Nonviolence is gaining strength in A Coruña

Last Saturday, the Ágora social centre hosted the celebration of the Nonviolencia Activa Fest. This meeting of diverse arts in the service of peace and nonviolence brought together hundreds of people who, in addition to enjoying the cultural expressions, chose to show their support for the idea and demand the changes necessary to overcome all types of violence.

The doors of the Agora opened at 17:15 and the public entered the exhibition space designed by Gosia Trebacz. In it we were able to enjoy the works of: Roke Armas,
Alfonso Caparros, Elchano, Chelo Facal, Alberto Franco, Maica Gomez,
Mohamed Saïd Hamdad, Roiayer, Lola Saavedra, Bego Tojo, N. Touzón, Gosia Trebacz and Xulia Weinberg. M. Touzón, for his part, was in charge of conducting a guided tour, where he explained the works of art. Some of the artists who were present had the opportunity to tell a little more about their participation in this event.

After enjoying the exhibition, the show moved to the auditorium where Estela López and Ricardo Sandoval presented a gala full of surprises.

The first of these was the appearance of the Base Team of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, which has been travelling around the world since October 2 and arrived in the city of Hercules to take part in the festival. Shouting “nonviolence is strength”, the group entered the hall waving flags that displayed the logo of the March. Luis Felipe, Alice, Ana, Jors, Igor, Ana, María, Haníbal, Lilian, Óscar, Mari Sol, Antonio and José María went up on stage to talk about some of their experiences as part of the World March and to explain how this global movement works.

Ramiro Edreira and his guitar were in charge of opening the concerts. They were followed by Xawar with Héctor Quijano on vocals and rhythm guitar, Javier on lead guitar, Marcos on harmonica, Andrés on bass and Raffaela on cajon. After them, Marmo Trazos led with his guitar.
By then half of the gala had already passed and there were only two more performances left: the Diversidarte Percussion Band conducted by Antonio Mosquera and Kreze with David on guitar, Andrea on viola, Ceci on cello and Brais on violin.

There was also time for Marisa Fernández, president of the association Mudo Sin Guerras E Sen Violencia, which organised the festival, to speak out to point out the need for society as a whole to unite for peace and non-violence: “As always in history, we will overcome the crisis we face. This act is proof that we will overcome it. Here we are, people who have responded to the call for peace and non-violence. We wish for peace for all of humanity and that is what will happen.”

At the end of the event, you could see the audience leaving the auditorium with something in their hands: they were the poems of: María Teresa Fandiño Pérez, Alba Fiamma Art, Eva Fórneas Braña,
Phrases for a Life, A. Garci, Sara M. Bernard, Alba Mac, Gema Millán, Iria Moliner,
Hector Quijano, Tamara Rademacher, Beatriz Ramon Iglesias, Rilin, Maria Villar Portas and Tania Yanez Castro, who were distributed throughout the event by the organization's staff.