Photo: © 2013, Peace Dialogue, Theater of the Oppressed Evening Club
The members of an evening activity club called Theatre of the Oppressed presented their first performances for the students of Vanadzor High School Number 11. It has already been two weeks since the club was first organized at Peace Dalogue NGO. The club, a part of the Safe Soldiers for a Safe Armenia project, aims at organizing Forum-Theater performances related to the issues in the army that will be presented in the schools of Lori Region. According to the club members, the idea is to visit high schools in Vanadzor and other cities and have performances for the senior students who will soon be drafted to the army. They think that it will be great if the students are aware of the issues in the army and their own rights, in order to be able to protect their rights if necessary.
One of the performances was related to improper medical treatment in the army while the other one was about cases in which commanders abuse their official position.
Before the performance, the high school students were introduced to the origin of the forum-theatre methods, where and why they are generally used, and why PD in particular uses them in its activities.
This method reveals social issues and creates an opportunity to think them over and find alternative ways to change reality. The indifference towards the human rights issues in the army is a contemporary social issue. That is why the organization and the club members decided to present this theme to the high school students.
The performances were followed by a joint discussion on the needs of the oppressors and the oppressed, including their motives. After that, the students were given an opportunity to ask questions of the characters of the performance. Then they were given an opportunity to take on the role of the oppressed character and suggest their own ideas for changing the situation.
After the initial nervousness was gone, there were more people willing to take part. One of the PD representatives, Anna Zakaryan, shared her impressions and said that, despite the fact that some of the suggestions were illegal (evens suggestions to bribe or blackmail the commander), after the club members explained the unacceptability of the illegal solutions the participants started to present strictly legal solutions and, in a very productive way, fought for rights of the oppressed protagonist.
“We were happy to see that they were very active in suggesting creative, non-standard, and diverse ideas. The reason behind that was that the children actually started to consider the issues as issues. They expressed interest in joining the forum-theatre to study the methodology so that they will be able to raise certain issues concerning them among their peers. We have an arrangement with two other schools, which we will soon visit,” – said A. Zakaryan.
The project Safe Soldiers for a Safe Armenia is supported by Pax.
is a Dutch civil society organisation that works with its partners for peace, reconciliation and justice worldwide. The organisation supports local peace efforts in conflict areas and builds bridges, nurture mutual understanding and improve disrupted relations between groups. IKV Pax Christi‘s aim is to prevent conflict and to build a peaceful, democratic and just society.
