Social Movements

“I wanted to capture what was happening in Chile and to pay homage to the strength and commitment of the Chilean people. They are taking on neo-liberalism and a militarised state with stones and trumpets. This is a lesson for the rest of the world, we can learn so much from them."

Feminist groups in Argentina and abroad greeted the New Year in celebration as the country’s National Congress voted in favour of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill, which will allow childbearing people in the country to access abortion for free in public hospitals up to 14 weeks pregnancy.

Argentina’s strict lockdown measures have seen an outpouring of solidarity for queer tango in Buenos Aires. Edgardo Fernández Sesma, LGBTQI+ activist and queer tango teacher holds tango classes using none of the heteronormative gender dynamics traditionally assumed by ‘male’ and ‘female’ dancers.

EmpoderArte, a Peruvian-based NGO which offers a decentralised film education to women, Karoline organises and runs workshops up and down Peru, mobilising hundreds of women to discover and embrace the emancipatory power of storytelling.

Today, LAB is proud to launch a crowdfunding campaign for a brand new and very important LAB project: The Heart of Our Earth: Community Resistance to Mining in Latin America. But why mining? And why now?

Camila Freitas’ documentary Landless (Chão, 2019) follows the struggle of the MST – the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil ­– as they strive for reform and access to land.

Luis Bustamante's images of Chile's estallido social - which began on October 18, 2019, now a whole year ago - speak for themselves. Most were taken of protesters in Santiago around Plaza Baquedano, renamed by protestors as Plaza de la Diginidad. Others cover graffiti and stencil work that popped up during this period, taken in a range of Chilean cities.

“It's very clear that Benetton and the state are colluding to usurp Mapuche communities from their ancestral land. This includes judicial persecution, threats and even the murder of our community leaders,” says Moira Millán, founder of the NGO Movimiento de Mujeres Indígenas por el Buen Vivir (Indigenous Women's Movement for Good Living.

Queer Tango teacher and LGBTQ+ activist Edgardo Fernández Sesma tells LAB’s Nina Meghji about navigating the digital space, the impact of lockdown on Buenos Aires’ elder residents, and the economic implications for Buenos Aires’ tango community post Covid-19.

Progressio, formerly CIIR, the Catholic Institute for International Relations, closed in June 2017 after 76 years of campaigning for social justice across the...