"We're thinking about what we can offer women in this situation, reinventing ourselves."
- Kattalin Artola Vazquez (1995, Hernani) makes us look inwards. Looking at internal worries, desires and contradictions. He works in the Emagin Association and his field of work is training. Confinement and this global crisis has harmed and severely impacted rights such as women. It increases male violence. He believes that empowerment, training, feminist policies... should be a priority, without money laundering.
What is Emagin?
It is currently a feminist association dedicated to research, training, production and documentation. Born with Bilgune Feminist. At first, the goal was to gather the work done by the feminist movement. Because there are not many customs to document the work of popular movements, and then to tell it properly. Today, it has taken a different form. We work very hard in the field of training, especially in schools, through workshops, feminist pedagogy and co-education. We work with both students and faculty. I am currently working. The field of research is also very strong. Today that's Emagin. But we're going to have to rethink COVID-19 right now. Well, or at least it wants to be the engine of the creation of a feminist Basque Country.
What kind of audience do you train?
I'm the women in general. To all women of different ages. Maybe not the very elderly, but in recent months, for example, we have offered digital literacy to many adult women. At the time of COVID-19 this was the only possibility to relate. They had the brackets by hand, but they didn’t know how to use them… So, we’ve been at it and it’s been very successful.
And in teenagers, what's your reality?
I find very different and diverse realities. In the same town, in two schools, reality can be very different. Working with co-education and feminist pedagogy is usually a decision of the teacher, and alive!
When I work with the students, I see everything. But I feel that girls are very aware of the reality that we live in. I perceive them as strong and eager to change reality. Although I don't like social networks very much, they find references, resources and tools in them.
What about boys?
I feel like kids feel more lost, they don't know where to stand or how to behave. They have to dispense with many privileges and it is not easy. Don't feel attacked by feminism. And if you've felt like this, think about why, think about it. When you're told that you have machistan attitudes, what moves you? They have to do a tracking job.
How has COVID-19 affected Emagar?
Totally. Although we believe that feminism and equality are fundamental and priority, we are led to believe that this is the case, especially from institutions... it is not the case. They are the first works to be suspended. Often because they're oriented to leisure. I call this purple bleaching.
What can Emagine bring to this special era that we are living in?
Claim that feminism and equality must be treated and worked in the same way in confinement. We have to offer tools and resources for reflection. Where is parity in these situations? Surveillance? Empowerment? We have to put that on the record and give it political importance. Especially surveillance and violence.
What training would you give?
I would love to work with the powerful. They make me lazy, but it's necessary. Other thoughts, experiences and people should be included in the spaces of power. If so, the situation would be different. On the other hand, I want to work with women, even online, as in the lockdown. Most of the workshops we have at the moment are running. Many women have realised that these actions are priorities. Lockdown has also served that.
How about online sessions?
We attach great importance to mutual feeling, to the body, to the body. With these new conditions it is more difficult. It is a very big challenge to deal with this with our work model. It is by no means the same. I also transmit in person. On the other hand, the online offer facilitates the participation of some women, such as those who perform care tasks. If you have care tasks, we can say “now I have course, it’s my time.” And it is often the women who are in the home who are in charge of surveillance.
What challenges do you have for the future?
We're thinking about what we can offer women. Remodeling. How to make it possible for these spaces to continue to be denied. How to have time for it. We are there right now. We are aware that this situation has generated very different emotions and sensations, and we have felt discomfort on the part of women. Emotional and physical. People have the desire, the need, to be in grupo.En the
world of digitalization, to be empowered is also indispensable. Many older women live alone. Whether they like space or not, they need to be empowered so they don't lose touch with reality. We will continue to encourage criticism, create debates, provide tools for reflection… Reminding voters that these issues are priorities.
streets of Hernani so that those who do not have a break can come to an end. But in Hernani. Because he loves his people a lot. He loves equality as much as the people and works on the road, turning the trade into a claim. Militancy. Because the machist violence that drives and feeds this patriarchal system does not stop. No gap, no borders, nothing good.
Goldatz talde feministak antolatua, ortziralean, urtarrilaren 3an, Jantzari dokumentala proiektatuko dute Beralandetan (17:30ean) eta biharamunean, urtarrilaren 4an, Berako bestetako tradizioak aztergai izanen dituzte Maggie Bullen antropologoarekin leku berean (10:30).
Ander Magallon, Mikel Irure eta Xabier Jauregi Metropoli Forala saioan egon dira maskulinitate berrien inguruan mintzatzen.
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