto compartiremos unas cervecitas después del foro, para escuchar vuestros comentarios, contarles sobre el proceso, las dudas y los aciertos con los que nos hemos ido encontrando.

Desde ya, miles de gracias por estar!

(el foro es cerrado, sólo para invitadas, agradecemos difusión sólo a personas que practiquen TO o realicen estudios de género y feminismos)

Grundtvig project on Theatre of the Oppressed and Feminism

2010-05-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

We are very pleased to tell you that our Grundtvig project * on Theatre of the Oppressed and Feminism was accepted.

This project was designed as a continuation of and a more in-depth look at the meetings that occurred in Rio de Janeiro and in Graz on feminism and TO. To have participated in those meetings is not compulsory but we wish to have representatives of Theatre of the Oppressed groups that already deal with the issue of Women’s oppression as participants of this project.

Inside the world of Theatre of the Oppressed this issue is very present and the political orientations are really diverse. We want to foster the debate and have many very critical discussions. As open for criticism that we want this meeting to be, we don't want to have discussions trying to prove points, that for us, are the very base of feminism. We want to open a place for possible allies to meet, not a place in which we would try to convince people that, for instance, our society produces the inequality between men and women.

The basic points that should be taken for granted by all of us are:

- Gender is a social construction: there is no such things as male essence or feminine nature, just historical process that creates men and women. To recognize that there are feminine and masculine identities, does not need to go along with the belief that those identities are rooted in our D.N.A.

- Gender doesn't imply that all of us are similarly oppressed: the fact that both men and women are created by gender doesn't mean that there is no relation of domination between the two created groups. Capitalism also creates workers and capitalists, it does not means that there is not an oppressive group that do take benefits from the exploitation.

- Gender is not only an idea without any material support: To fight against sexism, it is very important to create another subjectivity, but it's not enough. Gender is not a "state of mind" that we could just switch off. The patriarchal ideology is the complement of a very concrete patriarchal organization of society as a whole.

- Gender is a social system: To name gender a social system, to de-naturalize it implies to see that there is hope. Social systems have histories, contradictions, dynamics, cracks in which battlefields can be created, struggles can be organized and victories imagined.

Within this very general frame, we want to have the most fruitful debate and creative exchange. We hope this invitation will sound appealing to you and that you will join us in Paris in January and March.

If you need any further information please don't hesitate to contact us don't hesitate neither to forward this message to anyone you believe is interesting and that could be interested.

Warm regards,

Muriel Naessens and Julian Boal

muriel.naessens@free.fr

julian.boal@gmail.com

*A Grundtvig project basically gives you, if your application is accepted, a grant that covers all the costs (flights, lodgment, food and the costs of participation to the course). It’s pretty easy to obtain the grant. You have to go to http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/search.cfm and enter FR-2010-317 as the reference number. Then you will have all the information needed on how to apply for the project. If you follow this link http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc1208_en.htm , you will find a document with the addresses and contacts information of all Socrates agencies over Europe and Turkey in case you need to have a direct contact with them.

Preparation

One of the fundamental values of the European Union is women/men equality. Public policies put in place awareness raising actions, information campaigns. Professionals, and third sector activists develop methods and tools that could allow women’s emancipation. This thematic is present at a European level in the method of Theatre of the Oppressed, a tool for popular education and emancipation. A meeting in France of Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners is proposed in order to interrogate our practices with the goal of being more efficient in the public debate. The initiative for this meeting belongs to “Feminisme Enjeux” who have been using Theatre of the Oppressed for the prevention of sexist violence and sexism for 12 years.

In the European network of Theatre of the Oppressed, many groups work on the theme of equality between men and women, targeting many different audiences: young adults, disenfranchised audiences, migrant women but also professionals, third sector groups, educators, teachers, etc.

The first step would be to create a questionnaire, in order to get to better know their practices on this theme, along different angles: prevention of the sexism towards the youth, domestic violence, wage inequalities etc…
To identify any existing partnership work between institutions and NGOs that work around this theme
To issue recommendations for NGOs to gain a basic knowledge of the laws, to identify legislative and regulatory frameworks and identify the most relevant issues in each country
To create a video document with English subtitles presenting particularly meaningful scene of forum-theatre around the thematic, presented to an audience or as a work in progress.

Objectives

The gathering of Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners from many different countries that work on this issue is a necessity in order to exchange and share our practices by comparing our approaches and trying to answer to many questions: Where are we standing on the analysis of our practices? What are our limits and interrogations? What are the criteria the method should meet in order to be more efficient? What kind of reflection can we bring into the public space? This meeting will therefore allow the acquisition of news tools and methods.

Methodology

2 different working moments:
1°) Theoretical contributions, exchange of practices and comparative analysis
5 days in September 2010
Theoretical contributions: interventions of specialists and experts to feed our reflection on the history and genesis of inequalities between men and women in our society, on the women’s liberation movement and on the feminist struggles. Projections of videos from each represented group of particularly meaningful sequences, subtitled in English, in order to generate analysis, criticism and a synthesis upon on those scenes. What is the angle used to approach the theme? How are the system and mechanisms of oppression made visible? The objective is to exchange by using as a base the experience of participants and to provoke a dialectical debate of ideas.
Concrete exchanges of practices by seeing facilitators in action using games and exercises that could be used with different audiences, all aiming to make visible and to decipher the stereotypes that constructs the feminine and the masculine. This part would have as an objective to diversify the arsenal of relevant exercises that could be used to work with a public of young adults and adults, that can allow the location of unequal sex representations and social roles.

2°) Research/action:
5 days in November 2010

Creation and representation of a forum-theatre piece on the issue of women-men equality. To prolong the reflection by the intervention of NGO and institutional experts on the relevance of actions taken by using Theatre of the Oppressed methods and partnership work. To devise collectively to decide collectively on the content, the choice of the dramaturgy, of the aesthetics, of the scenography. The objective is to learn the techniques necessary to the construction of a forum-theatre piece on the issue of women/men equality.

Follow-up

The representatives of each group will have the possibility to re-appropriate for themselves the collective creation of the forum-theatre piece, not to reproduce it as such in their own country but to be inspired by it, to adapt it in order to create some actions in their local environment, and to exchange on those actions in order to allow a long-lasting partnership.

PROGRAMME OF THE TRAINING ACTIVITIES (DAY BY DAY)

1°) Exchange of practices and compared analysis:
5 days from the 1st to 5th September 2010

1st day:
10/13h: Introduction, expectations
14h/17h: Exchanges of practices towards different audiences of games and exercises on gender representations.

2nd day:
10h/13h: Theoretical contribution on patriarchy and its consequences for women, done by an academic.
14h/17h: Exchanges of practice for a location on the women/men inequalities.

3rd day:
10h/13h: 1st screening of videos on domestic violence. Analysis, propositions.
14h/17h: Representation of a forum-theatre on domestic violence with a public. Presentation of a professional on partnerships and prevention with Theatre of the Oppressed.

4th day:
10h/13h: Theoretical contributions on the women’s movement, the feminism.
14h/17h: Practices exchanges on games, exercises and Image Theatre on the men/women domination.

5th day:
10h/13h: 2nd screening of videos on sexism prevention towards young adults. Analysis.
14h/17h: Assessment, evaluation. To consider the focus of the second week of November on research/action.

2°) Research/action
5 days from the 17th till the 21st of November 2010
1st day:
10h/13h: Introduction, feedback. Difficulties found in using the exercises in each country. Presentation of the week.
14h/17h: Training and devising of a forum-theatre piece. Choice of the theme and of the audience targeted.

2nd day:
10/13h: construction of the model, the passage from the individual to the collective. To make visible the system and the will of the protagonist.
14h/17h: Image theatre, aesthetics and scenography.

3rd day:
10h/13h: Rehearsal techniques: theatricality, performance and intentions of the characters.
14h/17h: Training to the forum

4th day:
10h/13h: general rehearsal
14h/17h: pubic presentation

5th day:
10h/13h: evaluation of the forum-theatre
14h/17h: Assessment, perspectives and long-lasting partnership.

