Global Cool / O Refrescar Global

  

 

As ARTivists tried to cool off the planet, they also turned up the heat in Copenhagen. And good thing they did it, for something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark.       

A document out of a few secretive meetings between leaderships in rich northern countries was the first sign of sabotaging a conference that would supposedly give everyone a voice. The document that would never be accepted by the many activists and NGO’s roaming to Copenhagen, clearly showed the leaders of north for who they really are. As its result now proves, the Copenhagen climate conference was a scam and the rich north has never had any intention of taking responsibility for climate change.  The next sign that not much was intended to change was police action. Thousands were arrested in the last two weeks, 1000 in the first weekend alone. Did they all break a window? That would be a really good protest… But, no it appears. Here’s what happened: moments before the first arrests, according to an ARTivist who overheard the instructions given to the robot cops by their copper boss:       

 

 

 

I can’t help thinking that is exactly what is codified in a mind that is indoctrinated to repeat ‘keep law and order’ until it’s convinced that’s what it’s doing. Ironically, that is also what is codified in a document that would contribute to keep things as they are, meaning quicker down the drain.  And just as there was a direct relationship between what is codified in the duties of an officer of the law and the jargon of a political deal, there was also a relationship between the two events at Copenhagen. Global sharks will be global sharks, while small fish get eaten. And a trapped shark will attack. The moment the global sharks got trapped, the small fish paid the price. Nothing like a little media diversion to take our minds of a document than the arrest of thousands of fish even if they can’t be accused of doing anything.    As I wrote above two negative aspects, that from the very beginning put this conference in the doom to fail category, two positive ones occur to me. And there is also a relationship between them. In spite of all the carbon footprint and additional superfluous climate threatening technological devices and plastic wraps used in such a huge gathering, partially sponsored by CCC (criminal coca-cola), it was very cool to see such a diversity of people from around the world, drumming, chanting and occasionally getting pissed off and breaking a couple of windows.      

in Telegraph.co.uk

The first positive thing that happened in Copenhagen was that people from all over the world got together in a massive meeting of minds. It’s not just the anti-capitalista crowd. Oh they’re there, bless them, but traditional people from indigenous cultures who have become anti-capitalista by experience rather than ideological affinity, were there too. People from all places, all walks of life are walked together in the understanding that yes there is a great divide between the north and the south. They demanded from the north the acknowledgement of historical responsibility, climate change accountability, sharing of technology to adapt to new conditions, and reparations – the so-called climate debt.   

It is about time those demands came out to the street so powerfully. I’ve written about migrants, about the relationship between a history of slavery that enriched europe and impoverished Africa, the immorality of African debt to a Fortress Europe that keeps Africans out, when it knows that it owes Africa and African human labour its industrialized development. Adding to centuries of exploitation of resources and people, it turns out that the ’development’ that makes the north such a ‘civilized’ place, is actually poisoning us all. Who will pay for it? The exploiter or the exploited? For more that those demands bring the positive to the conference, as the event closes, it is now obvious that the latter will pay the price.     

The second positive thing that happened in Copenhagen, in spite of the conference’s deadly outcome, was that slogans finally went beyond the mere usual ’stop global warming’ and ’save the planet’. The arguments of activists passed by the understanding that in order to live in a sustainable planet we need social change and for that we need to tear down this current system.  The relationship between climate debt and changing the system is the huge paradigm shift needed for the North to meet the demands of the South. Northern leaders are obviously incapable of such mental upgrade.   

Copenhagen exposed clearly the reality of the north-south war. On one side, the rich countries of North America and Europe. On the other small pacific islanders, Africans, Asians and Native-Americans whose lands are disappearing, endangering their livelihoods, their communities and exterminating their ancient ways of life. On one side an old way to do things that is evidently deadly, on the other proposals to change the system in which we live, helping each other as one human race.     

In the end it is not about saving the planet. It’s about saving ourselves. On one side, it’s the old good bourgeois way of life for the north (and of many in the south) or a committment to change our lifestyles, abolish consumerism, share freely, learn to think critically and develop a ‘planetary consciousness’ that realizes the interconnectedness of everything.      

Obviously we can’t be saved if the planet isn’t, but is more likely that the planet will go on and on around the sun long after humans have been extinct. If all goes according to the universe’s plan the planet will live on for another 4 billion years when it will be destroyed by the explosion of our dear sun.      

