This is a guest post by Michael Reyes, a graduate student in the program of comparative literature at UT Austin.
Thursday, November 20th will be the 114th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Ayotzinapa Austin, a group of UT graduate student activists—myself included, many of whom are of Mexican descent—decided to host a space to speak of La Revolución: not by regurgitating its historical narrative, but by evaluating the impacts and influences it has on us today.
Otras revoluciones / Other Revolutions is an event inspired by the Austin-based support for the #ayotzinapasomostodos letter, the Global Days of Action for Ayotzinapa, and the ongoing assembly of a Global Forum “Mexico: the Wound of the World.” On the first day of action, Wednesday October 22nd, students and community members delivered the letter, which was made possible by UT graduate students and faculty and brought together thousands of signatures from around the globe, to the Mexican Consulate in Austin. The following day many more students and members of the local community convened at a bookstore for a candlelight vigil, una luz por Ayotzinapa, resulting in opportunities to form public partnerships.
Otras revoluciones / Other Revolutions will serve to strengthen the ties among the Austin communities that rose in solidarity with Ayotzinapa, and also welcomes anyone interested in discussing, performing, remembering, and creating the counter-histories of La Revolución Mexicana in a setting that makes higher education relevant to the larger community.
After concluding the submission process this past Thursday the 13th we have a line-up of promising presentations including poetry readings, analysis of la Revolución from the Yaqui community, Calle 13’s songs of protest, transnational revolutions, and the creation of escuelas rurales normalistas, such as Ayotzinapa.
When? Thursday Nov. 20, 6–9 PM
Where? Monkey Wrench Books, 110 N Loop Blvd E, Austin, TX (Facebook)
In addition to Otras Revoluciones/ Other Revolutions, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) will participate in the Global Forum by hosting two events on-campus next week.
1) Javier Sicilia, the Mexican Poet, Activist, and Journalist, will give the Austin Lecture on Contemporary Mexico: La crisis del Estado y la dignidad ciudadana en México (Lecture in Spanish with English translation; véase abajo para versión en español)
When? Monday, Nov. 17, 6:00 PM
Where? Texas Union Building (UNB) Santa Rita Suite 3.502
2) A panel discussion on Rural Self-Defense Forces, Violence, and the State: Michoacán, Past and Present will feature social scientists and historians from UT Austin and the Colegio de Michoacán. The discussion will be in Spanish, with English translation.
When? Monday November 17th, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Where? Sinclair Suite 3.128, Texas Union Building (UNB)
(Facebook)