TYPE OF CERTIFICATION OF ATTENDANCE AWARDED
Certificate of attendence

SESSION 1

DATE OF START: 19/01/2011
DATE OF END: 23/01/2011

SESSION 2

DATE OF START: 23/03/2011
DATE OF END: 27/03/2011

Teatro das Oprimidas - vídeo

2010-04-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

Documentation Women Power -Grazz 2009- (falta traducción!)

2010-02-21T04:27:00.000-08:00

WOMEN’S POWER
World Forum Theatre Festival 2009, Austria

1.Meeting of Female Jokers/Open Space: 28.10.2009, 14.00 – 16.00
2.The Role of Female Jokers in contemporary Theatre of the Oppressed: 29.10.2009, 14.00 – 16.00

This summary of the Women’s Power Meetings in Graz/Austria 2009 wants to serve as a starting point for further discussions. It does not claim completeness and it was not possible to depict all presentations and performances in detail. Please feel free to add your amendments and comments, for example on the blog, created by Mariana Villani (Thank you very much!) at http://www.theatreoftheoppressedandfeminism.blogspot.com/.

Furthermore we would like to point out that the following statements do not represent necessarily the opinion of all participants.

1.Meeting of Female Jokers/Open Space: 28.10.2009, 14.00 – 16.00,
women only

1.1.RESULTS brought from the last meeting in Rio

The content of chapter 1.1. was first published on www.theatreoftheoppressed.org as a result of a transcontinental women’s joker working session in Rio in July 2009.

Sheet 1
The oppression of the women Joker:
We continue to live in a male-oriented, patriarchal society. It is an illusion, even within the Theatre of the Oppressed, that we have equality.
It is asked that: Theatre of the Oppressed acknowledges itself as feminist.

Sheet 2
Oppression against women is transcultural.
What can we do to address this inequality?

Sheet 3-5
Suggestions:
Create a space for women inside the Theatre of the Oppressed.
Create bridges to connect women of the Theatre of the Oppressed in all countries.
Create an international network of women jokers.
Create meeting of women jokers at a national and regional level.
Begin a dialogue within the Theatre of the Oppressed about the oppression of women.
Realize a showcase of the Theatre of the Oppressed on the subject of the oppression of women.
Use the possibility of the festival in Austria to connect.

Sheet 6
Concrete proposal:
Realize the first international meeting of women jokers and multipliers of the Theatre of the Oppressed in 2011.

Sheet 7
Strategies for the encounter
Have local meetings of Theatre of the Oppressed women
Research an collaborate with other groups and associations of women, offering them Theatre of the Oppressed as a tool
Create a concrete network beginning from these local encounters

1.2.Getting to know each other

1.3.OPEN SPACE: Questions and Collection of discussion results

QUESTION(S)
What makes or why/how are women jokers different from men?

DISCUSSION LOG:
Is it a question of gender/personality/class/culture how a joker structures a performance, deepens the process, questions, uses power, …
Jokering as a woman sometimes needs “doppelte Kraft” (double efforts) to be seen/accepted
Can a men-joker be a feminist? Can a woman-joker reinforce/reproduce dominant structure?

QUESTION(S)
1.Are there structures in the Theatre of the Oppressed that hinder (stop) women to be jokers?
2.How does the Theatre of the Oppressed reproduce dominant structures (not just patriarchy)?

NOTES:
1.
Typical patriarchal structures
Economics
“shyness”
Taking space
Being afraid of disharmony (critics)

hierarchy through knowledge
Possible solutions:
not only one person, who jokers
Reflecting your own background
If you need to reproduce dominant structure for getting attention  tell/show it to the others

2.
Joker as expert
Silencing voices
Contradictions between change you want to see and what you do
Not showing emotions or connections
Space of exchange and reflection to support each other, disagree, examine our internalized “prejudices”
Learn to debate/argue
Having to be male/or use strategies … to be heard
Knowledge exchange by practice

DISCUSSION LOG:
We talked about
1.dominant structures
Patriarchy
Xenopobia
Racism
Etc.: i.e. capitalism  MANY

2.How we reproduce inside the Theatre of the Oppressed
Joker-behaviour:
Silencing
Expert: to have power over knowledge
Abuses between change you say you want … and the way you work
No reflection on location/privil
How we make with power
Not showing emotions
Male Strategies to get attention
Shyness – not interested in competition
Not being willing to take the same risk

3.Strategies … to make better
reflecting on background (culture, class, etc.)
making visible the structures and strategies used … publicy … that are power based – dominant structure
not only one person joking – sharing in group
make space to exchange about feedback, examine internalized prejudices
sharing practice and theory

QUESTION(S)
Can the Theatre of the Oppressed define itself as a feminist movement?
What kind of a network [do we want]? What is the ideology?

DISCUSSION LOG:
feminist theatre of the oppressed network
“feminist” defines the space, the network
Not only women coming together because they are women
Dialogue of this network and the Theatre of the Oppressed in general to make the movement a feminist movement (transform men as well)
A place to share experiences of feminist Theatre of the Oppressed-practitioners, learn from each other, try new ways/techniques, to support each other
Form a blog/e-group on the internet – to be in contact, informed of what others are doing, maybe begin the network

QUESTION(S)
Difference between the Esthetical “language” of women  e. “l.” of men?  Embodyment of problems/conflicts?
Feminist/gender technics for workshops

DISCUSSION LOG:
Is it more important to discuss by words or with theatralic methods? (on stage – during performace)
Give the space for discussions during or after a performance?
Should we use more body language?

QUESTION(S)
Ideas/experience: how to start/maintain a women’s Theatre of the Oppressed group?
How to stimulate and promote Theatre of the Oppressed events, projects etc. focussed in the women issues?
Finding ways of bringing Theatre of the Oppressed to women who are not thinking of themselves as “feminist”. Theatre of the Oppressed as a tool for “simple” women

DISCUSSION LOG:

How to stimulate a group:
pool of women discussing/sharing how to do (global)
Event attracts/makes groups (and the other way around)
Why you want to make this group?
Necessity
Desire
Do it (whichever small it is)  the way will come
Motivation: activism (then?) (vs.?) professionalism
Attraction: learn to make theatre, aesthetical  political
Space: take obstacles into a path (childcare, food, livingspaces, etc.)

QUESTION(S)
Strategies and questions the joker can use to make gender visible and to make space possible to many

No group dealt with this question.

2.The Role of Female Jokers in contemporary Theatre of the Oppressed: 29.10.2009, 14.00 – 16.00, public

Instead of the so announced “panel discussion” it was decided to discuss the tasks and topics which came up on 28.10.2009:

2.1.Presentation of the discussion logs of 28.10.2009 (look at chapter 1.3.)

2.2.Discussions during the presentations

Discussion dealing with the question
“Are there structures in the Theatre of the Oppressed that hinder (stop) women to be jokers? “:

Woman 1:
We have to make clear what we mean with “joker”, maybe there are different understandings. Jokering as the method of communicating or dealing with the audience during a performance, joker as the role, the function or anything else? Because in Brazil or Africa there are a lot of women jokering. But it makes a difference when you look at the persons who are leading the groups. They are mostly men.
She understood, because of a play she saw on the festival, why this question raises at European groups. While the woman, when she was jokering alone, was a powerful great joker, the same woman disappeared behind a man, when they where sharing the role of the joker at a different performance. It was difficult to discuss this point or change it during the performance.
Comment from another person: Some people left because of this scene.
We are not just talking about gender at that point; we are talking about power structures in general: the power of the white man.

Woman 2:
It was also discussed in the group that women by themselves construct the joker as a powerful role and do not have the self-confidence to take it over. My question is, how does this become a powerful role and if it is necessary to do so?
Another question: What are “power structures” for us and how does Theatre of the Oppressed work with them?

Woman 3:
Social structures of discrimination in all ways (class, gender, etc.) are also reproduced through us and that makes self-reflection so necessary. The individuals and the group/the society are linked. And of course it is power, power structure.