As George Carlin once said, the planet is fine, it is the people who are fucked.   

      

Enquanto ARTivistas lutam para refrescar o planeta, também aproveitaram para aumentar o calor em Copenhague. E ainda bem, porque há algo de podre no reino da Dinamarca.      

Um documento saído de uns poucos encontros secretos entre os líderes dos países ricos do norte foi o primeiro sinal que a conferência, que supostamente daria a todos uma voz, estaria sendo sabotada. O documento, que nunca seria aceite por ativistas e ONGs a caminho de Copenhague, mostrou claramente a dupla face dos chefões do norte. Como o resultado final do encontro agora prova, a conferência climática de Copenhague foi uma fraude e o rico norte nunca teve a menor intenção de assumir responsabilidade pela instabilidade climática. 

Outro sinal provando que na realidade eles não pretendem mudar nada é o tipo de ação policial. Milhares de pessoas foram presas nas últimas duas semanas, 1000 logo no primeiro fim de semana. Será que toda essa gente andou quebrando vidros por Copenhague? Esses protestos tão bons… Mas parece que não foi isso. Momentos antes das primeiras detenções, um ARTivista ouviu as instruções do Gambé-Mor (para os tugas seria o Bófia-Mor) aos seus homens (ver cartoon acima). Disse ele:    

“Ok pessoal. Mantenham os olhos bem abertos. A gente está aqui para proteger o direito a soltar milhões de toneladas de CO2 na atmosfera mesmo sabendo que isso poderá destruir toda a civilização e colocar o planeta inteiro num caos sangrento irreversível pelos próximos 10.000 anos.”       

Não consigo deixar de pensar que essas palavras são na realidade o que está codificado em cabeças formatadas para repetir “manter a lei e a ordem” até se convencerem que é isso mesmo que fazem na vida. Irónicamente, isso é também o que está codificado em documentos que contribuem para manter tudo na mesma, ou seja mais rápido pelo cano abaixo.       

E tal como existe uma relação direta entre o que está codificado nos deveres de um agente da lei e na gíria de um acordo político, também existe uma relação entre os dois acontecimentos em Copenhague. Tubarões globais serão sempre tubarões globais, e os peixinhos são comidos. E tubarões encurralados atacam. No momento em os tubarões globais se sentiram entre a espada e a parede, os peixinhos pagaram o preço. Nada como uma distração midiática para nos fazer esquecer um documento. Mesmo que isso signifique prender 1000 pessoas sem elas terem feito nada.

Enquanto escrevia sobre dois aspetos negativos que colocaram mais esta conferência na categoria de destinada a falhar, duas coisas positivas me ocorreram. E entre elas existe também uma relação. Apesar de todas as pegadas de carbono, e adicionais objetos tecnológicos supérfluos, mais sacos de plástico, inevitavelmente usados num evento gigantesco como este, patrocinado entre outros pela CCC (criminosa coca-cola), é refrescante ver a enorme diversidade de gente de todo o mundo que se juntou na Dinamarca para batucar, gritar, cantar e ocasionalmente se chatear e quebrar uma janela ou outra.       

A primeira coisa positiva de Copenhague é essa, gente de todo o mundo se junta num encontro massivo de mentes. E não foi só o pessoal anti-capitalista, abençoados sejam, sempre presentes nestas coisas, mas também gente de culturas tradicionais e indígenas que se tornaram anti-capitalista mais por experiência que por afinidade ideológica. Gente de todos os lugares caminhando juntas no seu entendimento comum do fosso gigante que separa o norte do sul. Eles exigiram do norte, o reconhecimento da sua responsabilidade histórica, a sua culpa pela instabilidade climática, partilha de tecnologia para adaptação a novas condições e reparações econômicas – o pagamento da divida climática.

Era tempo que tais exigências saíssem poderosamente para a rua. Escrevi sobre migrantes, sobre a relação entre a história da escravidão que enriqueceu a Europa e empobreceu a Africa, a imoralidade da divida externa que África tem de pagar a uma fortaleza Europa que mantém os africanos fora, apesar de saber muito bem que deve seu desenvolvimento industrial a África e ao trabalho braçal africano. Após séculos de exploração de recursos e pessoas, afinal o ‘desenvolvimento’ que faz do norte um lugar tão ‘civilizado’ nos envenena a todos. Quem vai pagar por isso? O explorador ou o explorado? Por mais que as exigências ’dos de abaixo’ tenham trazido algo positivo para esta conferência, é agora óbvio que serão s últimos a pagar o preço.     

