Let Me Speak!: Testimony of Domitila, A Woman of the Bolivian Mines بگذار سخن بگویم

Let Me Speak! is a moving testimony from inside the Bolivian tin mines of the 1970s, by a woman whose life was defined by her defiant struggle against those at the very top of the power structure, the Bolivian elite. Blending firsthand accounts with astute political analysis, Domitila Barrios de Chungara describes the hardships endured by Bolivia?s colossal working class, and her own efforts at organizing women in her mining community. The result is a gripping narrative of class struggle and repression, an important social document that illuminates the reality of capitalist exploitation in the dark mines of 1970s Bolivia and beyond.

Twenty-five years after it was first published in English in 1978, the new edition of this classic book includes never-before-translated testimonies gathered in the years just before the book?s translation. Let Me Speak picks up Domitila?s life story from the 1977 hunger strike she organized?a rebellion that was instrumental in bringing down the Banzer dictatorship. It then turns to her subsequent exile in Sweden and work as an internationalist seeking solidarity with the Bolivian people in the early 1980s, during the period of the García Meza dictatorship. It concludes with the formation of the Domitila Mobile School in Cochabamba, where her family had been relocated after the mine closures. As we read, we learn from Domitila?s insights into a range of topics, from U.S. imperialism to the environmental crisis, from the challenges of popular resistance in Latin America, to the kind of political organizing we need?all steeped in a conviction that we can, and must, unite social movements with working-class revolt.

About Author:
Domitila Barrios de Chungara, the daughter of a mine worker, was born in 1937, and lived most of her life in a tin mining camp in the Bolivian highlands. She was rendered motherless at the age of 10, and as a result Domitila was forced to leave primary school to care for her four younger sisters. Nonetheless, she graduated from the school of life and the Bolivian trade union movement, as an active participant in the ?Housewives Committee? of the Siglo XX-Catavi tin mine trade union movement, from 1963 onward. In 1975 Domitila was invited to testify at the first United Nations Conference on Women, Development and Peace, and there, she met Moema Viezzer, who helped her publish her life story in the form of this book. After a 2-year exile in Sweden during Garcia Meza’s government, Domitila and her husband returned to Bolivia, but shortly thereafter, alongside 30,000 others, her husband was laid off from his mining job. Domitila was thence forced to move from her native land, to the city of Cochabamba, where she died in 2013. She lives on through Let Me Speak!, which has been translated into 14 languages

Added Date: 30/11/2023 4:19:24 PM
Last update: 30/11/2023 4:39:32 PM

در این کتاب حدیث نفس دومیتیلا با خویشتن نیست، مجموعه ای است حاصل گفت وگوهای بی شمار من با او در مکزیک و بولیوی؛ سخنان او در دادگاه سال جهانی زن، بحث کردن ها و سخن گفتن ها و مذاکرات او با گروه های کارگران، دانشجویان، کارکنان دانشگاه، مردمی که در همسایگی کارگران زندگی می کنند، تبعیدی های آمریکای لاتین به مکزیک و نمایندگان مطبوعات و رادیوها و تلویزیون ها. به همۀ این مطالب ضبط شده، و نیز تعدادی نامه، نظمی داده و بعد به یاری دومیتیلا دربارۀ آن تجدیدنظر شد و حاصل کار کتاب حاضر است که در نهایت «یک تاریخ شفاهی» است.
دومیتیلا خود را با اوضاع ملموس پیرامون خویش و با مردمی که روی سخنش با آن هاست، منطبق می کند. شیوۀ بیان او در گفت وگوهای خصوصی، با شیوۀ بیانش در نطق ها و سخنرانی های رسمی در اجتماعات یا در بده بستان هایش با گروه های کوچک کاملا تفاوت دارد. این نکته، مسئلۀ تنوع سبک این کتاب را که شاید اسباب شگفتی برخی از خوانندگان شود، روشن می کند. زبان دومیتیلا زبان زنی است از تودۀ مردم، با عبارات خاص خودش، کلمات و عبارات منطقۀ خودش و ترکیبات دستوری اش که گه گاه با زبان کچوا که از کودکی بدان سخن گفته است، مشخص می شود. من عمدا در این زبان دست نبرده ام که یک بخش اساسی شهادت است و نمونۀ دیگری از غنای زبان توده ها را به ادبیات عرضه می کند.

درباره نویسنده:
دومیتیلا باریوس د چونگارا(به انگلیسی: Domitila Barrios de Chungara) رهبری از طبقهٔ کارگر بود. وی از خانواده‌ای خاکی می‌آمد و آثار متعددی راجع به رنج معدن‌چیان کشورش از خود با جای گذاشت. شهرتش به خاطر مبارزهٔ صلح‌آمیز علیه دیکتاتوری رنه و هوگو سوارز است.