Woman 4: Question with regard to the comment of woman 1:
What do you mean by white man?

Woman 1:
We talked about gender. And yesterday I realised, yes true, what they are telling I saw as a concrete example. It is not just about gender, it is about the European concentration. In Africa it is not that difficult.

Woman 4:
But in Sudan there are no women jokers. The example you give, was that not a question of personality?

Woman 1:
No, really not.

Woman 5:
I was also in this group. It is a real concern for me in the context of Australia. I’ve seen white women practice this work. In my experience some of these practices were abusive. Because there were things about privileges and power that were not considered. So the question for me is around power in relation to this. And I also think that is only one aspect of the way dominant structures are reproduced. This is an important one for me about my location: What do I do with power, what are my responsibilities and to offer spaces where we can consider this. What happened in Rio was: There was a paper presented, in which a real racialist moment occurred. No one wanted to talk about that moment. Most of this jokers in this workshops, it was a jokers training, were white women. We have to look at this issue in our practice. For me this is very problematic in the context of Australia, a very multicultural country. So this is a part for me to. How do we reflect on this, on what we do?

Julian Boal reads out the text of Muriel Naessens (uses Theatre of the Oppressed for over 15 years in the feminist struggle):
1.Feminine does not necessary mean feminist.
2.Concerning the feminine representation of jokers does not interest her much. Because with the process of more and more groups becoming feminist there will be necessary more and more women jokers. Having feminist groups will lead naturally to feminine jokers.
3.The formulation “Women’s power” does concern her. She does not agree with this title. Feminism does not want an inversion of power. Feminism wants to deal with the question of power, wants to fight for real equality and not formal equality, not to have woman with power but to discuss the power structures in our societies.

Barbara Santos mentioned her concerning about the discussion of the question about the differences between women and men jokering. This question is linked to biologism. She prefers to talk about what is a nice, interesting way of jokering, what is the aim, etc.

Mariana Villani argues that she is no talking about men and women but about feminine and masculine values. Both can be had by women and men. When talking about a feminist network, she is not talking about separating women and men. She is talking about including all the feminine values (to care for others, to express feelings, etc.) that have been less estimated. But it is not a sex issue it is a gender issue.

Anna Olopdotter Engström says it is very important to relate it to the social power structures in which everyone is involved. The group, not the individuals, who has the most power in the whole world is white, male, middleclass, middle-age, Christian, heterosexual, without disables …

Woman: Why are there workshops marked with “women only”?

Birgit Fritz answers that this decision was made by the workshop-leaders.

Woman: But why do the workshop leaders want to work on feminist issues only with women?

Mariana Villani answers that she did a workshop for women only. She thinks women need spaces for them, to communicate without feeling ashamed or judged or struggling for their space. On one side these spaces are needed on the other mixed spaces are needed as well. Both are very important.

Other discussed questions:
Does it make sense to work in gender/sex separated groups for some topics? For example when you are working about domestic violence, does it make sense to work with women only or not (There are different experiences: Women groups who want men working on that topic with them and groups who don’t)? When you are working about sexism than with mixed groups?
Why have the “Women’s power” workshops been all at the same time? Is this a question of inclusion or exclusion, a strategy, an organizational difficulty?

2.3.Practical steps and further suggestions

PRACTICAL STEPS – How to go on?
Blog for exchange  already created by Mariana Villani at http://www.theatreoftheoppressedandfeminism.blogspot.com/.
International meeting
Publishing of results of Grazmeetings  here you are ;-)

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS collected on sheets
Organizing a workshop concerning gender issues within Theatre of the Oppressed groups. The network would impulse the international workshop in 2010.
Create space at the next international festivals to work on the topics
Collect short women’s narratives and “transform” them into short scripts or scenes.
For international meetings:
Space talking about/reflecting ourselves regarding:
What are “power structures”?
How does Theatre of the Oppressed work against them?
Does it really “work”?
To do something against intercultural language barriers
Motivate people to ask for translation
Focus on people from “southern” countries asking them for interesting topics to discuss
Space to discuss about the word “activism” and what does this mean

Teatro das Oprimidas - Notícias Laboratório do Ceará

2010-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

Madalena - Teatro das Oprimidas

2010-01-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

TV Feminista

2009-12-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

TV FEMINISTA
Assista em:
http://vimeo.com/channels/tvfeminista

-------------------------------------------------
298 videos / 6 subscribers

http://vimeo.com/channels/tvfeminista

UNIVERSIDADE LIVRE FEMINISTA - Vídeos da luta feminista por um mundo sem machismo, sem fundamentalismos e sem lesbofobia. Estes vídeos são utilizados como materiais de debates em cursos e programas de formação da Universidade Livre Feminista - feminismo.org.br

Street Theatre Performance in Feminist Demonstration in Turkey from Boyali Kus

2009-11-22T03:58:00.001-08:00

On the 9th of November a demonstration took place in Turkey, against the reduction of penal sentences due to 'unjust provocation'. In other words, here, when, for instance, a man kills his wife but then says that she was wearing jeans, or make up, or had a slight resemblance to a certain porn star, that this made him angry, and thus he was ‘provoked’, the punishment he gets will be reduced due to ‘unjust provocation’. This was what we were protesting against as part of an international campaign to promote human rights across Muslim societies, called "One Day one Struggle". Tiyatro Boyali Kus had a street theatre performance as part of this demonstration.
Ours was a piece of image theatre with images of oppression shifting according to the rhythm of a drum beat. It formulated our basic desire and demand for justice. After the reading of the public statement we formed a gallery of images, a display of statues from our own bodies, on the street, leading the way from the square to the venue for the conference. This caused passersby to stop, watch and listen while the demonstrators illuminated us -the statues- with their torches, allowing us to broaden the scope and effect of the demonstration.

To watch a video of a part of the demonstration: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb3ja2_bianetvideo_news

Lets start a discussion! Comencemos a discutir!

2009-11-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

Como primera discusión en el blog, y ante la propuesta de varias compañeras, creo que un buen modo de comenzar a intercambiar ideas, opiniones, conceptos es preguntarnos y compartir qué es lo que entendemos por feminismo...

ahí dejo la idea y espero que comience el diálogo!!!

Un gran abrazo

As the first discussion of the blog, and because of the proposal of some collegues, I think a good way to start to exchange ideas, opinions and concepts is ask amongst ourselves and share what it is we understand by feminism...

i'll leave the idea there and hope the dialogue begins!!!

big hugs

La presentación de la red en Rio - The introduction of the network in Rio (English, Castellano, Frances)