O segundo aspeto positivo de Copenhague, apesar do seu resultado mortífero, é que os slogans foram além do habitual ‘parem o aquecimento global’ e ‘salvem o planeta’. Os argumentos de ativistas articulam o seu entendimento que de forma a viver num planeta sustentável precisamos de mudanças sociais, e que para isso, precisamos destruir o sistema. A relação entre a divida climática e a destruição do sistema é a enorme mudança paradigmática necessária para que o Norte possa satisfazer as exigências do Sul. Mas os lideres do Norte são obviamente incapazes de tal upgrade mental.     

Copenhague expõe claramente a realidade da guerra norte-sul. De um lado, os países ricos da America do Norte e da Europa.Do outro estão as pequenas ilhas do pacifico, os africanos, os asiáticos e os indígenas americanos que vêem as suas terras desaparecer, extinguindo as suas vivências, as suas comunidades e exterminado seus modos de vida antigos. De um lado uma forma mortífera de viver, e do outro propostas para mudar o sistema em vivemos, contando com a ajuda mutua de toda a raça humana.     

Afinal não é tanto uma discussão sobre como salvar o planeta. Mas sobre como nos salvar a nós próprios. Ou continuamos vivendo a vida burguesa à moda do norte (e à moda de muitos no sul) ou nos comprometemos a mudar esse estilo de vida, abolindo o consumismo, partilhando livre e gratuitamente, aprendendo a pensar criticamente e desenvolvendo uma consciência planetária que entende a interligação entre todas as coisas.        

Obviamente não nos podemos salvar se o planeta morrer, mas é mais provável que o planeta continue a girar à volta do sol muito depois de nós humanos já termos sido extintos. Se tudo correr de acordo com o plano do universo, o planeta continuará vivendo por mais uns quatro bilhões de anos quando será destruído pelo nosso querido sol.     

Como George Carlin disse uma vez, o planeta está ótimo, as pessoas é que estão fodidas (ver vídeo acima).      

 

Orson Welles Filmed a Brazilian Classic – Is That True?

 

Escrita em parceria e baseado na pesquisa do meu amigo Canhoto que bloga a versão portuguesa em http://canhotagem.blogspot.com/ e http://tropecassino.blogspot.com/

Co-written and based on research by my friend Canhoto, who posted the portuguese version at http://canhotagem.blogspot.com/ , http://tropecassino.blogspot.com/

During the 1940’s, the United States created the good neighbor policy attempting to consolidate their economic superiority and cultural hegemony in Latin American countries. In the northern hemisphere, Carmen Miranda had become the highest-paid actress in the U. S. due to the royalties derived from her brand of hats, clothes and wooden clogs. 

Meanwhile, south of the equator in Brazil, on the 13th February 1942, there landed Orson Welles with a mission to film two episodes of It’s All True. The first would tell the story of carnival and its influences, such as samba and candomblé; the second would pay homage to four men from the northern state of Ceará, who starred a real life extraordinary deed in a raft. The previous year, Welles had read about them in Time magazine learning how four men in a raft sailed the ocean for over 1000 miles from Fortaleza to the then federal capital Rio de Janeiro. Their names: Manuel Olímpio (known as Jacaré), Jerônimo de Sousa, Raimundo Lima e Pereira da Silva.  They travelled to ask president Getúlio Vargas for their welfare rights – the dictator conceded and promised but he never delivered. 

The main problem with the making of this movie, filmed during six months in 1942 and never released, was the director himself, one of the most influential cinematographers of the 20^th century, the polemic Orson Welles. It appears that the genius, then aged 26, got in trouble with Getúlio Vargas and Nelson Rockefeller. Stories that followed his adoption of Hollywood as a playground lab on how to infuriate both celebrities and big bosses. 

