Just a month ago, over 100,000 people from around the world gathered atthe third annual
Toronto-based documentary photographer, John Donoghue, cast his lenson swirling crowds as they erupted into spontaneousdancing Samba circles and mirthful street theatricsthroughout the week. The streets were filled with ageneration of Latin American youth, chanting andraising their fists in solidarity.
Donoghue’s previous photographic projects are visualaccounts of communities that struggle to rebuild inspite of the social, economic and environmental woundsinflicted by neo-liberalism. His human rights work(and his camera) have taken him to a coffee farm in Sandinista Nicaragua, a Guatemalan refugee camp in Chiapas, aspeech by Fidel Castro in Cuba and an election in ElSalvador. In Yunnan province, China, he did work with Doctors Without Borders.
While at the Social Forum, Donoghue managed to get into the press conferenceof Venezuela’s President
Venezuela at the time was still gripped by massive strikes attempting to pressure Chavez to step down. “I think that event was, in many ways, important forthe people back in Venezuela, to see that Chavez was confident enough to leave the country at a time like that,” says Donoghue.
The photos Donoghue brought back to Toronto are acontinuation of a theme that informs the body of hiswork: inner strength in the face of oppression.
“I am amazed by the positive energy that keeps peoplegoing,” he says, referring to the tightly packedstreets of Porto Alegre during the opening WSF march. “There has to be a sense of community to deal with thehardship. I think that to really build a movement,that kind of energy is needed.”
As the U.S.-led re-invasion of Iraq unfolds, Donoghueplans to continue his photographic chronicle in thestreets of New York and Washington, D.C.
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