|
Annual Report
2007
Enkidu Cultural Difusion and Outreach
Activities:
Community Building and Dialogue
Part I: Los
Martes de Enkidu: The Diversity Think Tank in 2007
In January 2007, the Diversities
Think Tank: Los Martes de Enkidu relocated from ContempoCinema
to Teatro Arlequin. Los Martes de Enkidu started its activities
in Teatro Arlequin on 9. January, 2007 with a presentation of Diversitel
and Farmasex, initiatives organised by AVE de México and
a presentation of the book "El
Mismo abrazo" by Michael Lowenthal organised by Editorial
Egales. On 16. January, the National Human Rights
Comission of Mexico (CNDH) visited us and Ricardo Hernández
Forcada and Héctor Eloy Rivas Sánchez, from the Program for
HIV/AIDS and Human Rights of the CNDH presented the book “El
VIH/SIDA y los Derechos Humanos: Guía Básica para Educadores
en Derechos Humanos” followed by a presentation by Alonso
Hernández Victoria from the National School of Anthropology
and History (ENAH) who gave a talk about the importance of
writing the history of the Gay Movement in Mexico. On 23.
January, Enoé Uranga, presented the new partnership law in
Mexico City (Ley de Sociedades de Convivencia), contemporary
Circus Company, Cirko De Mente presented their project
Fibonacci and young Mexican pop-artist Edwin Daniel
presented his exhibition "El Mundo Existe para Mi" (The
world exists for me). On 30. January, Héctor Salinas
from Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (UACM) presented
the conference proceedings of the conference II
Encuentro Nacional de Escritor@s sobre Disidencia Sexual (II
National Encounter for Writers about Sexual Dissidency) which
had taken place the previous year, Antonio Escalante from the
Cinema Club Urban Fest presented their annual film festival and
Arturo Méndez and Victor Velasco, from Centro de Capacitación
y Apoyo Sexológico Humanista AC (CECASH) presented a talk
about their work with gay couples where one partner is
HIV-positive. Manuel Amador, Mexican Queer Poet, ended the month
in the Think Tank with a presentation of some recent poems.
On
6. February 2007, Eduardo Murillo and Alberto Ramírez from the
organisation Atención Legal y Psicológica Integral A.
C. -ALPSI presented their important work about family
violence and sexual diversities, which inaugurated their monthly
session in tthe Think Tank which continued throughout the year.
On 13. February, we had a presentation of the interesting
cultural difusion projects Cultura en Red by Mane Vargas
and Funámbules Producciones, by Penélope Rivera. Thereafter,
anthropologist Lilia Martínez, from the Dirección
de Atención y Prevención de la Violencia Familiar del GDF
spoke about the work and activities regarding family violence,
organised by the Government of the City of Mexico. Ilapso
Media Project presented their new documentary "Ni
Locas ni Pecadoras" about the lives of 6 gay and
Lesbian couples in Mexico City and JADEvolucion-Arte,
presented their company of multi-disciplinary artists. Finally,
Rodolfo Vitela gave a talk about the work of Diversidad
Alternativa, the Diversity Organisation of the Mexican
Social-Democratic Party in Mexico City.
On 20. February, Jorge Yañez
presented the history, philosophy and background of the
organisation DIVERSA, Agrupación Política Nacional
Feminista, where he is vice-president. Salvador Irys
presented the invitation for this year's Gay Lesbian Culture
Week in Mexico City: Semana Cultural Lésbico-Gay.
pop-artist Edwin Daniel had his second appearance in the Think
Tank of 2007 and invited us to his exhibition Vinilo in
the representation in Mexico City of his native state Nayarit.
On 27. February, Antonio Marquet, professor in history and
anthropology at the UAM (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana)
spoke about his research and the publication of his book "Crepúsculo
de Heterolandia", which later that year, was presented in
Enkidu's Queer Studies Easter Symposium and was awareded the
prestigeous research price of the UAM.
On 6, March, Paulina Martínez
Peredo and Emilia Lucia Torres Robles from Musas de Metal
Asociación de Mujeres Gay A.C. presented their recent book
Acercándome a la Diversidad Sexual (Approching the Sexual
Diversity) and Queen June Iris Mexico presented her organisation
"Olaff & Moda, Diversidad y Arte" and their
upcoming projects and events. On 13. March, Rafael Fonseca and
Miguel Guzmán from the organisation Comité Sol y Arcoiris presented
an analysis of the budget assigned to aids-prevention and
attention of infected persons by the Goverment of the City of
Mexico. On 27. March, the topic for discussion was an initiative
for a federal law in Mexico against the discrimination of
transgender and transsexual individuals. The speakers in the
session were Gilda
Jara, columnist in Enkidu and representative of Foro de
Hombres Gay, lawyer Menahem Asher and journalist Gloria
Hazel Davenporth who participated in her capacity as Sexual
Diversity Coordiniator in Censida.
During the first 3 weeks of April 2007, the Think Tank was organised as round
table sessions and integrated into the activities of the annual
Queer Studies Easter Symposium. These roundtable discussions had
participants from a large number of local and international
organisations and universities and focused on the new
partnership law in Mexico City as well as same sex marriages in
South Africa and Spain, the law proposal for a new gender
identity law in Mexico City and finally on 17. April,
professor Sean Rehaag from the Faculty of Law at the University
of Toronto presented an overview over the possibilities of
Mexican LGBT people to apply for asylum in Canada.
