Our May series - Syrian, Rohingya and Congolese Voices, as part of the Rising Up for Human Dignity Film and Discussion Series has just ended. Our final film was Sema - a film about survival by survivors of sexual violence in DR Congo. The following is the intro to the panel discussion that follows the film by NAC’s media events coordinator, Ruth Anne Beutler. You can see recordings of all of the panel discussions on our YouTube channel and on the landing page for the series.
Our third and final conversation of this series takes, as its starting point, the moving and powerful film Sema. I spoke a bit at the beginning of this series about how we chose these films and how important it was that each was created from personal lived experience.
Like For Sama and I Am Rohingya, Sema takes a unique approach to its story and subject matter that is at once completely grounded in its own context and also very readily speaks to issues of global significance.
And like our other two films, Sema is very clear about calling not just for an end to the violence, but also for justice.
I'd like to share a brief quote from Tatiana Mukanire, who is the National Coordinator of the survivors movement in DRC and the production secretary of Sema:
"Armed conflict which brings genocide and the use of rape as a weapon of war must stop. It is our dearest wish and today, it is our fiercest fight.
"So that our Children live in a better Congo, a Congo without rape, a Congo in peace;
So that these rapists can no longer act with impunity without justice doing its job;
So that all the victims of these atrocities can obtain reparations.
"We unite as the National Movement of Survivors of the DRC and we encourage all our sisters and brothers to stand with us."
This powerful invitation from Tatiana also reminds me of how eloquently Yusuf Zine, director of I Am Rohingya, spoke last week about how once we witness a story of genocide and atrocity, we become responsible to respond. That's part of why our programming always includes discussion around films that bring us to challenging topics - to help us absorb and contextualize what we've seen and allow us to reflect on how these stories might move us personally to act in supporting both peace and justice.
We're extremely honored to have been able to participate in sharing this beautiful work.
We’re so grateful to the other sponsors of the series: World Oregon, PSU’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project, Amnesty International Group 48, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and Alliance for Peacebuilding.
We’ll be bringing another series to you in July - this time on Sudan. Stay tuned!