KORAZÓN Manifesto:
'Since Amauta magazine stopped publishing, we have been living decades void of its legacy. As Peruvian youth, we are find ourselves confused regarding topics like economics, identity, discrimination, racism, education. What is the value in being Peruvian these days? Do we need money or insurance to matter to our government? A pandemic can change a whole nation’s perspective in just a few weeks, but can it also change our collective identity? the way that we relate to each other?
With KORAZÓN, we want to dive into topics previously discussed by Amauta’s writers within the current context of cultural activities no longer being subsidized by the government, but rather turned into for-profit projects. In this mag, we want to show how crucial identity and collective culture are to a country and how important it is to invest in us as a multicultural territory. This platform’s aim is to bring attention to issues that affect us as Peruvians, especially those that we hardly emphasize and pinpoint as oppressive or holding us back as a community. One of the reasons this mag is one of a kind is because it was created to uplift transgressive voices speaking on controversial topics. Lima (yes, Lima culturally rules Peru) is a colonial, conservative and reactionary city. It fears change, criticism and dismisses any progressive approach as “terrorism”. It’s time to visibilize and normalize other points of view. It’s time to listen to the people’s grievances and to give space to new proposals. It’s time to stop referring and quoting the same old voices that have always spoken on behalf of us. It’s time to start looking at what the andean voices, the amazonian voices, the decentralised coastal voices, the migrant voices, have to say and create an exchange.
In this moment in time, recognizing the influence of immigration on culture is vital. Once we leave the fear of the other behind, we can start to learn how to coexist interculturally. We are Latin America, we are a territory without artificial borders. Our culture does not end in imposed geographic limits, but rather traverses through these imaginary and colonial lines. Our collective imaginary should feed off of ourselves and not just off the few elite voices of “normalcy” that represent the system.'
