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A Call to Artists / Llamado a los artistas

This is the letter that the folks from El Faro posted in today's newspaper, La Jornada. La Jornada is one Mexico City's largest papers. This letter demonstrates the pivotal role that El Faro takes in using culture as a tool to organize. For those of you that are new readers to my BLOG, El Faro is the cultural center that I am currently teaching at. It's located in Ixtapalapa, smack middle of a ton of housing projects. Many of the folks that signed this letter are in my class.

Llamado a los artistas La comunidad del Faro de Oriente invita a los trabajadores del arte y la cultura, artistas del pincel, la gubia y el spray, a los poetas, rimadores y escritores, a los bailarines, capoeristas y danzantes, a los actores y performers, a los músicos, cantantes, batuqueros, mc's y dj's, a los fotógrafos, videoastas y cineastas, a los galeristas, críticos y firmantes de desplegados con estilo, a los organizadores de festivales, conciertos y fandangos, a los promotores de centros culturales, cineclubes y antros, a todos los otros que creen y practican el arte, a dar su opinión, a hablar, a contarnos su plan de acción, a criticar, a encabritarse sobre el golpe de Estado anticipado, la burla a la justicia, la agresión a las libertades democráticas consumadas por el mal gobierno de Fox y el PRI.

Los esperamos en la Fábrica de Artes y Oficios Faro de Oriente el próximo sábado 23 de abril a las 12 horas.

Atentamente.

Liber Terán, Rafael Catana, Jesús Villaseca, Hugo Peláez, María Rivera, Mariano Andrade, Gerardo Pimentel, Oscar Lenin Fajardo, Luis Galicia, Javier Muñoz Castillo, Daniel Nava, Andrés Mendoza Cantú, Gisela Centeno, Christian Jardón, Marichuy Torres, Yesenia Flores, Juan Pablo Gómez, Alejandro Rincón Gutiérrez, Braulio Rosales, Macre, Alejandra Karina Cruz, Nancy Torres, María Hurtado Guzmán, Víctor Manuel Abundis, Juan Enrique Flores, Alfredo Cabrera, Josué Castro Torres, Hugo Armando Escobar, Martín González, Agustín Estrada, Argel Gómez, Benjamín González y los guardianes del Faro de Oriente José Angel Leyva y Carlos Payán

El Faro Classes 2nd Week

I am in the middle of my 3rd week of silkscreening classes at El Faro. I am learning so much from all of my students: Macre, Victor, Pablo, Esperanza, Maria, Daniel, Alejandra, Chaneke, Juan, & Sombra. All of the students in my class are prolific artists. Macre, who lives near Teotihuacan, is a graffwriter, stencilist, hip hop head, pot smoker, an overall chill brother with a lot talent. Then there's Victor, father of two, an older artist of El Faro. Victor's poster deals with theme of globalization. His image is that of a boxer who is on his knees with his head down, he is wearing a penache, the headdress that Aztec dancers wear. The poster says "Get up brother. Stand up to globalization." Pablo, whose woodcut I have in one of my posts, is a bad ass woodcut artist. He always laughs at me because I tell him he should be able to survive off selling his prints. He paints signs for a living. He is mad talented, and was even participating in a workshop with the Taller de Grafica Popular.

Esperanza is working on a print about the murders in 1968 at Tlatelolco, when the Mexican authorities fired into a peaceful crowd of demonstrators. Esperanza is one of the youngest in the workshop, but her work reminds me a lot of Rupert Garcia. The scene she is focusing on is when a child was shot dead. Maria is an older woman and she is workign on a print about the indigenous people of Mexico City. Although she is quiet, she is a hard worker and she absorbs tons of information. Daniel Nava is another great help in the class. He is a silkscreen artist, designer, logo developer. He is the one to usually teach the silkscreen taller. He's a mellow kick back guy, with eyes that always make him look like he is high. He listens to some great music, he is an eccentric one. He has not designed a poster yet, but I peeped what he was working on today...his piece deals with insanity. I told him that as long as he is in my class, he has to develop a political print that speaks to the masses, he responded that the politic is in his head. I told him this class is about developing political posters with statements, I am trying to push him to do create some shit that speaks to the people. His girlfriend, Alejandra, is a sweetheart, and I was happy to see that she works very independently from him, but in a funny harmony. She calls him "Mi Vida" which in English means "My Life."

Chaneke is a paper mache artist. He is always impeccably dressed with a nice hat. He wears an apron and a big smile. He is messy, but deliberately messey and so his messiness ends up looking good. You can see him in the pictures wearing a mask he made himself. The photo he took of himself is the centerpiece of his poster. Juan is a homie of Macre, he is developing a poster about the murders in Juarez. The pictures of the girl in the sand in the photo album were taken by him. Sombra (spanish for Shadow) makes me laugh because he always says ,"Yo hago lo que me diga mi maestra" which means "I do what my teacher says." He is a big help in the class and the best printer out of all my students. He can pull some sweet colors and does not leave funny ink patterns on the paper. I have designated him the official printer. He helps students who have difficulty pulling their own prints.

To get the full experience of my class, take a look at the photo album to the left.

