|
The Economics and Development group of Justicia Global presented the documentary "Fuerza" at a cinema-forum on Saturday, February 3.
“Fuerza” is a bilingual documentary that shows an in-depth look at the lives of people in two small towns affected by immigration: Apan, Hidalgo, México and Goshen, Indiana, United States.
We were honored to welcome the editor of the documentary, James Weber. Weber is from the United States and is studying in the Dominican Republic through a program of Goshen College.
He shared his experiences with the audience of more than 40 people. "It was amazing to work on this
project for a whole year," Weber said. "It has touched me deeply."
The moderator opened the activity with the following words:
“We recognize migration is a very important topic here in the Dominican Republic
, considering the emigration of Dominicans to other countries
and the immigration of Haitians here. For that reason we're happy to
present this film, which gives us the chance to see how migration affects other
countries as well."
The documentary has a scene in which a room full of students in Apan are asked
to raise their hand if they know anyone living in Indiana. Almost all of the students
raise their hands.
After the film Weber repeated the question in Santo Domingo: "How many of you
know an immigrant? Either a Dominican who has left, or an immigrant from another
country living here?" Every single hand went up.
One woman commented on this reality: "Almost all of us have family or friends in
New York. We don't like it when immigrants are mistreated there, but
we end up treating Haitian immigrants in our country worse. It's incredible.”
The discussion touched on the topics of the economy, labor, patriotism and above all,
human rights.
“Why do people have to have a document to guarantee their rights as a human being?” one young woman asked.
“That seems very unjust to me.”
“This is something we discuss a lot in Justicia Global,” said another young woman. “We say
no human being is illegal on the Earth.”
The public in attendance, made up of people from four to sixty years of age,
was very impressed with the documentary. “It was impressive to see the similarities
between the two towns [Apan and Goshen],” said one young man from Justicia Global.
“They're both small towns that survive off of manufacturing and agriculture
– the only thing is that they're on opposite sides of a border.
Borders and walls are mechanisms they use to divide people.
Let's remember what José Martí said, ‘homeland is ALL of humanity.’”
Weber noted that the economic difficulties in Mexico and Dominican Republic
seem very similar to him. “We saw that the free trade agreement
NAFTA impoverished Apan and forced a lot of people to emigrate,” said the
young filmmaker. “I understand that the agreement DR-CAFTA will soon be
going into effect here in the Dominican Republic. I don't know what to think about that.”
It is important to understand issues that affect us on a world scale in order to see how we struggle in large part against the same forces and for the same ideals.
Justicia Global is an organization that calls all of us to organize
to construct justice, peace and international solidarity in our daily lives.
The cinema forums of Justicia Global are spaces for sharing and reflecting on the messages transmitted to us through diverse media sources, and to connect this to our daily lives.
Check out the webpage of the documentary "Fuerza" |
