Escuchatorio Protesta: Remembering Mexico’s 43 Missing Students

Sep 25, 2015
6:15 PM

Escuchatorio

Escuchatorio: a place to listen or a place where listening becomes possible.

Escuchatorio is an online platform that launches on September 26, the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students in Mexico. It is a listening exercise that pays homage to social protest by asking, “There are thousands of people shouting, who is listening to them?”

Moreover, it is also an attempt to redefine listening as a political act, i.e., to channel the protests of the many to promote solidarity solely through the process of listening. For the past few weeks, they have been collecting an archive of sounds through online submissions and WhatsApp. These sounds include shouts, marching, chanting, protest songs, compositions–almost any form of expression related to protest. Beginning at midnight on September 26, they will broadcast this archive continuously for 43 hours along with radio stations from all over Latin America as well as other parts of the world.

To listen to the broadcast and learn more about the project, visit their website. You can also share on social media using the hashtags #Escuchatorio or #EscuchatorioProtesta.

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Néstor David Pastor runs social media for Radio Ambulante. He’s a writer, a musician, a grad student and, oh yeah, a Puerto Rican and Peruvian all-star. Follow him @n_davidpastor.