Filmvisning

Onsdag 28. november viser den colombianske antropologen Guillermo Padilla sin dokumentarfilm Seis años (Seks år) på SMRs lunsjrom mellom kl 10 og 12.

Padilla laget Seis años da han arbeidet ved urbefolkningsseksjonen på det offentlige kontoret for fri rettshjelp (Instituto de la Defensa Pública Penal, IDPP) i Guatemala. Den følger utviklingen i to straffesaker i Guatemalas mayatalende områder og viser hvordan det nasjonale rettsapparatet ikke makter å følge opp sakene, selv om Guatemala nå formelt er 'multikulturelt' også på det rettslige området. Vi ser hvordan statlig juss kolliderer med lokal rettsfølelse og hvordan mayasamfunnet selv har potensiale til å løse sakene.

Padillas forteller selv dette om filmen:
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One day in May of 2002, I received a phone call at my office in Guatemala City from a Kiche indigenous leader who invited me to a demonstration in Santa Cruz capital of the department of Quiche, 5 hours from Guatemala City. The demonstration was organized by a group of traditional Indian leaders in order to protest against the decision of a Judge who was ordering an investigation against the traditional authorities accusing them of kidnapping; torturing and intent to lynch a group of five indigenous youth.  After he explained to me the purpose of the demonstration, I went because the event was related to my work as Chief Technical Advisor of the UNDP at the Institute of Public Defense Lawyers in Guatemala.  I was helping to create a special program for indigenous peoples at that Institute, through a Project called Indigenous Defense Program  (Defensoria Indigena) founded by the Royal Government of Norway.

What I saw that day, made me think that the case was a synthesis of some of the most dramatic problems that has avoided that in Guatemala, actual laws in favor of indigenous rights, would be followed and taken into account by some judges and public functionaries. On top of reality a fiction is created in order to fulfill a racist ideology created in centuries of anti-indigenous hegemony.  During two an a half long years we accompany the case, following the actors from tribunals to jails, from villages to meetings, with a video camera in our shoulders filming what was happening.

The two histories that you will see, tell us about the difficulties and side effects that the indigenous peoples in Guatemala faced when the State denied their right to exercise their own systems of justice. They also tells us what happen when a Judge  more open minded and better inform,  decided to allow the indigenous peoples to act accordingly  and coordinates with them what ideally would be the workings of  a legal pluralistic system of justice. The documentary also tells us the effect that a film camera can do in order to transform a reality that for too long has denied the capacity and a human wisdom that the Guatemalan Mayas have.