It’s All True was an attempt to debunk Hollywood stereotyping of blacks and latinos. In its last segment, the film aimed to connect the history of these ethnic groups to north-american black culture (the only part of the movie never to be recorded). Featuring Louis Armstrong, the sequence would give an account of the common genesis of samba and jazz… 

One of the motives behind the presence in Brazil of Citizen Kane’s director – one of the most influential films of all times – was that he was being harassed by William Randolph Hearst, proprietor of Time’s media empire and on whom Kane’s character was based. At the time, major U.S. celebrity magazines belonged to Hearst, who exerted his power over Hollywood and was able to add Welles’ name to the list of ‘reds’ that the FBI was already investigating one decade before the notorious witch hunt. 

And who do you think Welles hanged out with while he was down here? Vinicius de Morais, who had recently been nominated ambassador at Itamaraty (Brazilian Foreign Relations Ministry, so named after the palace in Rio de Janeiro where it operates from), wouldn’t part from the icon. Herivelto Martins and Grande Otelo were not only Welles’ work collegues, but also all night long drinking buddies in many of Rio’s shanty towns. Herivelto (music director) and Otelo (main character in one of the segments) were puzzled by the gringo’s attitude, getting wasted on cachaça until 5 a.m., and at 8 a.m. demanding everybody’s presence in the set. The Brazilians were used to Urca Casino’s routine and never woke up before noon, something that took Welles’ to the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

But it was the young director’s closeness to raftman Jacaré that really bothered the Brazilian government. The DIP (The Press and Propaganda Department under Vargas’ dictatorship) was accusing Jacaré of being … Communist, no less. When Welles filmed Four Men on a Raft, reenacting the journey they had undertook the previous year from Ceará to Rio de Janeiro, Jacaré was killed in a tragic accident at Guanabara Bay. Moved and more determined than ever, Welles created another segment to show the tragic conditions in which fishing communities lived at the time in Ceará. 

Going for a  change of tide, Welles’ left Rio and went to Fortaleza where he stayed for a over a month, quickly writing and directing the script. Meanwhile he got closer to the local people, filming fishermen who had never seen a movie in their entire lives. With 10.000 dollars alone he portrayed the daily routine of those oppressed communities, the work and craft of women, and he staged the death of a fisherman in the sea, his funeral in the village and the uncertain future of his young widow. The work was confiscated while still unedited, by RKO, which was later sold to Paramount. There, in 1958, a clerk supposedly burnt the majority of the technicolor material, the sequence of It’s All True, where Grande Otelo appears. Apparently, the order came due to the studio’s fear of being sued for copyrighting unreleased footage. Is it true that there are no scenes left with Grande Otelo? 

It’s All True’s supposedly destroyed sequence focused in the origins of Rio’s Carnival and was filmed all over the city. Praça Onze, a square demolished the previous year so that Presidente Vargas avenue could be built, was reconstructed in a studio, much irritating the dictator. Other segments filmed in the then federal capital, were staged at Urca Casino, a place well-known to Welles, where he even had hot affairs, such as singer Linda Batista. 

I heard people say that the most beautiful take of the sequence shows a ritual where newly-stretched cat skinned drums are warmed up by a huge fire. In the 1993 documentary also entitled It’s All True, Herivelto Martins’ son, Peri Ribeiro, who also played a role next to Grande Otelo in the movie, said that Welles did what no other man had done for Brazil: show the country as it really was – something that ironically ended up being the reason behind the project’s failure. 

Grande Otelo and Peri Ribeiro

Welles’s career was stained only because he was given a million dollars to direct a film that he couldn’t finish because of obstacles posed by the studio itself. And is it true that also because of censorship by the Brazilian government? 

Welles commented in an interview to film critic André Bazin: “ (…) they made another version, changing ideas and remaking it their way. I filmed for 6 months, but RKO fired me”. 

As the years went by, Welles never had other proposals to conduct his own project in his own country, so by 1946 he had already moved to Europe. Recently, in 2009, a former secretary to the Brazilian government told me that in the 1950, she travelled in a plane chartered by Assis Chateaubriand (another head of media empires; this one from Brazil), to go to a party in a castle situated in Paris’ surrounding region. Once there, she stepped on a drank man who was laying on the floor and obstructing the pathway. Later she learnt that the boozy was no other that the great Orson Welles. 

Brazilians have always had the best impressions of the film maker who came down here, got into the local culture, hanged out with the artists and exalted the then fashionable nationalism put forward by the ‘New State’ (how Vargas government was termed), to the point of narrating the president’s birthday live on radio to the U.S. Welles had even an opportunity to mark his territory in the country, when one day he stopped the car to urinate by the river Itabira, in Itabirito, state of Minas Gerais, where today stands his bust sculpted by local artist Genin Guerra. 

