COLECTIVO INTRANSIGENTE: THE VOICE OF POETIC POLITICS IN TIJUANA

Acá comparto una entrevista que nos hicieron sobre el trabajo poético del Colectivo Intransigente en Tijuana. La entrevista fue hecha por Misael Díaz, periodista, gestor cultural y miembro del proyecto Cognate Collective en San Diego para el sitio KCET, Southern California Cultural Journalism. 

Actualmente dicha entrevista se encuentra en un concurso donde si recibe el mayor número de votos se producirá un corto documental acerca del colectivo y sus intransigencias en la ciudad. Así que pido su apoyo  para que lean la entrevista y si les gusta, le piquen Like o la compartan vía Twitter. Vota aquí.

Comparto un fragmento de la entrevista:

"Speech is the mirror of action." These words by Athenian poet, statesmen, and grandfather of democracy Solon welcomed voters to one of the polling places in Tijuana during the 2010 municipal elections. They were painted on a banner held by members ofColectivo Intransigente (C.I.), a poetry/performance troupe co-founded by Jhonnatan Curiel and Mavi Robles-Castillo that year to "intervene in reality and modify the collective psyche through poetic creation." The intervention could be seen as a reminder of the significance of voting: a way for citizens to use their electoral voice to bring about change in a democratic society. However, the intervention titled "Political Erections. You put on your circus, I put on my play," also becomes a reminder of the farce behind the electoral process in Mexico, a process plagued by inconsistencies and fraud. Like many of Colectivo Intransigentes' diverse urban interventions, this action is not just a reminder, but a call to action, a demonstration of their fervent belief that speech--as writing, as poetry, and/or as debate--can catalyze change.

In the work of C.I., the connection between speech and action, between poetics and change, serves as the basis of both their aesthetic and political philosophy--a philosophy that Jhonnatan Curiel calls "poetic politics." The collective takes its name from the Spanish word intransigencia, which Curiel explains as signifying both a refusal to compromise and the capacity to transgress, to go beyond: "we are adamant about inserting poetry into a variety of places, even when people tell us we can't, we do...it has to do with not respecting the established rules and established institutions, to create new paths for poetic expression...to go beyond the formal [aspect] of poetry, and also to go beyond yourself, beyond the figure of the poet, beyond the poem itself."

For the Intransigentes, as their members are commonly known, poetry begins as a way of understanding the self, but ultimately transcends the individual and becomes a tool to understand and better recognize, respect, and acknowledge the other. In this way, poetry moves from the realm of the personal and intimate, to the social and political sphere.

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