Since the late 1970s, through the liberal discourse of the "End of History" and the legal mechanisms of the so-called "fight against terrorism", militants and political organizations of the anti-imperialist resistance have gone underground in our reality; into the tunnels of resistance, into the prisons and dungeons of power, into hiding after persecution, into mass graves and cemeteries; they have gone underground, but from there they have nourished the struggles against the colonial order.

The long history of persecution against anti-imperialist organizations since the mid-twentieth century has sought to forcibly silence a generation of activists, has attempted to erase their knowledge and experiences from the collective memory, and has sought to break the thread of transmission from these anti-colonial political and ideological ancestors to the current generations that seek to oppose the current capitalist and colonial order.

“The root you pulled out is not a hole in my land, it is a tunnel” is a popular puppet theatre piece in solidarity with Palestine that tells the story of the resistance of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles of the 20th century from underground, which the powers that be believe they have defeated.

They wanted to bury us but they didn't know we were seeds, they wanted to uproot us but they didn't know that our roots left holes there, and that those deep holes in our land are now our tunnels.

Creation and direction: Daniela Ortiz

Voices: Isabel Korzo and Jaime Gonzales

Production: LOCALES, Sara Alberani, Chiara Pagano, Chiara Clarke.

Audio: Xose Quiroga.

Presented at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge in October 2024.