[Peace] FWD: “Picture-lecture” tour against war for oil in Colombia

[kanouse]

This would be a great event to bring to town--in the midst of fighting the 
overt war, let's not forget to oppose the covert ones.

Anyone interested?

-Sarah

>===== Original Message From from the beehive 
<bees at beehivecollective.org> =====
...............
The BEEHIVE’S  narrative presentations of our anti-copyright graphics 
campaigns
against war, colonialism, and globalization are on tour!
................

We’re looking for locations to share this innovative popular education tool
that blends visual, interactive, and narrative elements.   Our illustration-
based communication strategy is punctuated with opportunities for 
audience
participation. It’s to be understood by anyone, not just the experts and
political analysts!

A n n o u n c i n g
The Beehive Design Collective’s cross-pollination tour to help build 
grassroots
resistance to Plan Colombia.

As the Empire speeds forth with it’s push of violence throughout the world 
for
it’s fossil fuel addiction, the time to draw connections, and create
understanding of “that same old story” is urgent.   This Fall and Winter, 
our
swarm of grassroots pollinators is migrating through the North Eastern 
U.S.,
headed South for the School of the Americas protests in Fort Benning, 
Georgia,
and then making it’s way across the Midwest. (West Coast this spring.) 
We’d
like to collaborate with local groups that are focused on anti-war and
international solidarity work, teachers interested in digestible discussions
that utilize cartoons as well as facts, and student groups looking for 
inspired
information

Our featured presentation, offered in both Spanish or English, is about the
connections between colonization, militarization, and resource extraction 
in
the Andean Region of South America.   This portable-mural “tour” is 
comprised
of a 16 feet high banner version of the Plan Colombia poster that displays 
the
issues in context of the “bigger picture.” The banner is simultaneously
accompanied by a six-foot tall fabric, or projected, “slide show” that has
sixty enlargements of the elements of the story as it unfolds. Four 
presenters,
each with a different “ant” personality, take turns narrating through the
mural’s details and facts, helping to break down complex issues into 
smaller,
more digestible chunks, while continually explaining how they are 
connected to
the "bigger picture.

Us bees consider it vital to subvert the talking-head-at-the-podium 
approach to
political discussion.  We break down the model of the "expert" and
the "audience" by relating information across language and learning
boundaries.  It’s a wicked healthy way to interact about MORE bad news

Our graphics about the Free Trade Area of the Americas will also be in 
tow, in
case your group would like both presentations.  We enjoy giving both as a 
way
to help viewers understand how these two timely issues are intertwined

Wait!? 
You aren’t familiar with the posters? Oh! Well, you can check out 
our
website at www.beehivecollective.org
.
HELP BRING THE BEES TO YOUR TOWN!  PLEASE HELP PASS THE 
WORD!

We have no set speaker fees, and are happy to do shows for free in 
community
oriented spaces. (we LOVE high schools!) But, yes, the hive needs 
honey
 and
we’d really love help in our fundraising efforts.   For universities,  we’re
encouraging student groups to take up this opportunity for unique
collaborations amidst art, environmental, Latin American, peace and 
anti-“war
on drugs” groups

Please get in touch soon, so that we may collaborate!

Solidarity,
The Beehive Design Collective
graphics at beehivecollective.org
www.beehivecollective.org
1-800-374-6477, enter pager #0241, then leave message
or 508-752-1952 until Nov.1st
3 Elm st. Machias, Maine 04654

----------------------
Interested, but need more background? Here’s more

    The Beehive’s Plan Colombia poster and presentation is the product of 
many
discussions around the issue of colonialism in the Andean Region of 
South
America that took place between our collective and organizers over the 
spring
of 2002 in Ecuador, Colombia and the U.S.  These exchanges of 
information and
inspiration were collaboratively sewn together into a quilt of images, and
organized in a circuit of progressions and contrasts that inform and 
engage the
viewer throughout their journey of this elaborate graphic.  This circuit, with
its pathways geared towards fostering a narrative discussion, aids in the
functionality of the graphic to be used as a political organizing tool
 a
powerful tool in which to discuss an overwhelmingly complex situation in 
a
format that breaks the information down into more digestible, and 
therefore
memorable, chunks.  This communication strategy allows for addressing 
specific
elements of the issue, still in context of the larger forces at hand, while
transcending the boundaries of language and learning.
    The long history of colonialism in the Americas, currently manifested in
the Andean Region as “Plan Colombia,” is a strong metaphor of the 
multi-faceted
destructive influences of U.S. foreign policy and corporate monoculture on 
a
global scale.  This graphic attempts to expose the lie of the drug war as a
smokescreen for multinational corporation’s interests in extraction of the 
rich
biodiversity and natural resources of the Amazon and her peoples.  It is an
anti-war poster that speaks in the mythology of our times, the cancerous 
mono
myth of corporate globalization, and its antibodies of grassroots 
resistance.
In the attempt to overcome the tendency of political imagery to simply
portray “what we are against” and horror stories, this overwhelming 
situation
is illustrated in three “layers” to help the viewer experience the different
aspects of an extremely complex, and brutal situation.  The image’s 
mission is
to portray the story of not just the nightmare, but to give weight to the
inspiring stories of hope, courage, and struggle of the people and critters
that are living through it.
   As North American youth that have endured the destructive and racist
brainwashing of television, video games, cultural appropriation and 
advertising
imagery, our collective felt it was essential to produce this representation
directly in collaboration with organizers in the Andean Region, to get the
story straight
.  The result as you will see, is thick with many voices.
   The tools produced from this collaboration are being distributed, as anti-
copyright material, for use in campaigns in both the South and North of 
the
Americas.  This U.S. tour is being conducted simultaneously with fellow 
bees in
South America, busy with presentations in Ecuador, and Colombia, as 
organizers
throughout the region prepare for protests against the meetings of the 
Free
Trade Area of the Americas in Quito, in early November.