El Sueño Existe. The dream lives on. Mae'r freuddwyd yn fyw.
London may enjoy la Carneval del Pueblo, the largest Latin American event in Europe, at the beginning of August - but I spent the weekend of August 10-12 in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, blogging a Welsh Latino Extravanganza. The event is inspired by the life and work of Victor Jara - a leader of the New Song movement in Salvador Allende's Chile - and aims to support contemporary popular democratic movements in Latin America. (more...)
According to the organisers the festival "provides a meeting place for progressive political and environmental groups to come together through poetry, music, dance, theatre and political debate." According to the Venezuela Information Centre : "El Sueno Existe frees the spirit, invigorates the mind and entertains the people!"
But what's the wider significance? Where exactly is Machynlleth? Why was Cesar Aponte there from Venezuela's Ministry of the Environment to talk about peak oil? And what's the women's perspective? Women, climate change and sustainable development was a key issue raised by women readers and writers in our openSummit blog and in oD's subsequent open letter to the G8. To quote from the open letter:
Fight climate change - support sustainable development:
"Climate change poses a fundamental threat to the world economy. Its greatest impact is on the poorest and most vulnerable, exacerbating inequalities, increasing women's workload and placing even more demands on their role as societies' shock absorbers. As the incidence of natural disasters rises, development money is diverted into emergency relief and humanitarian aid. Conflict is triggered and exacerbated by the increasing scarcity of resources like oil and water (Iraq, Darfur). In the face of such major challenges, we need a holistic approach to development, from the grassroots upwards, which involves self-management by communities themselves. One productive area of focus is renewable sources of energy - locally produced, owned and managed - good for reducing women's workload and enhancing their involvement in decision-making."
So what else am I going to learn about this at Machynlleth? Will I really be inspired?
