The Seventh Annual Anarchist Film Festival will showcase independent films from all around the world exposing a universal class struggle that still grips the vast majority of the human race while the few live in luxury. I had a chance to talk to the organizer of the event, Priya Warcry, in an undisclosed East Village location.
K: How long have you been doing the Anarchist Film Festival?
P: I did the first Anarchist Film Festival in April of 2007 as part of the first annual Anarchist Book Fair.
K: How did this come about? Were you enlisted by the Book Fair?
P: It was after the murder of my close friend, comrade and fellow independent journalist Brad Will. Before he died, Brad had been taking video footage of an uprising that was happening at Oaxaco, Mexico. His footage was the only thing that survived and we showed it. This uprising was under-reported by the mainstream media.
K: Is this why the film festival is in honor of Brad Will?
P: Exactly. He was the inspiration. I don't think I'd be doing this festival if it weren't for him.
K: What was in this video footage?
P: It was extraordinary and powerful and showed a courageous resistance movement in Oaxaca Mexico that refused to be terrorized. What started as a teacher's union protest in Oaxaca Mexico eventually built up into a full square war between the government and the people. The government went martial law and started shooting people dead. The teachers' union protests had then become a populous uprising against state terrorism. Brad went down to Mexico to film what was happening. He was brutally murdered by police sniper as they were shooting down some innocent civilians and bystanders.
Looking at these tapes made me feel that they had survived for a reason. He wanted people to see what had happened and to show the world that he did not die in vain. That's when I knew that showing this footage was the best way to honor my friend's life. To show others what it feels like to have a spirit of rebellion and the hunger for justice and life. I had to do it for Brad.
K: And so you decided to do a film festival and show Brad's footage
P: Yes, it was to show Brad's footage but also to show that the spirit of revolution cannot be killed. It seemed natural to create a forum where we can celebrate and deepen our understanding of both what threatens the integrity of life on earth and the amazing ways in which people fight for liberation from corporate and government tyranny. At the same time, I wanted to honor Brad's memory. But I also want to honor the many forms that the struggle for life takes, whether for the earth or human life and justice. There are also many forms which courage takes. I want to honor all those things. I also want to give a voice to people that don't have the megaphones of mainstream media.
K: Like the people of Oaxaco, Mexico
P: Yes, and also people here in the United States as well. We need more media alternatives to give voice to what is most invisible and silenced which also happens to be the issues that really matter most. We need alternative media as a response to the aggressive disinformation inflicted upon us. Commercial media is corporate media and only has capitalistic interests. We need media for the people.
I was making films since I was in high school. By the time I worked at Indymedia I was already creating media that documented resistance movements. So I already understood the importance of media in moving people and exposing truths.
K: Do you think what happened in Oaxaco could happen here?
P: I'm afraid the police state is already happening here. We have seen this recently with the Occupy movement. The police are protecting the big banks, not the people. They were waging war on the Occupiers because the big banks were being challenged. Especially when we try to have a voice or call attention to criminal activity, we are met with violent repression. The poor are sacrificed constantly, whether in drug wars or other military projects the government is planning against its people. We saw the brutality that was being inflicted on the Wall Street protesters. They would have killed us if they had the chance. You know that old joke among activists, "Kill capitalism before it kills you!" Well, it's no joke - it's for real!
K: So is Anarchy the answer?
P: Is that something to be afraid of? Peoples' fear of anarchy is largely the result of the corporate media's demonizing of anarchists. Unfortunately the criminalization of dissent in this country and the aggressive police repression reaction we have experienced again and again is something we obviously have to consider as people interested in liberty. I would modify "give me liberty or give me death," to "give me liberty or die off," not so much as a death threat but as life affirming response to the death of our civil liberties. Otherwise, if it's a choice between giving us our liberty or giving us death, a police state would more than be willing to oblige the second option.
K: Perhaps what people fear is chaos?
P: Of course anarchy and chaos are both Greek words in origin. However unlike the randomness of chaos, anarchy confronts any form of illegitimate hierarchy that seeks to impose itself on natural life and spirit. We innately resist that corruption. Anarchy does not mean disorganization. Tribes and other forms of human society have exemplified non hierarchical decision making and co-existence. Women do not need to be dominated by men any more than blacks need to be dominated by whites or any more than life needs to be commodifed by capitalism. There is a natural order we are trying to realize that has not been corrupted or distorted by social conditioning.
K: What do you hope you will eventually accomplish through this film festival?
P: My hope is to expand awareness and as Angela Davis said, "explode consciousness" to really go beyond the insanity normalized as legitimate. Fortunately there are many creative examples that show how people around the world challenge stifling dehumanizing repressive society and State. Since we understand the State and corporate threat as terrorism we don't just watch videos but discuss our responses as revolutionaries.
Also I am still involved in Brad Will's murder investigation and am confident that we will eventually be able to identify the actual snipers that took his life. This is not just important in terms of justice for Brad but also in terms of confronting the human right's abuses suffered by the people of Oaxaca.
The Seventh Annual Anarchist Film Festival will be held at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street, Lower East Side New York NY, on SATURDAY APRIL 6th from 5pm to 10pm. Admission is FREE
Comments