Year of Antonio Nariño

Ahora O Nunca! Las ideas son para divulgar!-  Now or Never! Ideas are to share! 

This isn't quite our usual type of post. This is neither a review or a history highlight but rather I wanted to bring attention to an event occurring in Bogota, Colombia. The national library located in the heart of La Candelaria district (see our previous posts on this area here) and is aimed towards increasing literacy and education among Colombian youth. There are still to this day many parts of Colombia were education is hard to access and higher education is almost impossible. With most universities and libraries located in large cities, rural areas are severally under served. 

The National Library has decided for the anniversary of Antonio Nariño's birth they would dedicate the entire year to improving literacy and access to educational services for Colombian children in need. Who is Antonio Nariño? He is an intellectual who penned many of the important documents and writings that inspired revolution in New Granada. He lived and worked with many of the other important figures in the Colombian Revolution such as Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Santander. Unlike Bolivar, Nariño was not a soldier nor did he have any interest in the physical aspect of revolution. Nariño was a man dedicated to intellectual pursuits and sparking a revolution through ideas. He would be responsible for hosting many of the revolutionary figures to discuss the need for independence and distributing copies of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man," which he had translated from French to Spanish. These pamphlets are considered instrumental in swaying the public towards revolution and they would also be the reason for his eventual imprisonment and exile. After traveling throughout Europe, Nariño would return to his home country, a country now independent of all Spanish control. After his death, to memorialize Nariño, the eventual presidential palace of Colombia would be named in his honor. 

The National Library chose Nariño because of what he symbolized to the nation during its early years. He demonstrated the power of information and ideas to a tyrannical power. The National Library also brought in street artists, Toxicómano, Erre and Lesivoto, to create the posters promoting the program. These posters reflect urban life in Colombia and the power of youth in changing their nation. The posters declare "Now or Never! Ideas are meant to be shared," and re-imagine Nariño as a tattooed punk revolutionary. He stands as an inspiration to youth who want to change their country for the better and promote the use of education to achieve those goals. These posters are now on display at the National Library for the duration of the year. These type of events do not seem that important for some living in countries where literacy is taken for granted, but there are still large gaps in access to education throughout the world. In Colombia, it has taken time for this gap to close and is still in that process. But with the violent years of the 1980's and 1990's now behind them, the nation is able to focus resources on problems that were ignored for years. It  demonstrates the nation's value of education and it's efforts to make education a universal right for all Colombia children.