Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

¿Y Ahora?

Queens College’s Goldstein Auditorium held a Spanish language theatre performance on September 13, 2012, called “So Now?”. The play was co-sponsered by the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Center for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Understanding, and the Immigration Studies Working Group. Iker Ortiz de Zárate, the writer of the play, and its main actor, held a talk-back afterwards, and created some interesting and open discussion about the idea of forgiveness.

The play is based in the Basque Country which is located in the northern region of Spain. For the past half a century, this region of the country has been subject to terrorist attacks by ETA – Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or Basque Homeland and Freedom. During the reign of Francisco Franco, Spain’s dictator from the late 1930’s up until the mid-1970’s, the Basque region (and others such as Catalunya) were suppressed in order to keep Spain unified. ETA started acting up in the late 1950’s in response to this treatment. They are a radical group that have been focusing on violence as a means to an end – to an independent Basque land.

The two main characters, a doctor and an older woman, are at odds because they are on two different sides of the conflict. The doctor’s husband had been killed in a terrorist attack, led by the son of the older woman. The older woman lives with the guilt of her son’s conviction – especially after she tells the doctor that she was the one who had called the police on him. The woman begs the doctor to sign a petition to get her son moved to a prison closer to her, but the doctor does not comply. He feels unable to sign because he sees this as an act of forgiveness, and he doesn’t believe he has the right to forgive the horrible act of terrorism. Only the dead should forgive, but they can’t.

The play brings up important points that are universal to all in a world that is now so heavily focused on terrorism – whether it be ETA or Al Qaeda or Hamas. Who are we to forgive? Who can we forgive? Who is guilty? It is obvious that the woman did not raise her son to be a terrorist – do we blame her? Do we hate her for something she didn’t do? It is interesting how the play was performed only two days after the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Who is to blame for 9/11? Can we forgive?

If anything, the play was a forum for discussion and thought. Iker Ortiz de Zárate believes that theatre is a place where everyone can come together and experience something new and learn.

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Iker Ortiz de Zárate, un escritor de teatro español, vino a Queens College para presentar su obra “¿Y Ahora?”. Después de la presentación, Zárate habló con nosotros sobre el tema – el odio, el terrorismo, y el perdón.

La obra se desarrolla en el norte de España, en el País Vasco. Por muchos años, había un grupo terrorista se llama ETA. El dictador Francisco Franco (de los años 1938-1975) oprimía las regiones Vasca y Catalan paramantener el país unido. Con la violencia, ETA resistia el cambio y querría la independencia para el País Vasco.

En ¨¿Y Ahora?¨solamente hay dos personajes – un médico y una vieja. Los dos tienen opiniones contrarias – ETA asasinó a la pareja del médico y la vieja es la madre de un terrorista. La mujer está triste porque su hijo está en la cárcel muy lejos y ella quiere que su hijo se traslade a una cárcel más cerca de ella. Ella le pide al médico su firma en una petición para eso, pero él no puede firmar. Firmar es perdonar, y él no puede perdonara un terrorista.

La obra crea puntos importantes universales en un mundo con mucho terrorismo – ETA, IRA, Al Qaeda, Hamas. ¿A quien podemos perdonar? ¿Quien es culpable? ¿Odiamos a la madre que no hizo nada, pero solamente tiene un hijo malo? Es muy interesante que la obra fue presentada solamente dos días después del aniversario del 9/11.

¿Quien es culpable? ¿Podemos perdonar?

Iker Ortiz de Zárate nos dice en una charla después de la obra que el teatro es un lugar donde podemos compartir y aprender.

Marina B. Nebro