La Voz de La Mujer de La Palma se convierte en el festival referente para otros festivales a nivel nacional

La Palma 10/25/2020: 122 women from all walks of life have gathered at the V Conference of La Voz de La Mujer, which has toured seven of the fourteen municipalities of the island from October 5 to 25.

Human rights defenders, activists, midwives, philosophers, architects, poets, singer-songwriters, writers, journalists, cultural managers, wineries, politicians, ranchers, farmers, administration technicians, artists, ecologists, historians, mothers, grandmothers, sisters… all of them. They reached the same conclusion, the need to weave support networks, the creation of synergies between companies and associations, the union of voices that reinforces the message.

One more year, the island of La Palma once again becomes a national benchmark where other cultural festivals are nourished to give a voice to feminism. With names as relevant as the human rights defender Helena Maleno; activist against female genital mutilation Asha Ismail; TVE journalist Lucía Mbomio; the film director and delegate of CIMA in the Canary Islands Alba González or the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands Alicia Vanoostende, among others.

It has been achieved that other acts carried out throughout the Spanish geography fill their programs with the palmera agenda as a line of work to follow to give voice to 50% of the population. The local, insular and Canary Islands institutions also set their sights on this festival to work throughout the year under the premises set out in it.

BALANCE

After the acts of the V days of «La Voz de la Mujer» held on the Isla de la Palma, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Action of the Government of the Canary Islands, Juan Rafael Zamora, pointed out that «I have had the honor, as Vice Minister, of participating in the presentation act developed on October 5 at the Salazar Palace in Santa Cruz de La Palma and in said act he predicted their success.

Once finished and taking stock of its development, I have to congratulate its organizers «Karmala Cultura» for the great success achieved.

Success, due to the great reception given to it by the people of La Palma with fully covered capacity in different municipalities of the island, reaching the entire population, including rural areas. But above all success, for making women the protagonist, creating a space where women of different nationalities and origins have freely spoken and reflected on current issues, such as: sustainability, climate change and its impact on the primary sector, or the current and past migratory phenomenon”.

“They have made visible the role of the emigrant woman and also the figure of that anonymous Canarian woman, who with much suffering stayed on her land in the care of her family and waiting for the return of her husbands.

In short, a conference where through narrative, poetry, design, photography, cinema, talks, etc. Once again, women have demanded a more just and egalitarian society. Congratulations to Karmala Cultura and I encourage you to start working on the organization of the 6th conference” concludes Zamora.

 

The director of the Canary Institute for Equality, Kika Fumero, highlighted the importance of «continuing to hold events like this that highlight the fundamental role played by women in different areas of our society and our history, is a necessary project to continue making known the work carried out and often invisible of women.

The great opportunity that allowed us to have talks and tables with nationally recognized names and listen to the concerns of anonymous women at the local level, encourages us to continue betting on conferences like this and we hope they can continue giving a voice to history”

Jovita Monterrey, Councilor for Culture and Heritage of the Cabildo de La Palma, believes it is necessary to continue projects like this «it seemed extremely important to me at this time when we are experiencing setbacks in some historical aspects that we have achieved through all that struggle that doing the collective of women for many years and for this reason we must be more active, more present and use all available means such as culture to be able to communicate and meet women from different cultures and cross all that information to build a firm base that eliminates that setback and teach society that we are on the path of that more egalitarian society and remind us that we still have a long way to go.

This project has left it reflected for another year, taking the voice of women to different municipalities of La Palma where they have told us about our migrant history and those who stayed, the history of other women who migrate to our land, how learning not to be racist, the role that our women have played and play in culture and everything they could contribute. These days La Palma has been written and heard in feminine to achieve equality and we will continue working on this path.

Keba Danso, director and programmer of the conferences, stated that «without the help of proper names behind the institutions, who are the ones who have made the effort to make it economically viable and also successful, this program would not it would have been possible.

Thank the Government of the Canary Islands and their representatives such as Kika Fumero and Juan Rafael Zamora, the Cabildo de La Palma for the involvement of Jovita Monterrey and Nieves Hernández and all the councilors of the seven municipalities that have opted to give voice and honor their women. From the rural world, culture, history, activism and society, a transversal line has been drawn where we all have a place and each year we get a little closer to that egalitarian society that we all devise”.

The success of participation, the well-chosen programming, which was spinning between talks, tables and performances, the final conclusion of networking, also adding good management by the organizers and institutions that have highlighted that Culture is safe and necessary. In these times of health uncertainty, all the measures required by the protocol have been complied with, reflecting, once again, that the public demands acts like this and they can continue to be carried out safely.

The festival is organized by the intercultural association Karmala Cultura and has the collaboration of the ministries of Culture and Social Action of the Cabildo de La Palma. In addition, this fifth edition of the festival has the support of the Government of the Canary Islands, through Canarias Cultura en Red, the Canarian Institute for Equality and the Vice-Ministry for Foreign Action.

Other collaborating entities are the municipalities of Los Llanos de Aridane, El Paso, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Villa de Mazo, Tijarafe, Puntagorda and Villa de Garafía.