A guerilla pictured in the mountains with radio equipment.
¡Esta es La Voz Popular!
On May 22, 1987—nearly 40 years ago—La Voz Popular went on air from Volcan Tajumulco, broadcasting the message of the popular revolutionary guerrilla movement to the people. The objective of the radio was to disseminate information about the political realities of Guatemala during the Internal Armed Conflict, which lasted 36 years and ended in 1996. More than just broadcasting the message of the guerillas, another of the radio’s objectives was to amplify the struggles of the Guatemalan people throughout the country against that of the repressive, authoritarian state.
Today, La Voz Popular is succeeded by the Asociación Mujb’ ab’l yol, which aims to preserve the radio’s historical memory and strengthen the community radio movement in Guatemala, particularly among Mayan indigenous communities. Visiting the home of the current association just outside of Xela is one of the day trips that the school coordinates every couple months throughout the year.
Since January, several ex-students and myself have been working on a couple of historical memory projects with Tino, a former guerrilla and current steward of the association’s space. A generous student bought Tino a scanner to support his vision of scanning hundreds of items of political literature from the conflict that he has held onto. As such, we’ve been in the process of organizing and scanning these items over the past few months.
More significantly, Tino has had a vision of preserving this literature, as well as some of his radio equipment in a small museum to be housed at the site of the association. As such, we kicked off a fundraiser on May 22 last month to mark the 39th anniversary of La Voz Popular going on the air. You can see the fundraiser here, and we would welcome your contribution. We’re about halfway to the expected costs to construct this space and still hoping to raise the second half. Watch a 4-minute informational video including Tino’s testimony at this link. You can also share the fundraiser via PLQ’s Instagram via this link.
Shout out to a generous PLQ student who recorded and edited a significant amount of the footage. A second shout out to another former student who organized an event in NYC where they raised $750+ for the fundraiser while Tino live streamed his testimony to them.
We hope you will consider giving funds to support the historical memory of La Voz Popular as the association seeks to build a museum dedicated to the radio and preserve the historical documents that it retains.
Photo of process of digitization at the radio. There are several people in action scanning items with several tables of material pictured.
Personal Grapplings
Current and former students, along with myself, have entered a rhythm of going to the radio every week to work on the digitization project and also strategize about moving the projects forward. Just as important to the process has been that of struggling about how things move forward, how this support is sustained, and what our positionality is as international comrades. It’s not insignificant to note that previous international comrades have moved through the radio space over the past several decades — coming in and out, depending on the project and funds being raised to support it. The current iteration of this project is no different.
While undoubtedly well-intentioned, there is a sort of voyeurism that can be produced in the dynamic. We’re supporting what Tino has articulated as his vision to preserve this historic literature and to distribute it broadly, while at the same time also learning the deeply traumatic stories shared by those involved in the radio. It’s a dynamic that is often replicated in classes themselves at PLQ or while participating in the weekly activities with the school. It’s not a dynamic I feel immune to, neither do I want to be. Rather, I share it because this is what I hope students grapple with as they study with us at PLQ. They are not just questions of what is “ethical tourism,” but also questions about what international solidarity is and especially what it looks like from people who arrive here as foreigners who are predominantly positioned from the imperial cores.
That all said, there are a couple of grounding points that keep me anchored at the school. I continue to come back to the primary objectives of the school and the many projects it has supported over the past nearly 40 years, even as its methods of action have developed over time. International comrades shouldn’t have to go to another country and indulge in the testimonies of those who have suffered under U.S.-imposed violence in order to develop a politics of international solidarity, but other work I have been inspired by is that of those who maintain relationships with communities in defense of land, the environment, and indigenous sovereignty. To name one example, I’m inspired by former PLQ students (including former coordinator Manni) who have been participating in accompaniment work through groups such as NISGUA and the Guatemala Solidarity Project, while also bringing their critical analyses to their presence in these projects.
If you have your own grapplings or expansions on this, send them my way. I recognize some of you all have been struggling with these reflections longer than I have — in fact, many of you have known the school much longer than I have.
Ways to Contribute to the PLQ Community
Some incoming students have been asking about things to bring with them from abroad that would help support the school. First, I will say that I personally will rarely turn away fruity candy, and also the staff love trying them too. Just putting it out there. 🙂
If you’ve got a spare portable hard drive (or 2, one for back-up), that would be super helpful. There’s about a million photos on the old computer that I work off of, some dating back to the early 2000s, and I’m afraid that it’s going to go kapoot and all of these historic photos are going to be lost. For now, I’m working on organizing and backing them up to a flash drive that a couple generous students gifted.
Lastly, there have been a lot of discussions from multiple figures within the school and adjacent to the school about writing books to capture their stories. Many of you who have studied with the school are likely familiar with these figures and have potentially heard about these ideas. If you have some solid political publishing connections, feel free to reach out. I imagine more than a few people will share and it’s all entirely exploratory at the moment, so heads up that it’ll take a bit of time to follow up.
These are some small ways you can contribute, and other contributions are also welcome. In the past few months, we’ve had students contribute a computer, monitor, scanner, keyboard, and other items to the radio in particular, to develop a digitization station that will remain there. Feel free to let me know if you have a particular idea, and I’m happy to let you know if it will be useful.
Sending you all lots of love and struggle from this side, and we hope to see you or be in touch soon.