RAT best of rats list

[Mary Ann McGivern <mmcgivern@stlnet.com>]

Dear Pat,
This is one of the best comments on the rat list.
rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com

Mary Ann
PS I think of you and Pauline and all of Ireland often. Do I write? No.
Do I tell you what I'm doing? No. Alas. There is too much. I'm preparing
for two big demonstrations here, on October 17 at the presidential
debates that will not debate the real issues and on November 19 at the
School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia, to close it and end US
military training of junior officers throughout Latin America. But I'm
not writing.


WITNESS FOR  PEACE 

The idea for this Conference was born in the snowy Iowa City where the
last RAT Conference was held under the name THEATRE AND WAR in February
this year. Numerous theatre practitioners from all over the USA gathered
to hear the presentations of theatre makers who had lived and worked
(some who are still
living and working) in the the face of dictatorships, wars and
repression in Argentina, Ireland and Yugoslavia. American colleagues
also talked about forms of wars waged on different levels in their own
country – racism, family violence and poverty. At one point in a talk
given by Diana Raznovich (playwright, Argentina) on her country's long
history of violence, her translator stopped translating. We all waited
for him to continue, not aware of what was happening until the artist
herself  gave the answer . She explained: "The translator cries." The
fact that they were talking about a period 15-20 years ago deeply
touched me. For how long do war and violence live in us even when they
are over? Can we ever again bear and bring forth peace after a violent 
experience? What do we as theatre artists and human beings do for peace
in our professional and everyday lives? If we deal with conflict in our
work, how do we create a balance, how do we diminish the enormous amount
of violenc!
e in our surroundings and can we participate in a cultural change of
heart? Do we,  by showing the war and violence in our work,  feed it and
flourish it or do we come to understand it refusing to
let it happen again?
     All these questions kept tormenting me every day of the conference,
until one morning I received the possible answer. One day we gathered at
a local church with the practitioners of different religions and
teachings: a Buddhist monk, Protestants, Catholics, Bahai, Shaman women,
actors and directors, and writers...  people. Every representative of a
certain religion gave his or hers contribution to peace
that morning, through prayer, by reading an excerpt from a book, by
doing a certain ritual. I could see all of us after presenting painful
and fearsome facts of the difficult times we live in find our own PEACE.
At least for a
moment I felt "all will be well"
     And the idea for the theme for this years INFANT was born:"THEATRE
AND PEACE," being conscious of the naive touch that these words carry in
them. When I wrote Erik about my idea he suggested RAT at INFANT
participate in a "WITNESS FOR PEACE." Artists from all over the world
and from our country witness and attend to something that has been
expelled, banished from areas of my country. If anybody would ask us who
were our three biggest wishes, one of them would certainly be PEACE.
That answer comes out automatically. The RAT Conference and the whole
INFANT analyze this answer and try to remove its automatism. Is what we
do in our private lives and by making theatre really in the line of
creating peace? Can we even talk about it when the relations of the
nearest collaborators are full of conflict and misunderstanding? Can we
handle the situation of peace or do we subconsciously try to ruin it?
How to create peace in the middle of a conflict?
     The RAT Conference will give an opportunity for artists and
audiences to hear experiences from artists from Mostar, Belgrade, Buenos
Aires, San Francisco, and from many other countries. Through
presentations, talks and performances, artists will witness together the
possibilities and impossibilities of creating peace. While I write this
text all free media in my town and almost all free media in the country
have been closed by our government. Police are practicing daily violence
over the protesters on the street. Numerous arrests and interrogations
have started. The voice of the people cannot be heard. We get news mouth
by mouth, like in old times. The theme of our festival and RAT
conference is amongst few voices that can
be still heard in this moment.

Dijana Milosevic
May, 2000.


listening gives focus; focus is amplification; to improve the reach of
speech, increase witness - e