Moments in Itabirito: water on the knee, water on the bust

In spite of all his right on scores in a land known for good football, Welles would confess years later to his friend Paul Mazursky, that when he was sent down here, the last country in the world where he wanted to go was Brazil. 

As for the movie It’s All True, it vanished for over 60 years until a film student at UCLA found it unedited in a RKO archive. However, to this day, It’s All True remains unreleased. 

In 1993, filmmakers Bill Krohn, Myron Meysel and Richard Wilson came to Brazil to see about the men on the raft and Grande Otelo. The result was the homonymous documentary It’s All True where the team set up the segment Four Men on a Raft with a new soundtrack. 

Below a taste of the documentary where Welles talks about his determination to finish the film. 

 

Soon, the torrent – For now the documentary film is at dreammule in a 705 Megabyte archive under the name Orson.Welles.-.It’S.All.True.-.Lost.Film.Footage.(En.Divx.Mp3).Prov.By.Tastemaker.Rip.By.Richter

There are several academic and cinematographic works about It’s All True – the film that never happened –including an American fictional short and three other films by Brazilian director Rogério Sganzerla – Nem Tudo É Verdade (1986, Not All is True), Tudo É Brasil (1997, All is Brazil) e O Signo do Caos(2005, The Sign of Chaos). A scholarly work about the topic is It’s All True: Orson Welles’ Pan-American Odyssey by Catherine Benamou, professor in the Ethnic Studies department at the University of Michigan. In 2006, she said that at the UCLA archives in California, lays extensive unpreserved and unedited material related to the three episodes.

The catalogue of the Brazilian Film Archives contains an entry indicating they own a copy. Is it true? Eventually two nerds will investigate.

It is unbelievable, but the truth is that no-one in Brazil saw 1942’s It’s All True…

Coming soon: soundtrack download ‘Orson Welles and the Samba-True’… 

 

 

Warlords, peace prizes and sociopath children / Senhores da guerra, prémios da paz e crianças sóciopatas

I had my first laugh this morning upon linking to the BBC world news site and read the following title: ‘Obama defends war at Nobel ceremony’. I considered for a moment if I had the wrong link and this was a headline from http://www.theonion.com . I checked again and no, it was the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8405033.stm. So I concluded it was just good old british humor sliding some irony into the headline.

Although The Onion caught my attention for a while with the most interesting headline ‘New study reveals most children unrepentant sociopaths’, I went back to the BBC article, had a few more laughs with the sequence of anti-peace attitudes that Obama has had since taking office, and then remembered the poster below from the brilliant portuguese blog http://www.wehavekaosinthegarden.blogspot.com 

Could not resist to post that image here. See below portuguese translation. Now I can go back to the article about sociopath children.

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Dei as primeiras gargalhadas hoje de manhã assim que entrei no site da BBC world news e li o seguinte titulo: “Obama defende a guerra na cerimônia do prémio Nobel”. Ainda pensei se me tinha enganado no link e esta noticia era do http://www.theonion.com . Olhei de novo mas não, era mesmo a BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8405033.stm. Conclui portanto que de vez em quando o bom velho humor britânico ainda consegue escorregar uma satirazinha política no titulo de uma noticia.

Apesar do The Onion ter chamado a minha atenção com uma noticia interessantíssima entitulada “Novo estudo revela que a maior parte das crianças são sóciopatas impenitentes”, voltei ao artigo da BBC, dei mais umas gargalhadas perante a sequencia de atitudes pouco pacificas tomadas pelo Obama e sua administração, e depois lembrei-me do pôster abaixo, criado pelo brilhante blog português http://www.wehavekaosinthegarden.blogspot.com

E não pude resistir a postá-lo aqui.

Pronto, agora já posso ir ler sobre as crianças sóciopatas. 

 

 

Put the fun between your legs / Ponha a pândega entre as pernas

Ahead of Copenhagen’s climate puppet show, activists for climate action have started the fun. This time, they are putting it between their legs and are asking us to become, the Bike Bloc.

