The Social Life-Story of the Audiovisual Records of the Palace of Justice Siege, 31 Years of Memory Work

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The Social Life-Story of the Audiovisual Records of the Palace of Justice Siege, 31 Years of Memory Work CAMERA IMAGES AS CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE SOCIAL LIFE-STORY OF THE AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS OF THE PALACE OF JUSTICE SIEGE, 31 YEARS OF MEMORY WORK Diana Margarita Riveros Pineda Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Cultural Heritage Studies of University College London in 2016 UCL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 1 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores how audiovisual records are used in practices of collective memory work. For this purpose, I decided to reconstruct the social life-story of the audiovisual records of the Palace of Justice siege. This traumatic event took place in Bogotá, Colombia on the 6th and 7th of November of 1985, when a group of 35 guerrillas sieged the building. During 28 hours, the guerrillas and the army combated; in the meanwhile the radio and television stations registered and broadcasted to the whole country, however the government reacted and imposed censorship over them. Thus, after the siege, the audiovisual records have had different stages as memory tools. This research demonstrates, that these camera images have a key role in the creation and communication of memories through their inclusion in various media and audiovisual products. What is more, these audiovisual records help not only to keep alive the memories of the siege, but also they have a social function in terms of justice for they have been used as evidence in legal processes in order to find justice for the victims and the relatives. Thus, through the reconstruction of their social life-story I analysed the role of these images in the collective memory work made towards the siege of the Palace of Justice. Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 2 LIST OF CONTENTS Pg. LIST OF ABREVIATURES……………………………………………………… 5 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES…………………………………………….. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………. 8 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 9 2. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………... 12 Approach………………………………………………………………………. 12 Data Collection………………………………………………………………… 13 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK……………………………………………… 17 History and Memory…………………………………………………………… 17 Images, mass media and memory work……………………………………. 22 4. THE PALACE OF JUSTICE: FROM THE SIEGE TO ITS AUDIVOSUAL RECORDS…………………………………………………………………………. 26 The M-19 The siege of the palace………………………………………………………… 29 Aftermath………………………………………………………………………… 30 The pursuit of justice……………………………………………………………. 31 The audiovisual archives of the siege………………………………………… 32 5. SOCIAL LIFE-STORY OF THE AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS OF PALACE OF JUSTICE SIEGE…………………………………………………………………… 37 The records……………………………………………………………………… 37 The siege live on TV screens ………………………………………………..... 42 Becoming heritage – entering the archive…………………………………… 49 Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 3 Telling the story.…………………………………………………………………. 52 6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………… 62 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………… 65 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………. 73 Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 4 LIST OF ABREVIATURES ANTV – National Association of Television (for its initials in Spanish) CIDH – Interamerican Court of Human Rights (for its initials in Spanish). EM’s – Event Memories FBM’s – Flashbulb Memories FPFC – Colombian Audiovisual Heritage Foundation (for its initials in Spanish) ICVPJ – Inform of truth commission Palace of Justice (for its initials in Spanish). RTVC – Colombian Radio-Television (for its initials in Spanish) Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 5 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES TABLES 1. Table of actors of the siege. 2. Inventory of archives. FIGURES 1. José Van Djick Model of ‘Mediated Memories’. Taken from Dijck, J., 2007, Mediated Memories in the Digital Age. Standford: Standford University Press. 2. José Van Djick Model of ‘Mediated Memories’. Taken from Dijck, J., 2007, Mediated Memories in the Digital Age. Standford: Standford University Press. 3. Screenshot of army tanks arriving at the square and later knocking down the main entrance to enter the building. Copyright Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. 4. Screenshot of soldiers and armed men dressed as civilians running and firing in front of the building and the streets nearby. Copyright Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. 5. Screenshot of the chaotic rescue and movement of injured people in the middle of the gunfire. Copyright Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. 6. Screenshot of civilians released from the Palace walking towards the Casa del Florero, escorted by soldiers. Copyright Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. 