2009-11-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Trans-cultural Alliances in Solidarity: The Women’s Countenance within TO Presentation of a collectively written paper at the Jokers’ Conference in Rio on the 22nd of July 2009 by Xris Reardon, Mariana Villani, Agneta Josephson, Michele Decottignies, Birgit Fritz To prepare ourselves, I ask all of you to close your eyes for a moment, and take a breath. Now I ask you to, in your mind, think of the names of five men who are jokers in TO across five different countries. PAUSE. With your eyes still closed i ask you to think now of the names of five women jokers from different countries. Let your mind now expand to your perceptions of the international TO movement and now ask yourself whether you think it is mainly men or women who are joking the work across various continents. Take a pause, open your eyes... I understand that initially there were very few women invited to attend this conference, the first international guest list had only 5 women. I acknowledge, we do, that there has been a lot going on behind the scenes that has led to a changes resulting in all the women we see here. And we want to say we appreciate that. We being Mariana Villani from Teatraviesas, Barcelona/Argentina, Agneta Josephson from Breyta, Sweden, Michele Decottigines from Stage Left in Calagary, Canada, Xris Reardon from Thirdway Theatre, Australia, and myself from GTO Vienna, Austria. This paper is a creación colecativa and we have been working on it collaborately for a few months. Yesterday was our first time to really sit down together face to face and talk and we did this mainly in languages that were not our mother tongue. This is the reason why, at this conference, i am reading this paper, instead of speaking freely. Even in an organisation/network/movement like ours, we believe there remains the issue of visibility of women which is lower than that of men. Most international conferences, encounters or workshops are lead in majority by men. Why do we as a TO community have a situation like this? Is it that women don’t want to be visible? Or is it because we are prone to reproduce the same systems of power hierarchy within our own structure that we usually fight to overcome with the means of TO? If the Theatre of the Oppressed teaches us to work in and with a theatre of questions and not one of answers we also then need to keep questioning about around the issues of what and who is invisible, around what we do, the structures we are creating, the directions we are taking. We need to investigate within and without and not stop in front of our own doorsteps. We need to apply a theatre of investigation and apply this also to ourselves (another Latinamerican ‘invention’ – ‘investigación participativa’ by Orlando Fals Borda, a Columbian sociologist) and the goals need to be continuous attempts of living transcultural alliances in solidarity. Which transculturality are we then talking about? We believe that transcultural alliances are all the more necessary when it comes to women’s solidarity. The concept of transculturality , i mean here, sketches a different picture of the relation between cultures. Not one of isolation and of conflict, like multiculturalism or interculturalism, but one of entanglement, intermixing and commonness. It promotes not separation, but exchange and interaction. That is why it is important for all of us to work on alliances across the gender barrier as well as any other cultural barrier. The notion of transculturality is what makes us strong as a movement. When Augusto Boal sent out his invitation mail with the many questions i wrote as one of the answers: “One of the big needs that i have is to reflect and to strengthen the roles of the women in the international network. I know that from my small Austrian perspective i cannot see the whole picture, but it makes me sad, that from where i am, i am always facing men in such a movement. My strongest desire would be to create a women joker network to strengthen and to give a visible sign of the awareness of women’s work in TO. Then for the women joker ‘network’ i would apply for financial support from one of the large women trust networks (they exist, i know!). And i would make them so strong that they can really really do their work, without having to live in worry because of their precarious living situation.” Of course then i was writing to Augusto about my wildest dreams. And one persons’s wildest dream is often also a collective thing. Now it is not a ‘me’ anymore but a ‘we’. Since that email a lot of time went by. We started planning a women joker’s gathering in Graz/Austria for October this year (2009) and this is when we started contacting women from other countries for their ideas. Of course these were only small attempts, a beginning, but within this small context already we found women across the globe who had similar dreams. Mariana from Argentina, was one of the first women i knew to request a Teatro de las Oprimidas, a long time before the idea of the festival (she is the passionate joker who decided to give a whole series of workshops all over Argentina and to extend the Teatraviesas network from one continent to another). Then i contacted Agneta (a joker and TO activist for more than 25 years), from Sweden and eventually Xris (artistic director of Third Way Theatre, queer joker, theatre facilitator) from Australia, who told me about Michele, founder and artistic director of Stage Left, Calgary) in Canada. And it was Sima Ganguly (from Jana Sanskriti), who despite of not being connected to us with internet and writing, made a huge personal bond in Croatia last year, when she said: Never feel alone again in your life. We are all here with you. The ideas are all similar. We need a women’s network, we need to create a space for support and solidarity. a space in which to reinvent, to re-create, to investigate further and to strengthen the women activism. Our desire at this conference is to publically name this need. What is the situation? How do we perceive it? Do i have to explain how women are oppressed on this planet? Not after all we have heard here. We live in a globalized market place where women continue to be discriminated against. In this very rich northern country i live in – Austria, there is rape, there is women trafficking (and asylum laws that are aimed directly against the victims and protect the perpertrators) there is murder of spouses, there is sexual exploitation and abuse, there is a patronizing medical system, there are precarious working conditions especially for women, there are the war crimes from WWII which have never been spoken about. Though we know, just because we are women this doesn’t make all of us the same. Being a women does not automatically make one a feminist. The platform we are proposing – the network, seeks to interrogate and question how being a women, a feminist, able bodied, a woman from an ethnic background, what these locations mean, and how they inform our locations in our practice – our responses to the work. It is important to practise this form of interrogation because TO is more than just a tool kit, as some people think. There was a situation in an advanced jokers’ training, where an Indian woman experienced discrimination and tried to raise it but was told by other participants her issues of racisms had nothing to do with the workshop. When the trainers created a space too talk about racism in the evaluation some people reflected how this discussion was a distraction from the real work of TO. For this and similar reasons it is important to look at who we are in the work, why we are in the work, and how we are located in the world. This is a commitment to see the whole, the work as a discipline for life, not only a project at one moment in time, or just a job. We need to take time and space for the conflicts, to learn from one another. Some of us had an opportunity to learn from Jana Sanskriti to see the complexity of their struggles and layers of strategies and what solidarity means. What the utopia of a group stands for. The attitude that it takes to sustainably change a society. We all know: Gender issues can never be seen separately from other issues such as ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, disability age, health, housing and others. We understand, that not all women who engage in the TO work are politicized in the same way. Not all women want to address the intersectionality between the different issues. YET what we are supporting is the need to engage with complexity and not collapse diversity. We recognize that gender is a constructed and not a fixed reality. Our Goals in creating a women’s network are: 1.to create a space for women “jokers” to be visible, to know about one another and about our work - the books we have written, the performances we have created and contributed to, the struggles we are fighting. To gain recognition of what the women’s work in the movement is, to visualize our work with better clarity, 2.to give support to the systematization of our work and the translation into different languages, 3.to provoke a greater participation of women jokers in encounters, conferences and international workshops, 4.to ask difficult questions instead of assuming answers in silence, 5.to create rich dialogue about how we see our roles, in society and the movement? What are we doing and how are we doing it? To find out about specificity of our location and intersectionality as a woman (as disabled, as older, as ethnic as well as others) and to ask how this influences our work and interaction within the network amongst other women jokers and the wider TO community? 6.to create a website, a space for exchange and enquiry. Michele Decottignies (from Stage Left Canada) has already designed a template for a website; which she envisions as a kind of critical aesthetic, cultural and social space for radical activist jokers. This network is an opportunity for linkages and exchange of ideas – a virtual and global space in which network participants can engage in critical discourse.......a place where ethics and the necessary politization of the work serve the platform that motivates us. 7.to find grants to finance the setting up of such a network and to take turns in administering it (forum, website, facilitating meetings etc.) 8.to promote inclusivity: Inclusivity is an imperative act that demonstrates a willingness to work towards alliance building, solidarity, and which changes the very nature of the world - locating as the central truth, that the struggle is all of us, even if different, of all of us - and we do not need to be at war with each other about who, and what and how. 9.To use the strength and the support we gain from this network to establish forums for the broader TO community in which together we can ask difficult questions within the movement, e.g questions on depolitizisation? On the didactic spaces? On how we evaluate success? On the lack of dialogue in the movement? On who we take seriously in the world and work of TO and why? On the ways we judge each other? On how we do avoid manipulating voices of marginalised groups to further our own careers? On how we are dealing with competition? 10.As trainers, how do we ensure that we do not replicate the dehumanising practices and ensure our vigilance over how the social cultural structures come into us and shape us? And how do we take care in our multiplication to investigate these processes? 11.Ultimately this network is to offer an opportunity to safely challenge ourselves. To figure out together how to create spaces where we can identify strategies around what to do when the ceiling falls down. The utmost goal of our network is to hold and to host a place for diversity and difference in order to create a strength and solidarity which leads to transformation and paradigm shifts in ourselves and others, Augusto Boal says TO is about “Humanizing humanity”. The platform we hope to launch in Graz, in October 2009. If you are interested in participating please contact any one of us. Thank you for your attention. Birgit Fritz

