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The Human Rights Watch Global Showcase |
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by Jenna Colley
What are human rights violations? Are they abuses inflicted in foreign countries by menacing governments? Are the victims political prisoners who are tortured into submission in dark cells? Sometimes, but more often than not they are people who suffer day to day hardships in the United States and other "respected" countries. Not all of our society is afforded the luxury of middle class indifference. Many have to suffer in silence. The Human Rights Watch Global Showcase, presented by the University Film Society and Amnesty International from April 2 to 6, wants to expand Austinites' understanding of what it means to be a victim.
The festival will screen 12 films that address issues of genocide, disappearances, women's and immigrants' rights, and racial discrimination. The atrocities are not as distant as many of us would like to believe, and festival organizers hope to make that clear by providing a visual testament to what we perceive to be injustice, and what it actually is. Each screening will be followed by an open debate and discussion conducted by a specialist of that field capable of addressing questions that arise from audience members. Students, professors and community organizers among others will serve as both panelists and moderators. All opinions are welcomed and the screenings are free.
The festival, which first opened in New York and Los Angeles seven years ago and has played internationally since 1996, will mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. Susana Kaiser of the Institute of Latin American Studies at UT first lobbied to bring the festival to Austin in June of 1997.
"In general, we live in a society that associates human rights violations with political repression. What we need to understand is that if your mother is beaten by your father or you suffer racial discrimination, your rights have also been violated. Oppression comes in every color and shape, and it's something that affects all of us," says Kaiser. Difficulty in locating a venue for the screening lead Kaiser to the University Film Society, an organization that had recently formed when a group of UT students protested the closing of the Texas Union Theater. Tammy Arnstein, a graduate student in the UT Film Department and member of the Society, welcomed Kaiser with open arms. Together with a small core of volunteers (mainly full-time students) they succeed in landing the Union Theater and raising funds for the festival. "After staging protests over the possible closing of the Union Theater, we decided that the best way to gain access to university resources was to become a formal organization," says Arnstein. "We were concerned that there were films that just weren't being shown. We wanted these issues to be brought to the forefront of conscience, and the festival was already a complete package." Each film in the festival is worth seeing. The screenings are divided into five themes: Big Brother in America and Abroad; Home as Found and Lost; A Woman's Tale; Reading, Writing, and Politics; and Blood Simple: Brothers at Peace and War.
We often forget that beyond our sense of reality lies the truth, and beyond that truth lies human nature. We are capable of ugly things, and without accountability, there is no progress.
Schedule
All films will be shown at the Texas Union Theatre, 24th Street and Guadalupe in the UT Union.
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