7. Screenshot of the Palace being consumed by fire at the night of the 6th of November. Copyright Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. 8. Survey results. Question: Have you seen these images before? (Group A). Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 6 9. Survey results. Question: When did you watch these images for the first time? (Group A). 10. Survey results. Question: Do you remember what happened between the 6th and the 7th of November of 1985 in Colombia? (Group A). 11. Survey results. Identification of the event after watching the records. (Group A). 12. Survey results. Audience view statistics (Group A and B). 13. Survey results. Question: Have you seen these images before? (Group B). 14. Survey results. Identification of the event after watching the records. (Group B). 15. Survey results. Question: In which media (audiovisual production) have you seen these images? (Group A). 16. Survey results. Question: In which media (audiovisual production) have you seen these images? (Group B). 17. Survey results. Questions: Do you remember what happened on the 14th March of 1984 in Colombia? – Do you remember anything about Florencia’s Seizure? (Group A). 18. Survey results. Questions: Do you know what happened on the 14th March of 1984 in Colombia? – Do you remember anything about Florencia’s Seizure? (Group B). Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 7 AKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation could not have been possible with the invaluable guidance and help of many people. Firstly, I want to thank the academic staff of the Institute of Archaeology of UCL: to my supervisors Dr. Gabriel Moshenska and Colin Sterling whose constructive opinions and comments helped me to develop my research in the best way possible; to Dr Beverley Butler for her interesting courses that opened my mind in each session; and to Dr. Kathy Tubb and Barbara Knorpp for their advice and support. Secondly, I am very thankful with my beloved family that is always there for me: my parents Mario and Stella, my grandmother Marina, my uncles Carlos, Fredy, Fernando and José, my aunties Doris and Gloria, and my brother Nicolás, my cousin Gloria Astrid. Thirdly, I would like to thank my good friends here in London and in Colombia: Tomasz for all his help during this year, I would not be able to be successful without his support; to my friends that in the distance encouraged me when I needed it: Catherinne, Ricardo, Andrés, Santiago, Ana María, Eliana and Julián. To my dear heritage fellows that have become an important support for this challenging experience of studying abroad: Mandy, Fernanda, Caitlin, Barby, Yasmeen and Emma; to the Pickwick Hall Family: Alzira, Jane, Eva, Patrick and Clara, for being there in this last stage of my masters. Finally, many thanks to all the people that help me to a some extent during the MA and the dissertation: the participants: Tatiana Duplat, Miguel Salazar and Álvaro Acevedo; to Leonardo Acevedo, Juan M Vargas, Ana Lesly, Juana Suárez, Angela Garzón; to my TA’s Constance Wythman, Jonny Gardner and Paul Tourle. Beneficiaria COLFUTURO 2015 8 1. INTRODUCTION The development of new technologies in the last decades of the 20th century facilitated the sharing and transmission of camera images within societies, especially the ones depicting traumatic public events, thanks to the help of mass media. The repetition of these images turns them into iconic images that have a huge potential in helping individuals and communities to establish relations with those past events. A number of examples of these kinds of iconic images can be found across the globe, some of them more recognisable than others: J.F. Kennedy’s assassination, the attacks on the Twin Towers (9/11), the bombing of the presidential palace in Chile where Salvador Allende was killed, and the tank man in the protests of Tiananmen Square in China. Colombia is not an exception to this phenomenon, and some of the most painful chapters of its history have been registered by the cameras and later broadcasted repeatedly in mass media and other channels. This is precisely the case of the audiovisual records of the Palace of Justice siege, a violent event that took place in the capital city in 1985. This event has been catalogued by various instances, as one of the two most disturbing events in our country in the last century, with consequences still present thirty years after it happened (Informe para la Comisión de la Verdad del Palacio de Justicia [ICVPJ], 2010:20). Over a period of two days, the suffering of the hostages and the violent combats between a guerrilla group called the M-19 and the Colombian armed forces were partially broadcasted live on radio and television. Consequently, the images of the tanks, the gunfire, and the fire devouring the building where the Justice apparatus of Colombia functioned remained in the memory of Colombians until today, as we will see in this research. From the moment they are created, moving images, such as the ones of the siege, are full of meanings, which are negotiated according to the values of the different time and
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