Alianzas transculturales en solidaridad: Expresión de las mujeres dentro del TO Presentación de un documento escrito colectivamente en la conferencia de Rio el 22 de julio de 2009 por Xris Reardon, Mariana Villani, Agneta Josephson, Michele Decottignies, Birgit Fritz Para prepararnos, os pido que cerréis los ojos un momento y que hagáis un respiro. Ahora os pido que penséis en cinco nombres de hombres jokers de TO de cinco países diferentes. PAUSA. Ahora siguiendo con los ojos cerrados os pido que hagáis lo mismo con cinco nombres de mujeres jokers. Ahora, dejando que vuestras percepciones del movimiento internacional de TO fluyan, preguntaros si en vuestra opinión son sobretodo hombres o mujeres quienes hacen de joker. Tomaros un tiempo y abrir los ojos... Entiendo que al principio eran muy pocas las mujeres invitadas a participar en esta conferencia. En el primer listado de invitados sólo había cinco. Admito que han pasado muchas cosas que han llevado a los cambios cuyo resultado son todas las mujeres que están aquí. Y queremos decir que lo apreciamos. Somos Mariana Villani from Teatraviesas, Barcelona/Argentina, Agneta Josephson from Breyta, Sweden, Michele Decottigines from Stage Left in Calagary, Canada, Xris Reardon from Thirdway Theatre, Australia, y yo misma de GTO Vienna, Austria. Esta hoja es el resultado de una creación colectiva en la que hemos estado colaborando durante algunos meses. Ayer fue la primera vez que realmente nos sentamos juntas y hablamos y lo hicimos mayoritariamente en idiomas que no son los nuestros. Esta es la razón para la que en esta conferencia esté leyendo en lugar de hablar libremente. Creemos que incluso en un movimiento/organización/red como el nuestro queda pendiente la cuestión de la inferior visibilidad de las mujeres con respecto a la de los hombres. La mayoría de las conferencias y talleres internacionales siguen siendo llevadas por hombres. ¿Por qué tenemos una situación como ésta? Es que las mujeres no quieren ser visibles? ¿O es por qué tendemos a reproducir dentro de nuestra propia estructura los mismos sistemas jerárquicos que normalmente luchamos para superar a través del TO? Si el Teatro del Oprimido nos enseña a trabajar en y con un teatro de preguntas y no uno de respuestas, también tenemos que seguir cuestionándonos qué y quién es invisible, qué hacemos, qué estructuras estamos creando, hacia donde estamos yendo. Necesitamos investigar y no parar delante de nuestras propias casas. Necesitamos dar vida a un teatro de investigación y aplicarlo también a nosotr@s mism@s (otra “invención” latinoamericana, la “investigación participativa” de Orlando Fals Borda, un sociólogo colombiano). Nuestros objetivos han de ser intentos continuos de vivir alianzas transculturales en solidaridad. ¿De qué transculturalidad estamos hablando? Creemos que las alianzas transculturales son de lo más necesario cuando a la solidaridad entre mujeres se refiere. El concepto de transculturalidad, quiero decir, dibuja un cuadro diferente de la relación entre culturas. No una de aislamiento y de conflictos –como pueden ser la multiculturalidad o la interculturalidad- sino una de comunión. Promueve no la separación sino que el intercambio y la interacción. Esta es la razón para la que es importante para tod@s nostro@s trabajar en alianzas de un lado a otro de las barreras de género así como de cualquier otra barrera cultural. Es la noción de transculturalidad lo que nos hace fuertes como movimiento. Cuando Boal envió su mail de invitación con las muchas preguntas, entre las respuestas escribí: “Una de mis mayores necesidades es reflexionar sobre y fortalecer el papel de las mujeres dentro de la red internacional. Sé que desde mi pequeña perspectiva austriaca no puedo ver el dibujo entero pero me hace sentir triste el hecho de que desde donde estoy siempre esté enfrentándome a los hombres en un un movimiento como éste. Mi mayor deseo sería crear una red de mujeres jokers para dar un signo visible de nuestra toma de conciencia del valor del trabajo de las mujeres en el TO. Luego para la red de mujeres jokers pediría ayuda financiera a una de las grandes redes de mujeres de crédito (existen, lo sé). Y las convertiría en redes tan fuertes que podrían hacer realmente su trabajo, sin tener que preocuparse continuamente de su situación de “vida precaria”. Por supuesto entonces yo estaba escribiendo a Augusto de mis sueños más salvajes. Y el sueño más salvaje de uno es a menudo también algo colectivo. Ahora ya no es un “yo” sino que un “nosotras”. Desde ese mail ha pasado mucho tiempo. Empezamos a montar una reunión de mujeres joker en Graz/Austria para octubre de este ano (2009) y es entonces cuando empezamos a contactar mujeres de otros países para compartir ideas. Sin duda solo eran pequeños intentos al principio pero ya en ese pequeño contexto encontramos a mujeres de todo el mundo que tenían sueños parecidos. Mariana, proveniente de Argentina, fue una de las primeras mujeres que conozco en pedir, mucho antes de que naciera la idea del festival, un Teatro de las Oprimidas (ella es una joker apasionada que decidió dar toda una serie de talleres por todo Argentina y extender la red de Teatraviesas de un continente a otro). Luego contacté con Agneta de Suecia (joker y activista de TO durante más de 25 años) y Xris de Australia (directora artística del Third Way Theatre, joker queer, facilitadora de teatro), quien me contó de Michele, fundadora y directora artística de Stage Left, Calgary) en Canada. Y fue Sima Ganguly (de Jana Sanskriti) quien, a pesar de no estar conectada con nosotras a través de internet o cartas, creó el año pasado en Croacia un enorme vínculo personal cuando dijo “No os sintáis nunca más solas en vuestra vida. Estamos tod@s aqui con vosotr@s”. Las ideas todas son parecidas. Necesitamos una red de mujeres, necesitamos crear un espacio para el apoyo y la solidaridad, un espacio en el que reinventar, re-crear, seguir investigando y fortalecer el activismo de las mujeres. Nuestro deseo en esta conferencia es ponerle palabras públicamente a esta necesidad. ¿Cuál es la situación? Cómo la percibimos? ¿Acaso tengo que explicar de qué forma las mujeres están oprimidas en este planeta? No después de todo lo que escuchamos aquí. Vivimos en un mercado globalizado en el que las mujeres siguen siendo discriminadas. En el riquísimo país del norte en el que vivo yo, Austria, hay violaciones, tráfico de mujeres (y leyes de asilo pensadas en contra de las victimas y para proteger a los culpables), hay hombres que asesinan sus esposas, hay abuso sexual, hay un sistema médico hecho de patronales, hay condiciones laborales precarias sobre todo para las mujeres, hay crímenes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial de los que nunca se ha hablado. Sin embargo, sabemos que el simple hecho de ser todas mujeres no nos hace a todas iguales. Ser mujer no convierte automáticamente a una en feminista. La plataforma que proponemos, la red, tiene el objetivo de investigar y preguntarse qué significa ser mujer, feminista, tener cierto background étnico y cómo esto afecta nuestro trabajo. Es importante practicar esta forma de hacerse preguntas porque el to es más que un kit de herramientas, como algunos piensan. Una vez, en un training avanzado para joker, una mujer de la India que había sufrido discriminación intentó levantar la cuestión pero l@s demás participantes le dijeron que su tema de racismo no tenía nada que ver con el taller. Cuando, en la evaluación, l@s dinamizador@s crearon un espacio para hablar de racismo, algunos reflexionaron sobre como esa discusión hubiese sido una distracción con respecto al real trabajo del TO. Por ésta y otras razones parecidas es importante que miremos a l@s que estamos en el trabajo, al porqué estamos allí y a cómo estamos en el mundo. Éste es un desafío para poder ver el trabajo como una disciplina para la vida y no solamente como un proyecto temporal o nada más que un trabajo. Necesitamos tomar tiempo y espacio para los conflictos y para aprender l@s un@s de l@s otr@s. Algunas de nosotras tuvieron la oportunidad de aprender de Jana Sanskriti y de ver la complejidad de sus luchas, el abanico de estrategias, qué significa solidaridad y qué implicaciones tiene la utopía de un grupo. La actitud que se necesita para cambiar una sociedad de manera sostenible. Tod@s sabemos: Los temas de género nunca pueden ser analizados por separado con respecto a otros como los de etnia, clase, orientación sexual, salud etc. Entendemos que no todas las mujeres que trabajan con el TO están politizadas de la misma forma. No todas las mujeres quieren interseccionar los diferentes temas. Sin embargo, lo que soportamos es la necesidad de emprender la complejidad y no colapsar la diversidad. Reconocemos que el género es una realidad construida y no una fija. Nuestros objetivos al crear una red de mujeres son: 1.Crear un espacio en el que las mujeres joker sean visibles, sepan las unas de las otras y de nuestro trabajo -los libros que escribimos, las obras que creamos y las en las que colaboramos, las luchas que estamos combatiendo- Para que podemos tomar conciencia de cual es el trabajo de las mujeres en el movimiento, visualizar nuestro propio trabajo con mas claridad, 2. Apoyar la sistematización de nuestro trabajo y su traducción a otros idiomas, 3. Provocar una participación mayor de las mujeres en los encuentros, conferencias y workshops internacionales, 4. Hacer preguntas difíciles en lugar de asumir respuestas en silencio, 3. Crear diálogos sobre cómo vemos nuestros roles en la sociedad y el movimiento, qué estamos haciendo y cómo. Descubrir la especificidad de nuestra localización y nuestra interseccionalidad como mujeres (discapacitada, anciana y otras) y preguntarnos cómo esto influye en el trabajo, interviene dentro de la red entre las mujeres joker y en la comunidad de TO 6. Crear una web, un espacio para el intercambio y las preguntas. Michele Decottignies (de Stage Left Canada) ya tiene hecha una maqueta de website que en para ella sería un espacio social, cultural y estético para joker activista radicales. Esta red es una oportunidad para crear link e intercambiar ideas –un lugar donde la ética y la necesaria politización del trabajo sirvan a la plataforma que nos motiva-. 7. Encontrar subvenciones que financien una red de este tipo y hacer turnos para administrarla (forum, website, encuentros de facilitación etc.) 8. Promover la inclusividad. La inclusividad es un acto imperativo que demuestra la voluntad de trabajar para la construcción de alianzas y la solidaridad y que cambia la real naturaleza del mundo -localizando como verdad principal el hecho de que la lucha, aunque de forma diferente, es de tod@s nosotr@s y que no necesitamos estar en guerra l@s un@s con l@s otr@s sobre quien, que y como- 9. Usar la fuerza y la ayuda que ganamos a través de esta red para establecer forum para la entera comunidad de TO, donde podremos preguntar preguntas difíciles dentro del movimiento, por ejemplo sobre despolitización, espacios didácticos? Sobre como evaluamos el éxito? Sobre la falta de dialogo dentro del movimiento? Sobre quien nos tomamos en serio en el mundo y en el trabajo del TO y porque? Sobre como nos juzgamos l@s un@s a l@s otr@s? Sobre como llevamos la competitividad? 10. Como dinamizador@s, ¿Cómo nos aseguramos de que no estamos repitiendo prácticas inhumanas y cómo aseguramos que podemos vigilar la forma en la que las estructuras sociales influyen sobre nosotr@s? 11. Finalmente esta red ofrece la oportunidad de ponernos a la prueba a nosotr@s mism@s. De pensar junt@s formas de crear espacios en los que encontrar estrategias cuando el techo se viene abajo. El objetivo final de esta red es mantener y guardar un espacio para la diversidad y la diferencia de manera que podamos crear la fuerza y la solidaridad que llevan a la transformación y al cambio de los paradigmas en nosotr@s y en los demás, Boal dice que el TO es acerca de “humanizar la humanidad".