In the last week of May and the
first 2 weeks of June, 2007 at the occasion of the Enkidu Summer
Conference "Identities in Transition", the Think Tank
was against organised as roundtable discussions, involving large
numbers of international and local activists, academics and
representatives for organisations, government agencies and
universities from all over the world and several issues of
global importance was discussed and the discussions benefitted
from global presence. The sessions in the rest of June, were
dominated by discussion and analysis of the preparations for the
annual LGBT Pride Parade in Mexico City. Representatives for
local organisations, including COMAC (Comité Orgullo de
México A.C.) gave their points of views and perspectives.
In July, after the intense
conference period between April and June in the Academic Year of
Enkidu, the Think Tank started again to function in its
traditional way. The monthly sessions of ALPSI about family
violence and Sexual Diversity continued, as well as the monthly
sessions of reflection "Masculinities" organised by
Jorge Yáñez (TRODOS Círculo de Masculinidad), Manuel Amador (Foro
de Hombres Gays) and. Salvador Zavaleta (Grupo MDS). In July, 2
new permanent monthly sessions started: a session about
Bisexualities, organised by Opción Bi and a session about
Polyamory organised by the initiative La casa de los mil
cuartos. During the rest of 2007, each of these monthly
sessions accompanied us every month.
In the beginning of July, our
columnist Franco Sastre from Argentina came to Mexico and
in the first session of the month, he presented his work both as
a photographer and poet in Los Martes de Enkidu. Following
Sastre, Comité Sol y Arcoiris gave a talk about the
posibilities for political organisation among the Sexual
Diversities in Mexico. Carlos Salvador from the Comité
presented his candidacy for an internal votation in the PRD. On
11. July, Victor Espíndola from our sister publication Anodis
came to Teatro Arlequin to speak about the fifth anniversary of
this news agency. The rest of the session was dedicated to the
history of the LGBT movement in Mexco and our special guest was
prominent and almost legendary human rights activist Reyna
Barrera who for decates has participated in many social
movements in Mexico.
On the last Tuesday of July, Christian
Sánchez Venancio presented the Coordination for Sexual
Diversity of the Party PRD in the Think Tank. On 7. August, the
news had reached us that after 7 sucessful months, the Hermanas
Vampiro had been brutally thrown out of the Discotheque El
Taller, where the Superstars of the Mexican Diversities had been
performing every Sunday until then. Oswaldo Calderón,
“Superperra” and Daniel Vives, “Supermana” came to Los
Martes to share their experiences with us. The following
week, Jorge Paniagua presented his book: “¿Por
qué gay antinatura?”. On 14. August, came Juan Carlos Escandón
Guillén from the organisation Proyecto SIDA Chiapas
A.C. and informed us about the situation for people living
with HIV and AIDS in rural Chiapas, in particular in indigenous
communities and the work his organisation is doing there.
On 11. September,
the Think Tank was dedicated to Queer Studies and we had the
presentation of two very interesting research projects in
progress: Antoine
Rodriguez from Charles de Gaulle University in Lille in France
shared his research about "The Artistic Discourse in
contemporary Mexico in the depiction of homosexual figures"
and Jennifer Tyburczy from Northwestern University in Chicago
presented her current project about the
Politics and Performance of Sexual Artifacts in Museums
around the world. Following these fascinating presentations,
actor and theater director Edgar
Muniz, and the acresses Roshell and Sandra Ponce, presented the
play El día que las niñas
Fassbinder se pusieron en huelga, which was about to open in
Arlequin Theater.
On 18. September, another
important character from the global LGBT movement presented
himself in the Think Tank: (Movimiento
Chileno de Gays, Lesbianas, Bisexuales, Transgéneros y
Transexuales) and we were informed about the development of
civil rights and human rights for the Sexual Diversities in
Chile. On 25. September, Rodrigo Rincón presented the
initiative CODISE (Colegio
Nacional de la Diversidad Sexual) in the city of Guadalajara.
In continuation, Emmannuel Grande from the Coordinación
Estatal de Grupos Vulnerables of PRI in the State of Mexico
informed us about the situation in that federal state, where
currently a law initiative similar to the one in Mexico City is
being discussed. After having presented several initiatives by
both PAS and PRD in Los Martes, we could finally also include
PRI among the political organisations that use Los Martes as an
independent forum for dialogue and reflection about Diversity
and Society.
On 9. October, we discussed the
future of the Diversity Press in Mexico and Latin America,
followed by a presentation of the magazine Nota'n Queer.
On 16 October, Francisco Hernández Astete from the Pontificia
Universidad Católica in Lima, Perú shared with us his
important research about The Concept of the Person Among the
Inca.
11 December, the Think Tank was
transferred to Puebla where it was organised in the bar La
Mariposa and integrated into the activities of the annual Aids
in Culture Conference. This was the last session in the Think
Tank in 2007 and had a massive participation of groups and
organisations. The discussion with representatives from several
local organisations, among them Humana Nación Trans, DemySex
and Centro Para los Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende (CASA)
focused in particular on Aids Prevention Programs in different
parts of Mexico and Agnes
Torres from Humana Nación Trans spoke about the neccecity for a
gender idetity law in Mexico. José Antonio Ruiz presented the
work done by Demisex in Puebla. Lluvia Cervantes gave us an
update on the situation for the sexual diversities in Querétaro,
2 years after the homophobic murder of Octavio. Amando Jones
from Casa in San Miguel Allende informed us about the general
human rights situation in the area, and presented the work her
organisation is doing and finally Loveness
Mabhunu
shared information about the situation for the Sexual
Diversities and HIV/Aids activism in Zimbabwe.
|
