Simon Sedillo: Self Determination and Community Rights Defense (UCSC)

SIMÓN SEDILLO

Self Determination and Community Rights Defense:
Neo-Liberalism, Militarism, and Some Challenges of Solidarity

Wednesday, April 22 • 7:00-9:30 PM
Kresge Town Hall • Kresge College

In the face of neo-liberalism, militarism, and repression around the planet we must explore how social movements are organizing for the self defense of community rights.

This multi-media presentation includes video clips, a discussion about community based rights defense in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, immigrant communities around the world, and communities of color in the United States. The presentation will also explore themes of solidarity, the "NGOization" of resistance, and the comodification of sustainability. Be prepared to be challenged, engaged, and a part of a community discussion about solutions.

Simón Sedillo is a community rights defense organizer and a documentary film-maker whose work has centered on placing skills, cameras and editing equipment in the hands of communities in resistance so that they may be able to document their own histories of struggle. Sedillo has spent the last 6 years documenting and teaching community based video documentation in Mexico, in immigrant communities in the US, and with youth of color across the US.

Today, Sedillo shares some experiences and perspective for international audiences in the US and Europe, on the local and global implications of the Oaxacan people's struggle. Through lectures, workshops, and screenings Sedillo helps open a powerful space for dialogue on the effects of neoliberalism on indigenous communities in Oaxaca, immigrant communities around the world, and communities of color in the US. Through collaborative media projects, Sedillo's work has contributed to a growing network of community based media activism whose primary objective is to share, teach, and learn from one another, about grassroots resistance and the construction of horizontal networks for the self defense of community rights. Sedillo is currently on tour screening short film segments from Oaxaca and presenting workshops on the following topics: Oaxaca and Chiapas Past and Present, Neoliberalism 101, From Militarism to Para-militarism, Challenging International Solidarity, Effects of Neoliberalism on Communities in the USA, Proposals Towards the Self Defense of Community Rights

This public presentation is a collaborative effort by the Watsonville Chapter of the Brown Berets, MEChA, Kresge College, and El Centro: Chicano Latino Resource Center.

For more information and for accommodations, please call 459-5449 or email elcentro [at] ucsc.edu.

http://www.brownberets.info
http://elenemigocomun.net