Jorge Sanjines ( born 1936)

Jorge Sanjines aims his films at Bolivia’s poor and working class in an attempt to inspire them to fight for equality and freedom. Sanjines worked as the director of the Bolivian Film Institute when he made his first feature, Ukamau, in 1965. A look at the plight of Andean peasants, he filmed it in Aymara, the local Indian language. The film caused controversy and he was fired from the Institute. His best-known film is Yawar Mallku (Blood of the Condor) (1968), a scathing look at the terrible effects of U.S. imperialism on Bolivia's Indians. Sanjines formed the Ukamau collective together with Oscar Soria and Ricardo Rada in 1966. The collective made films with the people including El Coraje del Pueblo (The Courage of the People) (1971) and El Enemigo Principal (The Principal Enemy) (1973). Sanjines believes that community based artmaking should engage participants in decisions about form as well as content. Many of the the Ukamau Collective’s films are highly abstract and experimental (to Western middle class eyes) because of their use of narrative traditions and history of the indigenous communities making the films.

Paulo Freire (1921-1997)   

Paulo Freire was a teacher and philosopher of education from Brazil. He originally developed his ideas working with peasants in Northeastern Brazil. This work led him to theorize about the role literacy and critical thinking plays in social transformation. His most influential text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed argued that liberatory educators must teach people “how to read the world as well as the word”. He labeled this process Conscientizacao or critical consciousness.

In 1964 Freire was imprisoned by the brutal military dictatorship that had overthrown the democratically elected civilian government of Brazil. International contacts allowed Freire to be released into exile and he went to work for the World Council of Churches in Switzerland. Freire was to remain in exile for many years. He had great impact on progressive educators throughout the world.  Eventually, he was able to return to Brazil where he helped reform the Sao Paulo educational system

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Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

This Chilean poet, and diplomat, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. His original name was Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, but he used the pen name Pablo Neruda for over 20 years before adopting it legally in 1946. Neruda is the most widely read of the Latin American poets. From the 1940s on, his works reflected the political struggle of the left and the socio-historical developments in South America. He also wrote love poems. Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924) have sold over a million copies since it first appeared.

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)

German revolutionary leader, journalist, and socialist theorist, Rosa Luxemburg lived the international life of a Socialist 'pilgrim'. Luxemburg was the advocate of mass action, spontaneity, and workers democracy. Luxemburg is one of the rare theorists that was also a remarkable activist. She understood the importance of intersectionality decades before the term had been coined. Her commitments to anti-imperialism, feminism, racial justice, grass roots intellectual and creative activity make her a key inspiration for Insight Arts.

W.E.B. Dubois  (1868-1963)

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. In 1884 he graduated as valedictorian from high school. He got his bachelor of arts from Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., in 1888, having spent summers teaching in African American schools in Nashville's rural areas. In 1888 he entered Harvard University as a junior, took a Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude in 1890, and was one of six commencement speakers. From 1892 to 1894 he pursued graduate studies in history and economics at the University of Berlin on a Slater Fund fellowship. He served for 2 years as professor of Greek and Latin at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

In 1905 Du Bois was a founder and general secretary of the Niagara Movement, an African American protest group of scholars and professionals. Du Bois founded and edited the Moon (1906) and the Horizon (1907-1910) as organs for the Niagara movement. In 1909 Du Bois was among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and from 1910 to 1934 served as its director of publicity and research, a member of the board of directors, and editor of the Crisis, its monthly magazine. He was active in placing the grievances of African Americans before the United Nations, serving as a consultant to the UN founding convention (1945) and writing the famous "An Appeal to the World" (1947).

W.E.B. Dubois serves as a key inspiration for Insight Arts because of his relentless critical spirit, his combining of art, activism, scholarship and theory, and his remarkable commitment to the oppressed.

INSPIRATIONS

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