STATEMENT of UNITY on the RECENT DEFILEMENT OF THE NE0-ANGONO ARTISTS COLLECTIVE'S MURAL

"The problem of censorship is not a problem of the Filipino artist alone. Censorship is repression, more insidious and therefore more than closing down a publishing house, burning books, or arresting a writer. Indeed, repression is an evil that only organized unity can fight. Censorship is only one form of repression, a violation of human rights."
- Dean Armando Malay

The recent defilement of the Neo Angono Collective’s “press freedom” mural and previous x rating of the Southern Tagalog Exposure’s video on human rights has drawn reaction ranging from sympathy to outrage from the artist community and the public in general.

The much-talked about Neo Angono Collective mural entitled “Sangandaan ng Kasaysayan” which aims to depict the country’s history of press freedom has been labeled as leftist by the same organization that commissioned it, the National Press Club, as well as the Presidential Security Group, resulting in NPC’s bastardizing and vandalizing the mural, defacing some of the country’s known press freedom icons, and erasing in totality some very significant personalities and events.

Sensible debates have come up from this malfeasance of the NPC leadership, which have made the issue of censorship closer to the people. The unabated, institutionalized and systemic graft and corruption under the Arroyo regime has also been unveiled as the NPC has apparently shortchanged the artists by P200,000 according to the budget.

This act of censorship has stirred the critical and nationalist sense of the Filipino people. It has opened the eyes of artists that censorship is in fact an act of repression and only mirrors the economic, political and civil rights violations happening these days and further galvanized the artists to the broader concerns of the country.

The mural is a documentation of the Filipino people’s history and heroic tradition as witnessed by the artist. By defacing it, it is militancy that the present regime wants to erase and stifle. Defacing it is simply a depiction of the political repression that is happening in the broader sense. The crimes of the Arroyo regime speak of the number of victims of extra judicial killings, particularly writers, journalists and even the common tao who are critical of the administration. The artist, as a witness and seer, will not easily be threatened by this act of repression.

Indeed, the artists, writers and cultural workers can no longer remain silent and noncommittal on the continuing violation of the freedom of expression in the country. We can no longer just sit back and watch as our fellow countrymen are slowly being molded into numb, fearful individuals deprived of their integral right to life, liberty and dignity. We will not be reduced as mere spectators.


No to censorship! No to repression! Yes to expression!

ANATOMY OF A REVISED MURAL

(On the National Press Club- Neo-Angono Artists Collective Mural)

Painting over and revising an original art work of an artist by another is mortal sin. That is an artistic ethic that the National Press Club (NPC) failed to understand, much less respect, with regards to the mural they have commissioned the Neo-Angono Artists Collective to do.

The painting was revised so crudely, vandalized would be the more appropriate term. For example, the slosh of paint that lengthened the hair and created a beard on the figure representing Mr. Randy David defaced his personality? It is like dabbing a Hitler-moustache on a Gloria M. Arroyo portrait, only this revision could be accepted as a more accurate representation.

Censorship reeks in the revision of the alibata K tattoo on Andres Bonifacio’s left arm. NPC journalists would certainly know the meaning of the alibata K script. But the military could very likely read the script as subversive, considering its history of origin from American occupation troops which suppressed anything symbolizing Filipino nationhood.

Unfortunately, officials of the NPC succumbed and replaced the nationalistic symbol K (for Katipunan, the national liberation movement organization) with an arrow-pierced red heart (for love-struck) , an inane and insulting symbol to place at the arm of the figure representing our revolutionary hero, Andres Bonifacio. The alteration of the headline of the newspaper Jose Rizal is holding from "Press Freedom Fighter’s Son Abducted" to "Press Freedom Fight Is On" erases the historical context of the mural. A "Press Freedom Fight Is On" headline could date back to the propaganda movement of Rizal, Lopez Jaena, del Pilar and other writers who were exiled, imprisoned, and/or executed by the Spanish conquistadores. While Press Freedom in the headline "Press Freedom Fighter’s Son Abducted" is a segueway to show the current trend of
abduction of freedom fighters.

Equally questionable is the revision of the newspaper held by the central figure, which had on it a statement about the effects on press freedom of the Human Security Act (HSA), or the antiterror law. This was painted over with a bird in a cage, a symbolism used by our ancestors to represent colonial oppression. Symbolisms had to be used then
because any expression tending towards independence was unlawful. On the other hand, the HSA is a newly enacted law concocted by the ruling elite upon the inspiration of imperialist America, which is meant to suppress people struggling to break free from the bondage of neocolonialism.

Art is form and content, with stress on...and changing the form changes the content, as exemplified by the above. More than this elementary artistic consideration, art cannot be apolitical, like what NPC wants the mural to be. NPC should have realized that the theme they themselves have prescribed press freedom and/or threats to the press is extremely political. While the theme and Pres. Gloria Arroyo who unveiled the mural is a political contradiction.

Just like art, media cannot be apolitical nor not take sides. During this time of crisis and repression, freedom is asserted. It dies with fear and thrives on the courage of people taking the side of truth and justice. CAP11/06/07###

Concerned Artists of the Philippines

The Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) is an organization of writers, artists and cultural workers committed to the principles of freedom, justice and democracy. It was founded in 1983 to unite Filipino artists against the dictatorial regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos who imposed repressive laws that curtailed freedom of expression and enforced orders that victimized citizens with arrest and detention even without charges.

After February 1986, many of its members opted to work away from people’s and mass organizations. CAP’s activities waned until the group became virtually dormant.

On June 17, 2000, several CAP members, recognizing that conditions make it imperative for artists and cultural workers to renew their involvement in the people’s movement for justice, nationalism and democracy, met in Quezon City to initiate the revival of the organization.

Since then there has been no let-up in the CAP’s activities to promote artys and culture which are relevant to our people and their conditions, in order to countervail the onslaught of globalization and remnants of feudalism. We have likewise been in the forefront in the continuing fight for freedom of expression. Most of all, we are working with different sectors of society in the struggle for the people’s political and economic liberation.


Declaration of Principles

We hold that artists are citizens anmd must concern themselves not only with their art but also with the issues and problems confronting the country today.

We stand for freedom of expression and oppose all acts tending to abridge or suppress that freedom

We affirm that Filipino artists, in their exercise for freedom of expression, have the responsibility to do so without prejudice to truth, justice and the interest of the Filipino people.

We affirm that Filipino artists are workers in the field of culture and are entitled to just compensation for their labors, protection of their intellectual property, protection from unfair foreign competition and economic well-being in general.

We stand for the development of a genuine national culture responsive to the contemporary needs of the Filipino people.

Vision
A free egaslitarian, democratic and progressive society and

A nationalist, democratic, people-oriented, non-sexist, liberating and progressive culture.

Mission
Promotion of the social orientation of folk culture;

Transformation of the feudal and colonial content of traditional and polular culture into a scientific, democratic and progressive one;

Strengthening of the culture of resistance and struggle against oppression;

Enrichment of the artistic resources, styles, techniques, media and forms for a more potent art and culture;

Propagation of culture as the principal agent in the formation of values and humanization of society; and

Development of a cultural ideology to compliment political ideology for national identity and freedom.