Alliances transculturelles en solidarité: Expression des femmes au sein du TO Présentation d'un document écrit collectivement pendant la conférence de Rio, le 22 juillet 2009 par Xris Reardon, Mariana Villani, Agneta Josephson, Michele Decottignies, Birgit Fritz. Afin de nous préparer, je vous demande de fermer les yeux un moment et de prendre une inspiration. Maintenant, je vous demande de penser à cinq noms d'homme jokers de TO venant de cinq pays différents. PAUSE. Maintenant, tout en gardant les yeux fermés, je vous demande de faire la même chose avec cinq noms de femmes jokers. Maintenant, en laissant s'écouler les perceptions que vous avez du mouvement international du TO, demandez-vous, selon vous, s'il s'agit surtout d'hommes ou de femmes qui jouent le rôle de joker sur les différents continents. Prenez un temps de pause et ouvrez les yeux... Je comprends qu'au début peu nombreuses étaient les femmes invitées à participer à cette conférence. Sur la première liste d'invités, il n'y avait que cinq femmes. Je reconnais que de nombreuses choses se sont passées en coulisse entre temps, et celles-ci ont conduit à des changements dont le résultat est visible par la présence de toutes les femmes ici même. Et nous voulons dire que nous apprécions cela. Nous sommes Mariana Villani de Teatraviesas, Barcelone/Argentine, Agneta Josephson de Breyta, Suède, Michele Decottigines de Stage Left à Calagary, Canada, Xris Reardon de Thirdway Theatre, Australie, et moi même du GTO Vienne, Autriche. Ce document est le résultat d'une création collective à laquelle nous avons toutes collaboré pendant quelques mois. Hier, c'était la première fois que nous nous sommes réellement assises ensemble et que nous avons discuté et nous l'avons fait, pour la grande majorité d'entre nous, dans des langues qui n'étaient pas les nôtres. C'est la raison pour laquelle, pour cette conférence, je lis ce document au lieu de parler librement. Nous croyons que, même au sein d'un mouvement/organisation/ réseau comme le nôtre, se pose encore la question de la moindre visibilité des femmes par rapport à celle des hommes. La majorité des conférences internationales, rencontres et ateliers sont menés par des hommes. Pourquoi, en tant que communauté de TO, sommes-nous dans une telle situation? Est-ce parce que les femmes ne veulent pas être visibles? Ou est-ce parce que nous tendons à reproduire à l'intérieur de notre propre structure les mêmes systèmes hiérarchiques contre lesquels normalement nous luttons à travers le TO? Si le Théâtre de l'Opprimé nous enseigne à travailler dans et avec un théâtre de questions, et non un théâtre de réponses, nous devons donc aussi continuer à nous interroger sur ce qui et qui est invisible, sur ce que nous faisons, sur les structures que nous créons, sur les directions que nous prenons. Nous avons besoin de mener des recherches à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur et ne pas nous arrêter au seuil de nos propres portes. Nous avons besoin de donner vie à un théâtre d'investigation et de l'appliquer aussi à nous-mêmes (autre « invention » latino-américaine, l'« investigation participative » d'Orlando Fals Borda, un sociologue colombien). Nos objectifs doivent consister en de continuelles tentatives de vivre des alliances transculturelles dans la solidarité.
De quelle transculturalité sommes-nous donc en train de parler? Nous croyons que les alliances transculturelles sont des plus nécessaires lorsque l'on aborde la question de la solidarité entre femmes. Le concept de transculturalité, que j'emploie ici, peint un tableau différent de la relation entre les cultures. Non pas une relation d'isolement ou de conflits – comme peuvent le faire le multiculturalisme ou l'interculturalité – mais une relation d'enchevêtrement, de mélange et de communauté. Il ne prône pas la séparation mais l'échange et l'interaction. C'est pourquoi il est important pour nous tou(te)s de travailler en alliances, d'un côté et de l'autre des barrières de genre ainsi que de toute autre barrière culturelle. C'est la notion de transculturalité qui nous rend forts comme mouvement. Quand Boal a envoyé son mail d'invitation avec de nombreuses questions, parmi les réponses, j'écrivis : « Un de mes besoins les plus importants est de réfléchir sur le rôle des femmes et de le renforcer au sein du réseau international. Je sais que, depuis ma petite perspective autrichienne, je ne peux voir le tableau complet, mais cela me rend triste que, d'où je suis, je doive toujours m'affronter aux hommes au sein d'un tel mouvement. Mon plus grand désir serait de créer un réseau de femmes jokers, pour donner un signe visible de notre prise de conscience quant à la valeur du travail effectué par les femmes dans le TO. Ensuite, pour le réseau de femmes jokers, je demanderais un soutien financier à l'un des plus grands réseaux de femmes, auquel nous pouvons avoir confiance (ils existent, je le sais!). Et je les convertirais en réseaux tellement forts qu'ils pourront vraiment faire leur travail, sans avoir à se préoccuper continuellement de la précarité de leur situation de vie ». Bien sûr, à ce moment, j'écrivais à Augusto à propos de mes rêves les plus sauvages. Et le rêve le plus sauvage d'une personne est également souvent quelque chose de collectif. Maintenant il ne s'agit plus d'un « je » mais d'un « nous ».
Depuis ce mail, beaucoup de temps a passé. Nous avons commencé à planifier une réunion de femmes jokers à Graz/Autriche pour le mois d'octobre de cette année (2009) et c'est à ce moment-là que nous avons commencé à prendre contact avec des femmes d'autres pays pour échanger nos idées. Sans doute, il s'agissait de modestes tentatives, un début, mais, dans un contexte aussi restreint, nous avons trouvé des femmes à travers le monde qui avaient des rêves similaires aux nôtres. Mariana, originaire d'Argentine, a été une des premières femmes que je connais à demander un Théâtre des Opprimées, bien avant que l'idée du festival ne naisse (Mariana est une joker passionnée qui a décidé de donner une série complète d'atelier dans toute l'Argentine et d'étendre le réseau de Teatraviesas d'un continent à l'autre). Ensuite j'ai contacté Agneta de Suède (joker et activiste de TO depuis plus de 25 ans) et Xris d'Australie (directrice artistique du Thirld Way Theatre, joker queer, facilitateur de théâtre), qui m'a parlé de Michèle, fondatrice et directrice artistique de Stage Left, Calgary) au Canada. Et c'est Sima Ganguly (du Jana Sanskriti) qui, malgré le fait de ne pas être connectée avec nous à travers Internet ou par lettres, créa l'année passée en Croatie un lien énorme, lorsqu'elle dit « Ne vous sentez jamais plus seule dans vos vies. Nous sommes tou(te)s ensemble ici avec vous. » Les idées sont toutes similaires. Nous avons besoin d'un réseau de femmes, nous avons besoin de créer un espace pour l'entraide et la solidarité, un espace où réinventer, re-créer, continuer de faire des recherches et fortifier l'activisme des femmes. Notre désir dans cette conférence est de mettre publiquement des mots à ce besoin. Quelle est la situation? Comment la percevons-nous? Dois-je expliquer comment les femmes sont opprimées