ESF Spain will start its activities within the next weeks with regular meetings and the organization of the General Assembly, which we hope to convene before the end of 2011. For the moment we can say that our immediate objectives for 2011-2012 are to continue our awareness activities, to finish the documentary about the Saharawi situation and to recruit Spanish members with the help and consultancy of the ESFI support groups.
ESF Spain always attached a lot of importance to the awareness-raising activities in order to make the situation of students in conflict areas visible within Spanish civil society. This kind of activities have always been very successful and we would like to continue this way.
As an illustration, our last activity was a documentary screening we prepared in conjunction with the Xarxa d’entitats per la RDC, as a complement to the scholarship program in Kindu. We also collaborated with international NGO such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Save the Children as well as University of Valencia’s professors.
The documentary Blood in the Mobile, by the Danish director Frank Piasecki Poulsen, deals with the connection between mobile phones and Democratic Republic of Congo’s civil war: Every time we communicate through our phones, we involve ourselves with the crimes in Congo! The DR of Congo is a country which possesses many natural resources like gold, diamonds, rubies, coltan and cassiterite. However, these resources end up funding on of the most dreadful wars since World War II: estimations amount to 5 million people killed and 300,000 women raped. The documentary focuses on cassiterite, a worldwide important tin ore which is used to produce all kinds of electronic devices such as mobile phones. The director visited a mine in Bisie, one of the largest illegal mines of the region, facing child labor, child prostitution and human rights violation as regular conditions surrounding cassiterite extraction. (For further information, please also watch the trailer).
Poster for the documentary screening, realized by Pablo La Parra (ESF Spain)
Our current goal is to produce a documentary about the situation of Saharawi students. The ESF Spain group is currently working on the early stages of its production. We expect it to be ready by spring.
We are eager to start with new activities as soon as possible. For any other information, please contact estudios.sin.fronteras@gmail.com.
¡Hasta pronto!