Merging several ARTivist groups, such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, the Space Hijackers, the Yes Men, Climate Camp, Trapese, among many, many others, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (http://www.labofii.net/) has launched yet another playful experiment in the arts of resistence. Gathering hundreds of recycled bikes, the Bike Bloc “will merge device of mass transportation and pedal powered resistance machine, postcapitalist bike gang and art bike carnival”. The big day for civil disobedience has been scheduled for the 16th of December in Copenhagen.

Below two ‘promotional’ action videos from the Bike Bloc.

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A tempo do show de fantoches em Copenhague, ativistas pela ação climática já começaram a pândega. Desta vez pedem que a ponhamos entre as pernas e que nos tornemos no Bloco das Bikes.

Reunindo vários grupos ARTivistas como o Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, the Space Hijackers, the Yes Men, Climate Camp, Trapese, entre muitos, muitos outros, o Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (http://www.labofii.net/), lançou mais uma divertida experiência nas artes da resistência. Juntando centenas de bicicletas recicladas, o Bike Bloc “irá combinar engenhos para o transporte em massa e máquinas de resistência a pedal, grupos de ciclistas pós-capitalismo e um carnaval de arte bike”. O grande dia de desobediência civil está marcado para 16 de Dezembro em Copenhague.

Abaixo dois vídeos ‘promocionais’ da planeada ação pelo Bike Bloc.

 

Land and Freedom / Terra e Liberdade

Tierra y Libertad, Ivan Puig

One of the things that I love about art is that one idea, one concept, can lead you into a maze of connections. Sometimes it only takes a friend to point you in one direction and if you dig deep enough you’ll find multiple roads to take your mind on an endless trip.

Such was yesterday. In the morning I got an email from my friend Dani, who has the soul of an artist, and who simply pointed me in one direction: http://www.ivanpuig.net/ (see last image after Portuguese translation for Dani’s pick).

After a while exploring the Mexican artist’s site I had already take my pick. The section ‘Tierra y Libertad’ (Land and Freedom) took me on that endless trip. I stood at the crossroads thinking Zapata, Magon, Comandante Marcos and of course the revolutionary art of ‘Los 3 Grandes’ Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, as well the excellent film ‘Tierra y Libertad’ by English director Ken Loach.

Ivan Puig created a machine, a production line of vases and plastic bags being filled with earth for commercialization, labeled as a final product with a barcode and the title ‘Tierra y Libertad’. In opposition to indigenous understanding of the use of mother earth, the artist makes a statement about the industrial treatment given to our planet’s natural resources.

Land and Freedom were at the center of the Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920. The words became the slogan of the Mexican Liberal Party inspired by the writings of anarchist journalist Ricardo Magon. In the revolutionary figure of Emiliano Zapata, the slogan and the indigenous people found a voice and a fighter pushing for land reform in a country divided between a few very rich landowners and an impoverished majority of indigenous people. People who once had no sense of property began learning about it upon the arrival of Hernan Cortez, the ‘Apocalipto’ moment that changed the history of the American continent forever.

Zapata, Diego Rivera

Zapata was an inspiration. Zapata is still an inspiration. After all nothing came of the ‘victorious’ Mexican revolution. Land reform is still a dream in Mexico, as it is in most of Latin America. His face adorned the murals of artists like Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, and he became the symbol of a revolution that never really happened.

Today, his spirit watches over the EZLN (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional – the National Liberation Zapatista Army) who continue to tirelessly fight for justice although they are labeled as terrorists by the earth machine operators.

On the 1^st of January of 1994, when Mexico officially submitted to the North American Free Trade agreement, the Zapatistas made world news. Under the command of Marcos, and feeling they had nothing left to lose, they took arms, occupied San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas, and declared war on Mexico D.F.

Big Noise films has produced an excellent documentary about the Zapatistas, available for streaming or downloading on an internet near you. On google video just type Zapatista and Big Noise and it will come right up.

And speaking of films, while Zapata’s face has been creatively combined with the Situationist slogan ‘Be Realistic. Demand the Impossible’ in stickers all over the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Zapata’s motto ‘Tierra y Liberdad’ was used by English director Ken Loach as the title of his brilliant film about the anarchist struggle against Franco’s forces during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939).

(see poster below in portuguese version)

One slogan, many ideas, praxis, appropriations, digestions. Ivan Puig’s work makes a political statement that brings history into the contemporary language of conceptual art, showing how the slogan continues to be valid today in a world destroyed by lines of production that enrich a few and impoverish the majority.

