Hey and welcome back to the Medellín AV Club Blog! We are thrilled to announce that we have a new Youtube channel, it’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here!
As many of you know, the Medellín AV Club launched in December of 2020 with the Legends of Medellín project. At that time, we decided with the team that it was a good idea to create a Medellín AV Club series under Rob LaFond’s personal channel. But fast forward to September of 2021, things have changed, we have gotten bigger and we decided that it had to have its own channel. We have big expectations and dreams with the AV Club and we want them to be all in one place. Besides that, Rob’s channel is more about his music and more of a lifestyle vlog kind of content. Which, by the way, watch out for what he’s going to be sharing with all of you very soon!
In The Medellín AV Club Youtube channel, you can expect to see some sneak peeks of Legends of Medellín. But mostly high-quality definition content, like drone footage, about Medellín, that way, you guys can learn things about the city before you come to visit or to know more about places that you’ve been before. Hopefully, soon we can add other cities to the channel!
If you have not seen the welcoming video, it’s right here ↓↓↓↓
In case you have not noticed, Colombia has been going through a National Strike since April 28th, 2021 and it has been a mix of emotions because in the middle of the uncertainty, a pandemic, human rights being violated, people getting injured, and missing, Colombian people have never felt more united and stronger.
Lorendiz González, a photographer that has been part of many protests and has created a visual story about what is going on, took a photo that said this: “They are dealing with the generation that studies art in Colombia. There’s no fear!” and that is a message that Colombian people have not seen before. That’s why we wanted to create this video, to show you some of the artistic performances that have been present in Medellín, not only during the protests but also in other scenarios all over the city.
This is ‘Parque de los deseos’ which is now known as ‘Parque de la Resistencia’ since it is the place where La Primera Línea de Medellín is located and where the protests start and end most of the time. As you can see, there are all kinds of messages that reunite the frustration, sadness, and anger that Colombians have felt for years, but there is also a sense and feeling of hope and empathy. Organizations and small businesses have been providing food, water, and first aid help to Primera Línea during this time. Parque de la Resistencia is where people come to paint their emotions, share words of empowerment to the fellow cities in the country, and pay tribute to the ones that have been killed or the ones that are fighting for their lives.
Kipará Batucada is a music group that has been a companion for the ones marching; their music gives people a sense of unity since everybody feels part of the protest. In the group, each musician represents an animal and its energy, this comes from the Embera, an ancestral community in Colombia, where the animals are considered pure and sacred. For them, art has been a crucial element during the Paro Nacional because it has motivated and invited people from different backgrounds to come together to fight for change, in their words: “WE RESIST FROM THE ART, we assert our right to protest peacefully, with the love, joy, and strength that characterize us”. Their drums and faces painted show the diversity and the values they stand for.
J J is an art and dance teacher that in collaboration with his students, started to think about the possible performances during the Paro Nacional that did not involve the common symbols of violence, that’s how ‘Empaquetados’ came to be. The performance took place at Parque del Poblado, in which a group of people puts themselves, some of them naked, inside of a transparent trash bag, closed it, and stayed in it for 30 minutes. For J. J. actions say more than words, and the bodies in the bags pay tribute to people’s bodies that have been appearing floating in the rivers, not only during this Paro Nacional but all over Colombia for a very long time.
Part of Colombia’s society often believes that the ones that go out to protest are the kind of people that just want everything for free, that lack education, or that they do not know what they are talking about, which is in this case, incorrect.
In this Paro Nacional, the younger generations are the ones taking to the streets and throughout the month parents, uncles and elderly people have been joining them. Because as Martín Buber said: “Where there is no participation there is no reality”, Colombian people are creating their own reality, they have educated themselves and have created a critical perspective about the way that this country has been lead, knowing that even though the change is not going to come easily, it is necessary. That’s why, after a month, El Paro no Para, Colombians are still protesting and fighting for what has to be done correctly.
If you have not seen the video, you can see it by clicking right here ↓↓↓↓
We hope you enjoyed it, and we will see you soon. Chao!
