American policies much to blame for several conflicts: Dr Schechner
The Goan Network
PANAJI
Collaborative performances through social theatre can be a model for utopian societies. This was the key take-away of a lecture delivered by Dr Richard Schechner at 9th edition of D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas at Kala Academy. Dr Schechner is professor of performance studies at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
Dr Schechner started off by saying that, “Art can save the world”. He then went on describe how the forces of politics, religion and economics have resulted in one conflict after another in the recent times. Dr Schechner said, “I am trying to be optimistic even when an civil war is happening in Syria, ISIS and Boko-Haram are destabilising the entire world and 2015 was reported as the warmest year”
Dr Schechner also said that American policies post World War-II are much to blame for several geo-political conflicts. He said, “There are two popular views in the US. One says that the US is the best. And, the other says that the US is under threat. A combination of these views has resulted in a lot of jingoism. As a result, US forces are constantly engaged in war outside their country”
Dr Schechner said that pop-culture is also driven by violence and war. To deal with this massive problem, he proposed, “It is time to create new performances imaginations which will be equally powerful to war”.
Dr Schechner further proposed that aesthetics in the form of new imaginations like collaborative theatre can counter the forces of politics, religion and economy, which are taking human race towards extinction.
To drive home the point on how performances can help in dealing with evil forces, Dr Schechner gave the example of ‘The Yes Men’.
‘The Yes Men’ are jamming activists who increase awareness about troublesome social and political issues. One of their activists had appeared on BBC World as a spokesperson of Dow Chemical. Dow Chemical was the owner of Union Carbide, the company responsible for Bhopal Gas tragedy.
The activist claimed during the interview that Dow Chemical will pay for the medical care of people who suffered due to Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The claim was, of course, fake. But, to deal with this, Dow Chemical had to come out and say that they wouldn’t compensate the victims, which showed people how the company continued to be irresponsible towards the calamity it caused.
Dr Schechner said that similar performance tactics can be used to deal with social and political evils all across the world.