No pasarán. Viva Zapata.

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Uma das coisas que mais aprecio em arte é quando uma ideia, um conceito, me levam por um labirinto de conexões. Ás vezes basta uma amiga apontar uma direção para nos levar bem fundo por inúmeras estradas onde a mente dispara em intermináveis viagens.

Foi assim ontem. Logo pela manhã, recebi um email da minha amiga Dani, que tem alma de artista, e que simplesmente me apontou numa direção: http://www.ivanpuig.net/ (ver a escolha de Dani na ultima imagem).

Após algum tempo explorando o site do artista Mexicano já tinha feito a minha escolha. A seção ‘Tierra y Libertad’ me levou naquela tal interminável viagem. Fiquei parada num cruzamento pensando Zapata, Magon, Comandante Marcos e claro na arte revolucionária de ‘Los 3 Grandes’ Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, bem como no excelente filme ‘Tierra y Libertad’ do diretor inglês Ken Loach.

Tierra y Libertad, Ivan Puig

Ivan Puig criou uma máquina, uma linha de produção de vasos e sacos de plástico doseados de terra para ser comercializada, e rotulada no produto final com um código de barras e o titulo ‘Tierra y Libertad’. Em oposição ao entendimento que o povo indígena tem da mãe terra, o artista expõe o tratamento industrial dado aos recursos naturais do nosso planeta.

Terra e Liberdade foram temas fundamentais na Revolução Mexicana, que durou de 1910 a 1920. As palavras se tornaram no slogan do Partido Liberal Mexicano inspirado por um texto do jornalista Ricardo Magon. Na figura revolucionária de Emiliano Zapata, tanto o slogan quanto os povos indígenas encontraram uma voz e um herói lutando pela reforma agrária num pais dividido entre uns poucos muitos ricos proprietários e uma maioria indígena empobrecida. Povos que aprenderam a noção do conceito de propriedade quando Hernan Cortez desembarcou no Mexico, o momento ‘Apocalipto’ que mudou para sempre a história da América.

Zapata, Jose Clemente Orozco

Zapata foi uma inspiração. Zapata ainda é uma inspiração. Nada resultou da ‘vitoriosa‘ Revolução Mexicana. Reforma agrária continua a ser apenas um sonho no México, assim como por toda a América Latina. A sua face ilustra os murais de artistas como Rivera, Siqueiros e Orozco, e ele se tornou no símbolo de uma revolução que nunca aconteceu.

Hoje, o seu espirito vigia o EZLN (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional – Exército Zapatista de Libertação Nacional) que continua a lutar por justiça apesar de ser rotulado ‘terrorista‘ pelos operadores da máquina de terra. No dia 1 de janeiro de 1994, quando o México se submeteu oficialmente ao Tratado Norte Americano de Comércio Livre, os Zapatistas foram noticia. Sob o comando de Marcos, e sentindo que nada mais tinham a perder, pegaram nas armas, ocuparam San Cristobal de las Casas nas Chiapas, e declararam guerra ao governo da cidade do México.

A Big Noise Films produziu um excelente documentário sobre os Zapatistas, disponivel para ver online ou baixar numa internet perto de voce. No Google vídeo escreva Zapatista e Big Noise que aparece logo.

Seja Realista. Exija o Impossivel. http://www.flickr.com/photos/culundria/

Falando em filmes, enquanto a face de Zapata é criativamente combinada com slogan Situacionista ‘Seja Realista. Exija o Impossível’ em stickers e lambe–lambes espalhados pela cidade de Belo Horizonte, Brasil, o mote de Zapata ‘Tierra y Libertad’ foi usado pelo diretor Ken Loach como titulo do seu brilhante filme sobre a luta dos anarquistas contra as forças de Franco durante a Guerra Civil Espanhola (1936-1939).

 

 

 

Um slogan, muitas ideias, praxis, apropriações, digestões. O trabalho de Ivan Puig marca uma posição política que leva a história até ao centro da linguagem contemporânea da arte conceptual, mostrando como o slogan permanece valido num mundo destruído nas linhas de produção que enriquecem uns poucos e empobrecem a larga maioria.

No pasarán. Viva Zapata.

 

Below Dani’s pick / Abaixo a escolha de Dani

L'Ego, Ivan Puig