Hundreds of people in the audience of Culture Night were quiet when the Australia Club dedicated a moment of silence to the families and victims of the massacre at two Christchurch mosques that happened on March 15. The same audience cheered as the Latin America Club displayed a banner showing its support of the Venezuelan people. Australia, along with the New Zealand Club, dedicated their Culture Night performances to these victims, and the Latin America Club dedicated it performance to the victims suffering from the ongoing political turmoil in Venezuela.
The Christchurch mosque shootings
According to CNN, “At least 50 people were killed and 50 wounded, in a hate-filled terror attack targeting two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.” An Australian gunman targeted the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Mosque in central Christchurch during Friday, March 15’s noon prayers.
Responding to the terrorist attacks, Elijah Wanoa, a political science senior from New Zealand, shared the responsibility they felt as New Zealanders to show support to their country after the shootings in Christchurch. “As the New Zealand Chapter, we had a responsibility to dedicate what we had done to those people who had lost their lives. It’s our way of giving back because we can’t do much here in Hawaii. It shows them we love them for who they are and shows solidarity with our government and the people of New Zealand.”
An important part of being from New Zealand, Wanoa explained, is feeling safe. “We’re very proud of the fact we feel safe in New Zealand. Those things don’t happen to us at all. For that to happen to us was very shocking and unprecedented.
“We will stand against any form of terrorism, racism or whatever it is. As a New Zealander, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you're from, you should feel safe. That's what we try to create as an environment in our own chapter. If you come and join us, you will feel safe and included.”
Chesser Cowan, an intercultural peacebuilding sophomore from New Zealand, further explained, “We wanted to show that family comes first regardless of your skin color or culture. Growing up you treated everyone the same regardless. For that to happen in New Zealand is unheard of. Sure you get the occasional racial slur, but to do something like that really shocked our whole country.
“For the club, we wanted show them that’s how we show our manaaki, which means care or love. We wanted them to know we actually care even though we’re not there. It’s how we are going to portray our message. A lot of people have been dedicating stuff to them. This is our message.”
Mahonri Eteru, an undeclared freshman from Australia, said they decided to dedicate the club’s performance to New Zealand because “Australia and New Zealand have been close throughout the years. We are like brothers and sisters. We wanted to pay our tribute and respect to them. When it happened, we decided we would do [our dance] for them. It wasn’t until the night of the performances when we came up with the idea for the minute of silence.
“We just wanted to show we are all one at the end of the day. We have different cultures. We represent Australia, New Zealand, Tonga or whatever we are. But at the end of the day we are one people. We are connected. Especially New Zealand because they're right next door to us.”
Elijah Lemusuifeauali’i, a Pacific Island studies sophomore from Australia, further explained, “One thing I think people should understand is a lot of Polynesians who live in Australia now, their families migrated over from New Zealand to Australia. I wanted to highlight that because New Zealand is the place where our families started. A lot of our families still live in New Zealand. With the close relationship between Australia and New Zealand, we just wanted to show our respect to them.”
Eteru said the moment of silence was eye opening. “It was different. It was a good opportunity for them … to sit and think about what happened in New Zealand - to see the bigger picture. It’s more than just noise, stomping and standing around. It’s about connecting and bridging the gap between what was, what is and what will happen. That silence helped me to just be in the moment … and seeing the bigger picture. I think we were able to open up some eyes.”
The Crisis in Venezuela
According to BBC News, “Growing discontent in Venezuela, fueled by hyperinflation, power cuts and food and medicine shortages, has led to a political crisis. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president following large protests, [inspiring] opponents of current socialist President Nicolás Maduro.”
As “We Are One” by Pitbull played over the speakers, the Latin America Club gathered wearing shirts coordinating with the colors of the Venezuelan flag. Two club members stood up on chairs and revealed a banner that said, ‘Dedicated to Venezuela.’
Katja Scheel Lopez, a hospitality and tourism management senior from Guatemala, explained, “Since we started this semester, we have been keeping up with the news on what’s going on in Venezuela. I have a lot of friends from Venezuela. I actually have a friend who is a refugee there right now with her family. With everything that has been happening … I thought, ‘How can we help?’”
The club’s main goal, explained Saba Ramirez, a communications senior from Ecuador, was to raise awareness. “People are asking about what is happening. The truth is we wanted to make it more obvious to people what is happening over there. People are actually suffering.”
According to Lopez, countries from Central America, South America and the United States are trying to donate food and other supplies, but President Nicolás Maduro burns everything.
Lopez said, “They are not receiving any donations right now. People are really dying. Two million Venezuelans have left their homes in just one year. They don’t have anything to eat. It’s bad. They have been like that for more than five years but now it’s worse.… Even though we are far away, we are Latinos. We try to support our own culture of Latin America. When you support someone, you feel stronger and have hope to fight. For me, this was dedicated to our family.”
Both women said the video of the club’s performance has reached people from Venezuela who have expressed gratitude for their support even though they are so far away. At BYUH, Ramirez said people have been wanting to know more about what is happening. “On Monday after the performance, the people who participated in Latin America Club came to me and told me their teachers said, ‘I saw you performing. We saw you guys dedicated it to Venezuela. So what is happening in Venezuela?’ They didn’t actually know the background of it.”
Lopez said she thinks it is important for everyone to know what is happening because it is an international issue. “There is an opposition in Venezuela right now and many countries are supporting the leader of the opposition. The U.S. sees [Juan Guaidó] as the president right now. Even though he isn’t the legitimate president, they see him as the president.”
She said they decided to make a banner because, “It gives them hope and makes them feel like they are not alone. There are actually people who care … to have a banner shows we put work into it and we thought about it. Even the shirts all represent the Venezuelan flag colors. It was representing them. It was for them.”
Their inspiration, Ramirez shared, came from a concert put on by Latinos in support of the Venezuelans. Ramirez said, “We kept looking at videos of what is happening in Venezuela and the support. Latinos made a huge concert for them. After we watched that they were screaming, ‘We need help. We need help.’
“We can support them from far away. They can receive the message that we are with them. We can do something right now just by doing something for them. The song ‘We Are One’ was a big deal for us. We are one by putting our flags together and doing that song and dance. It shows we are with them. We just made the Venezuela flag bigger to say, ‘This is for you.’”
Writer: Haeley van der Werf