sur cette planète? Pas après tout ce que nous avons écouté ici. Nous vivons dans un marché globalisé dans lequel les femmes continuent à être discriminées. Dans ce très riche pays occidental où je vis – l'Autriche – il y a des viols, il existe un trafic de femmes (et des lois d'asile pensées contre les victimes et pour protéger les persécuteurs), il y a des hommes qui assassinent leurs épouses, il y a des exploitations et des abus sexuels, il existe un système médical condescendant, des conditions de travail précaires surtout pour les femmes, il y a des crimes qui ont été commis pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale et desquels on n'a jamais parlé. Cependant, nous savons que le simple fait d'être toutes des femmes ne signifie pas que nous sommes toutes égales. Être femme ne conduit pas automatiquement à être féministe. La plateforme que nous proposons - le réseau - a pour objectif de s'interroger et de se demander comment être une femme, une féministe, une femme issue d'un background ethnique particulier, quelle est la signification de ces caractéristiques et comment cela se traduit dans notre pratique, dans les réponses que nous apportons dans le cadre de notre travail. C'est important de pratiquer cette forme de questionnement car le TO est plus qu'un kit d'outils, comme d'aucuns le pensent. Une fois, au cours d'un entrainement avancé pour joker, une femme indienne, qui avait souffert de discrimination, tenta de soulever le sujet mais les autres participant(e)s lui dirent que ses thèmes autour du racisme n'avait rien à voir avec l'atelier. Lorsque, pendant l'évaluation, les meneurs de l'atelier, créèrent un espace pour parler du racisme, certaines personnes firent part de leur réflexion sur le fait que cette discussion aurait été une distraction par rapport au travail réel du TO. Pour cette raison et d'autres raisons similaires, il est important que nous regardions qui nous sommes dans le cadre de notre travail, pourquoi nous sommes là et comment nous nous situons dans ce monde. Ceci est un engagement à avoir une vue d'ensemble, à regarder le travail comme une discipline pour la vie, et pas seulement comme un projet temporaire à un moment donné ou comme un simple boulot. Nous avons besoin de prendre le temps et l'espace pour envisager les conflits et pour apprendre les un(e)s des autres. Certaines d'entre nous ont eu l'opportunité d'apprendre aux côtés du Jana Sanskriti et de voir la complexité de leurs luttes ainsi que l'éventail de leurs stratégies. De comprendre ce que signifie la solidarité, ce que représente l'utopie au sein d'un groupe. L'attitude nécessaire pour changer une société de manière durable. Tou(te)s nous savons: les problématiques liées au genre ne peuvent être analysées séparément d'autres problématiques tel que l'ethnicité, l'appartenance de classe, l'orientation sexuelle, l'âge, la santé, le logement, etc. Nous entendons bien que toutes les femmes engagées dans le TO ne sont pas toutes politisées de la même façon, que toutes les femmes ne veulent pas forcément recouper les différentes problématiques. CEPENDANT, nous soutenons qu'il est nécessaire d'embrasser la complexité et de ne pas détruire la diversité. Nous reconnaissons que le genre est une réalité construite et non figée. Nos objectifs en créant un réseau de femmes sont les suivants : 1. Créer un espace pour que les femmes jokers soient visibles, qu'elles se connaissent les unes des autres et qu'elles connaissent leur travail respectif – les livres que nous avons écrits, les représentations que nous avons créées et celles auxquelles nous avons collaboré, les luttes pour lesquelles nous nous battons. Pour que nous puissions prendre conscience de ce que représente le travail des femmes dans le mouvement, il faut visualiser notre travail avec une meilleure clarté; 2. Appuyer la systématisation de notre travail et sa traduction dans d'autres langues; 3. Provoquer une plus grande participation des femmes dans les rencontres, conférences et ateliers internationaux; 4. Poser des questions difficiles au lieu d'assumer des réponses en silence; 5. Créer un dialogue riche sur la façon dont nous voyons nos rôles dans la société et dans le mouvement, sur ce que nous faisons et comment nous le faisons. Découvrir la spécificité de notre place et de notre intersection en tant que femme ( handicapée, âgée, etc) et nous demander comment cela influence-t-il notre travail et nos interactions au sein du réseau parmi les autres femmes jokers et, plus largement, avec l'ensemble de la communauté du TO; 6. Créer un site internet, un espace pour les échanges et les questions. Michele Decottignies (de Stage Left Canada) a déjà réalisé une maquette de site internet qu'elles envisage comme un espace esthétique, culturel et social critique pour jokers activistes radicales. Ce réseau est une opportunité pour tisser des liens et échanger des idées – un espace virtuel et global dans lequel les participantes du réseau peuvent engager des discours critiques, un espace dans lequel l'éthique et la nécessaire politisation du travail servent à la plateforme qui nous motive; 7. Trouver des subventions qui financent ce type de réseau et faire des rotations pour l'administrer (forum, site internet, rencontres de facilitation, etc.); 8. Promouvoir la capacité d'inclusion : la capacité d'inclusion est un acte impératif qui démontre la volonté de travailler pour la construction d'alliances et la solidarité, et qui change la réelle nature du monde – en plaçant comme vérité fondamentale que la lutte est de tout un chacun(e), malgré les différences – et nous n'avons pas besoin d'être en guerre les un(e)s les autres sur le qui, le quoi et le comment; 9. Utiliser la force et le soutien que nous gagnerons à travers ce réseau afin d'établir un forum pour la communauté entière du TO et grâce auquel nous pourrons poser des questions difficiles au sein du mouvement, comme par exemple des questions sur la dépolitisation? Sur les espaces didactiques? Sur la façon d'évaluer notre réussite? Sur le manque de dialogue dans le mouvement? Sur qui nous prenons au sérieux dans le monde et le travail du TO et pourquoi? Sur la façon dont nous nous jugeons les un(e)s les autres? Sur la manière dont nous évitons de manipuler les voix des groupes marginalisés afin de mener nos propres carrières? Sur la façon dont nous traitons la question de la compétition? 10.Comme formatrices, comment nous assurons-nous que nous ne sommes pas en train de reproduire des pratiques déshumanisantes et que nous sommes en mesure de contrôler la façon dont les structures socio-culturelles nous façonnent? 11. Finalement, ce réseau est fait pour nous offrir l'opportunité de nous défier nous-mêmes. De penser ensemble la manière de créer des espaces dans lesquels nous pouvons identifier des stratégies sur ce qu'il faut faire lorsque le plafond s'effondre. L'objectif final de ce réseau est de maintenir et de préserver un espace pour la diversité et la différence afin de créer une force et une solidarité qui puissent mener à la transformation et au changement des paradigmes qui sont en nous et dans les autres; Boal dit que le TO c'est « humaniser l'humanité ».

