Free Forum on El Chocó, Columbia with Steve Cagan December 2, 2008

EL CHOCÓ, COLUMBIA: Resistance for Survival

Conversation and slide show with activist photographer STEVE CAGAN

Activist photographer Steve Cagan has been working for over five years on a project in El Chocó, Colombia. El Chocó is the northwestern-most department of Colombia, right on the border with Panama. It's an area of great natural beauty and incredible bio-diversity, and home to river-centered Afro-Colombian and indigenous cultures. The area has been isolated from and ignored by the rest of the country for a long time. While their reasonable demands for public services such as health and education were not met, they could still live well on the bounty of the rain forest.

This life and the whole area are under great threat, as Colombian and international economic interests are determined to eliminate the rain forest to develop large industrial agricultural and infrastructure projects. If nothing changes, the rain forest of El Chocó, with its important environmental treasures and the special cultures it shelters, will soon be gone, probably within a generation. The one hope is the potential of the local communities to organize and resist the pressures to abandon their homes.

Steve has been photographing the environment and the people of the area and working closely with the few organizations committed to defending the people of the region. This month's "Other Voices" will feature the story of El Chocó as seen through Steve's incredible photographs and narrative.

Free and open to the public -- Be a part of the studio audience! Wheelchair accessible.

Part of the "Other Voices" television series produced by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center. Broadcast live on Mid-Peninsula Community Media Cable Channel 27, webcast at www.midpenmedia.org, and rebroadcast throughout December -- schedule at PeaceandJustice.org/index.php?topic=tvschedule.

Sponsored by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center ~ 650-326-8837 ~ www.PeaceandJustice.org ~ [email protected]

Official Website: http://www.PeaceandJustice.org