Dili – (10th of December 2023), Centro Nacional Chega! I.P and the Venue Association organized four days, the Popular Resistance Culture Festival, commencing on the 07th to the 10th of December 2023, with the theme “War, Memory and Trauma to Hope” in relevance to the services of the Secretariat of States for Arts and Culture (SSAC/SEAK) and the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice (OHMR/PDHJ).
The Secretariat of States for Arts and Culture, Jorge Soares Cristovão, stated will cooperate with Centro Nacional Chega! I.P., and the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice to conduct the Popular Resistance Culture Festival in 2024.
The Secretariat of States explained the fundamental reasons for SSAC with CNC conducting the festival as connected to arts and culture activities.
Another reason for the festival involves a group of youths presenting their arts and cultural creativities. So, this is the means to sustain national unity, peacebuilding, and human fraternity among youths.
“The Secretariat of State for Arts and Culture desires to appreciate as the group of youths involved in strengthening our unity, peace, and fraternity through these activities,” said the SSAC in his remarks in the closure ceremony on Popular Resistance Culture Festival at Dili Port.
The festival is a cultural approximation of presenting collective memory by way of various artistic creativities as reflective and didactic spaces for peacebuilding and reconciliation.
Thus, this festival gathers youths to leave past incidents as memories, and young people today must be together and look forward to mending people and this land through national development.
A festival is a public event that demonstrates various contemporary artistic creativities exploring the psychological war effects on Timorese daily life, those who were born with the memory of war and violence in their mind.
“This event to remember what has gone. It connects to arts, cultures, paintings, music, and more as the three stages set up to implement these activities,” Explained SSAC.
Hence, on behalf of the government, we desire to appreciate the program of Centro Nacional Chega! I.P. came up with marvelous initiatives. As said the Ombudsman for Human Rights, “Next year, we will work together to extend more days conducting this activity,”
The Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice, Virgilio da Silva Guterres “Lamukan,” reinforced the Popular Resistance Culture Festival connected the subject of Human Rights regarding war and liberty. Therefore, we will conduct this activity for long days next year.”
“Next year, we will conduct earlier. For example, after the 28th of November, the exhibition and artistic performing activities will be conducted in advance until the 14th of December for the closure as the National Day of Tais,” he informed.
The Popular Resistance Culture Festival is the artistic creativities demonstrated through “painting, projections, sculptures, theaters, poems, monologues, experimental songs or the combinations among the various artistic forms creating performative arts as well as the magic effects.”
The Popular Resistance Culture Festival commenced on the 7th of December as the National Memorial Day and the end of the 10th of December as the World Human Rights Day.
In this chance, the Secretariat of States for Arts and Culture invited Centro Nacional Chega! I.P., OHRJ, and the other entities to participate in the 2nd celebration of National Tais Day on 14th of December 2023.
The celebration of National Tais Day will be on the 14th of December 2023, commencing with the long march from the palace of the president, Aitarak-laran, to Centro de Convenções de Dili/ Dili Convention Center (DCC/CCD).
(Media CNC)
