More Cultural Politics

The other day I went to see a documentary called “The 100 days that didn’t shake the world [Los 100 días que no conmovieron al mundo]”. The documentary is about the trials of war criminals in Rwanda, among whom the musician Simon Bikindi. He was accused and sentenced to 15 years in prison for writing lyrics that mobilized the Hutu population against the Tutsis in the 100-day genocide in 1994. This is one among several possible examples of how music is used to mobilize the public, obviously not only for good causes. This leads to my current reflection on the continuous issue of what means and methods that are used in political mobilization, in my case for the environment.

Among all the invitations that I received by e-mail for the 5th of June and the International Environmental Day, I noticed with curiosity how creative the organizers had been. For example, during the week that lead up to the 5th of June there was a documentary film festival with special focus on environmental issues, and with invited speakers from environmental organizations. There was also a rock festival in Avellaneda, organized by Agrupación Tox Sud, where they invited people to listen to the music, paint murals, stencils, and print t-shirts. Their motivation was to “organize a cultural activity which rejects the constant contamination and destruction of our environment especially by the petroleum production. We further criticize the precarious conditions in which we find our schools and houses. While some company owners (thanks to the complicity during decades by the municipality, the provincial government and the national government) fill their pockets with thousands of millions, the neighbourhood lets us live in the worst conditions.”

However, it is not only here in Argentina that different means and methods are used to mobilize the public. During the last months I have read about a Swedish exhibition about climate change at the Museum of History, competitions in eastern Europe for TV productions that capture environmental issues, and call for research projects with NGOs that use video or photography. These examples point to the wide array of political means that are used for mobilizing the public.