Tolosa to host the Remembrance Square citizen participation initiative

Olatz Peon, the Mayor of Tolosa, 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 Tolosa in order to facilitate the gathering of the accounts at an exhibition that will be held in the Plaza del Triángulo square from 9 and 15 March.

During a press conference held in Tolosa Town Hall this morning, the Mayor of Tolosa, Olatz Peon, stressed that Tolosa has spent many years on the task of identifying the violence experienced by its citizens: “specifically, we are completing, in conjunction of the Aranzadi Science Society, the research that analyses Franco’s dictatorship and the historical memory between 1945 and 1979, and we are already finalising new research lines for this year".

The Mayor of Tolosa believes that it is clear that the wound is not healed and the pain festers on: “but we have to be driven by hope, looking forwards, and without forgetting what has been left behind, by remembering and, of course, analysing. And to draw our conclusions for the future. Together, in the plural, by constructing this diverse memory”.

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

Until 15 March, the marquee erected in the Plaza del Triángulo will host this exhibition structured into the following areas:

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 Tolosa:

o 6.00 p.m. on 9 March: Exhibition opening ceremony.

o 7.30 p.m. on 10 March: Round table: Passing Down the Memory to Future Generations. With the participation of Andoitz Korta, Pili Zabala and Iñaki García Arrizabala

o 7.00 p.m. on 14 March: Round table: The Tolosa Memory with the participation of former mayors.

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 shortly arrive in Tolosa. As was the As was the case in Bilbao, there will also be events organised in Tolosa for secondary and upper secondary students. One hundred and twenty students are currently expected to take part.