Coclusions from Rio - Conclusiones de Rio English/Castellano

2009-11-11T03:59:00.000-08:00
This are the conclusions from the discussion table about oppression against women in the International Coference of TO in Rio. Sex/Gender Oppression -The table changed its name to “Oppression against Women” -No man participated in this table discussion -Contextualization of the reality of each participant. We arrived at the conclusion that we all have the same problem: The oppression and discrimination of the female joker. -We continue to live in a male-oriented, patriarchal society. It’s an illusion, even within TO, that we have equality. It’s asked that TO acknowledge itself as feminist. -The difficulties of female African jokers is acknowledged. -Oppression against women is trans-cultural 13 QUESTION: What can TO do to address this inequality? - Create a space for women inside TO. - Create bridges to connect women of TO in all countries - Create an international network of female jokers - Create meetings of female jokers at a national and regional level - Begin a dialogue within TO about the oppression of women - Realize a showcase of TO on the subject of the oppression of women - The possibility of convening female jokers during the festival in Austria is offered. CONCRETE PROPOSAL: - Realize the first international meeting of female jokers/multipliers of TO in 2011. STRATEGIES FOR THE ENCOUNTER: - Have local meetings (within the same country) of TO women. - Research and collaborate, in each country, with other funded groups and associations of women, offering them TO as a tool. - Create a concrete network beginning from these first local encounters.

Estas son las conclusiones de la mesa de discusión sobre opresión contra la mujer en la Conferencia Internacional de TO en Rio. Sexo / Oppresión de Género - La mesa cambió de nombre por “Opresión de la mujer”
- Ningún hombre participó en esta mesa de debate
- Contextualización de la realidad de cada mujer participante.
Llegamos a la conclusión de que todas tenemos el mismo problema: la opresión y discriminación de la mujer curinga. Continuamos viviendo en una sociedad machista y patriarcal. Es una ilusión, incluso dentro do TO, que tenemos igualdad. Nos preguntamos si el TO se reconoce feminista. - Se comenta a dificultad de las curingas africanas. Se comentaron varios ejemplos. - La opresión contra las mujeres es transcultural. PERGUNTA: ¿Cómo el TO puede hacer frente a esta situación de las mujeres? - Crear un espacio para las mujeres dentro de TO. 13 - Crear puentes para conectar a las mujeres de TO de todos los países - Crear una red internacional de mujeres curingas - Crear encuentros de mujeres curingas a nivel nacional y regional - Iniciar dentro de TO un diálogo sobre a opresión de las mujeres - Realizar una muestra de TO sobre opresión de las mujeres - Se comenta la posibilidad de reunir mujeres curingas durante el festival de Austria PROPUESTAS CONCRETAS - Realizar el primer encuentro internacional de mujeres curingas/multiplicadoras de TO en 2011 ESTRATEGIAS PARA O ENCONTRO - Realizar encuentros locales (dentro del mismo país) de mujeres de TO. - Investigar y colaborar, en cada país, con otros grupos y asociaciones de mujeres organizadas sin dinero ofreciéndoles a nuestra herramienta: el TO. - Crear un network/rede concreto a partir de estos primeros encuentros locales...

Grazz conclusions - Conclusiones Grazz (falta traducir a spanish)

2009-11-11T03:58:00.000-08:00
WOMEN’S POWER – Open Space, 28.10.2009, 14.00 – 16.00, JUFA World Forum Theatre Festival 2009, Austria

The following statements do not represent necessarily the opinion of all participants.

QUESTION(S) What makes or why/how are women jokers different from men?
DISCUSSION LOG: Is it a question of gender/personality/class/culture how a joker structures a performance, deepens the process, questions, uses power, … J
okering as a woman sometimes needs “doppelte Kraft” (double efforts) to be seen/accepted
Can a men-joker be a feminist?
Can a woman-joker reinforce/reproduce dominant structure?

QUESTION(S)
1.Are there structures in the Theatre of the Oppressed that hinder (stop) women to be jokers?
2.How does the Theatre of the Oppressed reproduce dominant structures (not just patriarchy)?
NOTES:
1. Typical patriarchal structures Economics “shyness” Taking space Being afraid of disharmony (critics) hierarchy through knowledge Possible solutions: not only one person, who jokers Reflecting your own background If you need to reproduce dominant structure for getting attention  tell/show it to the others
2. Joker as expert Silencing voices Contradictions between change you want to see and what you do Not showing emotions or connections Space of exchange and reflection to support each other, disagree, examine our internalized “prejudices” Learn to debate/argue Having to be male/or use strategies … to be heard Knowledge exchange by practice

DISCUSSION LOG: We talked about
1.dominant structures Patriarchy Xenopobia Racism Etc.: i.e. capitalism  MANY 2.How we reproduce inside the Theatre of the Oppressed
Joker-behaviour: Silencing Expert: to have power over knowledge
Abuses between change you say you want … and the way you work
No reflection on location/privil
How we make with power Not showing emotions Male Strategies to get attention Shyness – nit interested in competition Not being willing to take the same risk 3.Strategies … to make better reflecting on background (culture, class, etc.) making visible the structures and strategies used … publicy … that are power based – dominant structure not only one person joking – sharing in group make space to exchange about feedback, examine internalized prejudices sharing practice and theory

QUESTION(S) Can the Theatre of the Oppressed define itself as a feminist movement? What kind of a network [do we want]? What is the ideology?
DISCUSSION LOG: feminist theatre of the oppressed network, “feminist” defines the space, the network Not only women coming together because they are women
Dialogue of this network and the Theatre of the Oppressed in general to make the movement a feminist movement (transform men as well)
A place to share experiences of feminist Theatre of the Oppressed-practitioners, learn from each other, try new ways/techniques, to support each other
Form a blog/e-group on the internet – to be in contact, informed of what others are doing, maybe begin the network

QUESTION(S) Difference between the Esthetical “language” of women  e. “l.” of men?  Embodyment of problems/conflicts? Feminist/gender technics for workshops DISCUSSION LOG: Is it more important to discuss by words or with theatralic methods? (on stage – during performace) Give the space for discussions during or after a performance? Should we use more body language?

QUESTION(S) Ideas/experience: how to start/maintain a women’s Theatre of the Oppressed group? How to stimulate and promote Theatre of the Oppressed events, projects etc. focussed in the women issues? Finding ways of bringing Theatre of the Oppressed to women who are not thinking of themselves as “feminist”. Theatre of the Oppressed as a tool for “simple” women
DISCUSSION LOG: How to stimulate a group: pool of women discussing/sharing how to do (global) Event attracts/makes groups (and the other way around) Why you want to make this group? Necessity Desire Do it (whichever small it is)  the way will come Motivation: activism (then?) (vs.?) professionalism Attraction: learn to make theatre, aesthetical  political Space: take obstacles into a path (childcare, food, livingspaces, etc.)

QUESTION(S) Strategies and questions the joker can use to make gender visible and to make space possible to many.