Durango to host the Remembrance Square citizen participation initiative

Aitziber Irigoras, the Mayor of Durango, and Aintzane Ezenarro, the Director of the Institute for Remembrance, Coexistence and Human Rights – Gogora, have unveiled the Remembrance Square programme for this municipality. It is a citizen participation project that seeks to compile and showcase accounts of what happened in the Basque Country in recent decades in order to construct a shared and pluralistic memory. The Remembrance Square project is reaching out to the residents of Durango in order to facilitate the gathering of the accounts at an exhibition that will be held in the Plaza Ezkurdi square from 24 February to 2 March.

During a press conference held this morning at Durango Town hall, Mayor Aitziber Irigoras stressed that “Durango wishes to strive to recognise and to keep the memory alive of the many innocent victims and the unjustified violence during the blackest period in the history of this country. For progress to be made, we have to be aware of every aspect of our history, cure the wounds, reconcile ourselves with our past and set the foundations for peace in the future. We therefore have to work together, to build a collective and pluralistic memory in a society without rancour".

OBJECTIVES

This travelling phase of the Remembrance Square project has four objectives:

o Disseminate and share the memory through an exhibition and drive a reflection constructed between all of us.

o Provide a space where the general public can leave their accounts.

o Work on the memories at municipal level by driving dynamics in order to share critical reflections on the past.

o Outreach and showcase the Gogora Institute to the general public

EXHIBITION VENUE

Durango’s Plaza Ezkurdi square will host this remembrance exhibition from 24 February to 2 March. A marquee will be erected with different areas and with the following features:

o Account recording area: visitors to the exhibition can record or write in situ their accounts of what they remember.

o Account videos: visitors can listen to the accounts of victims of Franco’s dictatorship, terrorism and the victims coming under Decree 107/2012.

o Screening and discussion area: two documentaries will be screened and group dynamics and talks will be organised:

o Message mural: visitors to the exhibition can leave a written message on a mural and also in an urn, to be kept at the Gogora Institute and to be published on the Remembrance Square website.

PROGRAMME

The Gogora Director unveiled the programme for Durango:

o 6.00 p.m. on 24 February: Exhibition opening ceremony

o 7.00 p.m. on 25 February: talk on historical memory (Paco Etxeberria and Lourdes Erraztu, members of the Aranzadi Science Society )

o 7.00 p.m. on 29 February: round table with the participation of victims of terrorism (Mari Carmen Hernández, ETA victim and Amaia Etxaniz, BVE victim)

REMEMBRANCE SQUARE BACKGROUND

Started in June 2015, the Remembrance Square initiative has involved, on the one hand, gathering accounts and emotions directly from the general public, and, on the other hand, getting discussion groups to address remembrance. After this first phase, the Gogora Institute has begun to showcase and expand these pluralistic memories by creating spaces for anyone who wishes to contribute their account. The first stop for this travelling exhibition was Bilbao in early February and it will soon arrive in Durango. As was the case in Bilbao, there will also be events organised in Durango for secondary and upper secondary students. One hundred and twenty students are currently expected to take part.