The Colonial Dream _ Autonomous Zones
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During the Video Program of OVNI 2006: The Colonial Dream / Autonomous Zones, we had the honour of welcoming René Vautier among us.
We publish here the recording of his intervention that night, twenty years ago. It was a presentation translated live by a volunteer from the audience.
The recording, preserved in miniDV format, shows a blurred and out-of-focus image —a testimony to the passage of time and the means of recording of that era. Nevertheless, Vautier’s words retain their strength and clarity.
During that session, Afrique 50 was screened before a full place. The context of Barcelona in 2006: a city in motion, past the height of the anti-globalisation movement, yet still full of restless people eager to act. The 2005 events in the French banlieues had just taken place, and on the horizon loomed two opposing shadows —the smartphone as an omnipresent screen between us and the world, and Greece in December 2008, opening the way to the Arab Spring and everything that followed. In 2006 we stood at the balance point, sensing change but not yet naming it.
Revisiting this document also means acknowledging the enduring relevance of René Vautier’s thought and his political and cinematic legacy. His films continue to remind us that images can be a form of insubordination, an act of memory, and a space of encounter between struggles and generations.