Dili – (10th of December 2023), Centro Nacional Chega!I.P, and Venu Association organized the Popular Resistance Culture Festival “War, Memory, and Trauma to Hope” from the 7th of December as the National Memorial Day and the closure on the 10th of December 2023 as the World Day of Human Rights.
The Popular Resistance Culture Festival is the principal purpose of the peacebuilding and reconciliation contributions process to reach the goals of Centro Chega!, that the past violence to be unrepeated by the societies.
According to the Director of Centro Nacional Chega!I.P, Hugo Maria Fernandes, Timor-Leste stands as an independent and free nation after the restoration on the 20th of May 2002. The contribution of many people was to acquire this independence.
In the struggle participation, most people acknowledge only the Armed Front, Clandestine Front, and Diplomatic Front, and we forget the contribution of the artists to the independence process.
Thus, in the celebration of the 30th Popular Consultation Day on the 30th of August in 2019, Centro Nacional Chega!I.P as a public institute initiated the Popular Resistance Culture Festival aimed to honor and dignify the contributions of the artists.
“The given name of Popular Resistance Culture Festival due to the participation of many people. What people acknowledge today are only Armed Front, Clandestine Front, and Diplomatic Front but forget the contribution of the artists to the independence,” said the Executive Director of Chega! in his closure remarks on the 5th Popular Resistance Culture Festival at Portu Dili.
The Director added that our component artists contributed to the independence struggle, such as poets, musicians, and painters. E.g, The late hero Francisco Borga da Costa, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, current Prime Minister, and so forth. Their works were made and used by many people today.
Not only that, music works were sung, including paintings by artists. The messages of their works to colonialism and invaders in the past too sharpened. It inspired resistance to keep struggling against enemies to gain independence.
“The Popular Resistance Culture Festival was to celebrate the participation of the artists and acknowledge their struggle in the silent place through music, poems, and paintings,” explained the Executive Director of Centro Chega!
The Director explained, “This festival, dedicated to Borja da Costa, people who died due to sharpening words, the expression of our resistance singers sang lots of songs, and our painting from painters was against the colonial occupations and power dominations in Timor.”
It is a part of the Integrated Memorialization Program and Cultural approximation through the collective memory presentation with creative means in various artistic forms that can be reflective and didactic spaces for peacebuilding and reconciliation.
This festival is the reflection of the healing effects. Centro Nacional Chega!I.P and Venu Association set up three stages for the Memory Stage in Jardim 5 de Maio, the Scar Stage beside Sporting/Delicious, and the Hope Stage at Dili Port.
The Vision of Centro Chega!, “The inclusive Societies, history of the past to be unrepeated, live peacefully, and respect human rights,” and its mission, “Establishing post-conflict centers, preserving the memories of the past, promoting human values and rights, creating national and international partners, strengthens network services to implement the relevant recommendation made in the Final Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)-Chega!, and Truth and Friendship Commission (CVA) – Per Memoriam Ad Spem/From Memory to Hope.”
The Popular Resistance Culture Festival is a public event that demonstrates various contemporary artistic creativities exploring the psychological effect of war on Timorese daily life, those who were born with the memories of war and violence in their mind.
(Media CNC)