Last night, Saturday, the local Resistance group showed the nearly two hour film to a crowd of about two hundred.
Like many political documentaries it takes a position, in this case, against the coup and in favor of the Resistance. I found it interesting and helpful. If your Spanish is decent (or someone has subtitled the film), go see it.
Here in Santa Rosa we’ve been shielded from much of the violence by government authorities that has beset Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. Though there are several clips from a demonstration in Santa Rosa, most of the film’s action takes place in Tegucigalpa or on the border with Nicaragua.
What struck me was the blatant use of violence by the army and the military. You can see people being beaten on the legs and people pushed away by the military. There are cases of people in the Resistance marches throwing stones at the government troops or throwing back gas canisters. But the use of violence by the authorities is striking.
The documentary is for the most part from the perspective of persons and groups in Tegucigalpa.President Mel Zelaya is, of course, a predominant presence – from a speech he gave a year before the coup to his departure from the Brazilian embassy in January of this year. But I was slightly surprised that when he appeared at the beginning of the video the audience erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheering. He is still for many people important and a symbol of the hopes for a more just Honduras.
René Amador of los Necios appears often in the documentary as well as two commentators whose names I cannot remember but whom I found very insightful. Amador’s presence, adventures, and thoughts provide a sort of a thread throughout.
There are short interviews with Berta Caceres, a leader of the indigenous, and Padre Fausto Milla from Santa Rosa speaks several times. But the voice of the rural poor is largely unheard, though I am sure most of the Resistance is deeply concerned about them. I wish people paid more overt attention to the situation of the rural poor and their hopes, dreams, successes, and challenges.
The crowd in Santa Rosa was mostly urban with a few campesinos. But I was surprised by the presence of two kids I know from the diocesan lunch program for kids. I’m not sure why they were there, though I think they might be looking for a free movie and maybe even free food! But when they saw me they ran up, shouting “Juancito,” and one of them hugged me. As I left he again gave me a hug. I should have asked him what he thought since he had stayed to watch the entire video. I’ll ask him the next time I see him.
Kids framed my day yesterday. In the morning I went out to El Zapote de Santa Rosa for a workshop for altar servers in training. I had to do the parts of the Mass with them. Luckily on Friday I thought of an active way to start and end the session – a type of jigsaw puzzle to see how much they knew about the parts of the Mass and if they could put them in order. It worked and I think they learned something (and I didn’t bore them that much.)
I had meant to take pictures of the process but forget, but here are some photos of the kids in El Zapote eating lunch after the workshop.
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1 comment:
It's interesting from a theological aspect that your area was shielded. Perhaps a manifestation of 1 Cor 1:27, "God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." The genuine church, which rejects violence as a solution to human problems is necessarily one of those weak things.
--Charles
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