Summer of Protest Awaits Mexico Over Mayor Case

By Brian Winter

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A long, hot summer of street protests may be in store for Mexico as the capital's combative leftist mayor fights a court case that could knock him out of the 2006 presidential race.

Many Mexicans are worried about political violence and Wall Street investors are also on edge as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has encouraged "massive civil disobedience" to oppose the minor charges he claims are a ploy to end his career.

The mayor has pleaded with his followers to be peaceful. But the public and investors are concerned about potential highway blockades, occupation of government buildings or other disruptions that could cause chaos and violence. "People are going to be sweating about this all summer," said Vitali Meschoulam, a Latin America strategist at HSBC investment bank in New York. "I don't think this case is anywhere near over."

Congress stripped Lopez Obrador of his legal immunity last week so he can face charges that he violated a court order in 2001 by building a road to a hospital over private land. The charges could force the mayor out of the 2006 race, in which polls show him to be a clear favorite. Lopez Obrador accuses President Vicente Fox and business leaders of leading the efforts to bar him.

"This is only just beginning," Lopez Obrador told his supporters recently. He is currently at his suburban home awaiting a court's arrest order and jail.

Mexico's stock market was unusually volatile last week, posting both its biggest one-day loss and gain of 2005, as investors tried to decipher how Lopez Obrador and his die-hard supporters would react in coming weeks.

"That man is crazy," said advertising executive Miguel Ramirez as he rushed to lunch. "Anything can happen here, OK? You put Lopez Obrador and a million people in the streets and God knows what you get."

WHITEWASH?
Some politicians and traders are declaring the political crisis over and are trying to move on. Reforma newspaper published a poll on Saturday asking: "What would the 2006 election look like without Lopez Obrador?" which drew a complaint from the mayor.

In his regular Saturday radio address, Fox spoke only of the Pope John Paul II's death and made no mention of Lopez Obrador.

"There's no question that 'official Mexico' is trying to whitewash this case and hope everybody forgets about it," said one foreign analyst on condition of anonymity.

Officials in Fox's government say that Mexico's stable economy, expected to grow about 4 percent this year, can withstand the political tensions. Foreign debt is relatively low, and a steady flow of investment and cash sent home by migrant workers keep the peso stable.

However, the prospect of a tense, slow-burning political crisis similar to Argentina in 2001 or Brazil in 2002 could scare off even the bravest investors, especially as rising U.S. interest rates take the shine off Mexican assets.

About 150,000 people took to Mexico City's streets in support of Lopez Obrador last week and another massive protest has been called for April 24. Meanwhile, small street protests led by members of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, popped up around Mexico City on Sunday. At one, hundreds of protesters formed a human chain stretching several blocks.

"All it takes is for one of these protests to go wrong," said Alfredo Coutino, an economist at the Center for Economic Forecasting of Mexico in Philadelphia. "Don't forget that the PRD has strong support in other states outside the capital. Those people might not listen to Lopez Obrador's request to be peaceful. And that's the problem here. When you get a tense situation, anything can happen."

Check out my photo album of the Lopez Obrador protests. You can see it on the left hand side of this BLOG.View this photo

Mexico City's leftist mayor Lopez Obrador is eliminated from Presidential Race

April 7, 2005: Over 250,000 Mexican citizens gathered in Mexico City's Zocalo Plaza to support the city's leftist mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as Congress decided to strip mayor of his official immunity so that he could stand trial in a very minor land dispute which was brought forth by his rival political parties. Lopez Obrador, of the leftist PRD political party, is mayor to one of the largest cities in the world, and has won the hearts of thousands of working class people. An overwhelming majority of Mexico's population believes that Lopez Obrador is being targeted by the two conservative parties, the PRI and the PAN, to eliminate him from the presidential race.

Statistics have shown that Lopez Obrador is a popular candidate and his presidency would mark a historic moment in which Mexico would be presided by a left wing candidate. His politics have drawn comparison's of Venezuela¹s Hugo Chavez. The prosecution of Lopez Obrador marks a significant moment in Mexico¹s history. From 1928 to 2000, Mexico was controlled by the PRI, a political party that held it¹s power through voter fraud, corruption, and at times even violence. It was not until five years ago that President Vicente Fox, of the conservative PAN party, broke the PRI's hold.

This event puts into question the legitimacy of the multiparty democracy that was born when Fox took office. Thousands of women, children, and elderly protestors came from distant villages to express their outrage with what they believe is a corrupt attempt to eliminate the popular mayor from the 2006 elections. If elected, Lopez Obrador would undoubtedly challenge the US on issues around free trade policies and spending on social projects. The Mexican Congress also voted today to fire Lopez Obrador from his position as mayor of Mexico City.

The New York times urged authorities to allow Mexican voters to make their decision on Lopez Obrador in the 2006 presidential election, while the Financial Times opined that exluding him from the race would reinforce supicions of Mexico's poorest that the political system is rigged against them.

I was at this protest and took some photos. I also did a call in to Hard Knock Radio on Friday, April 8, 2005. This show aired on Hard Knock Radio and can be found in the Hard Knock archives.

Dulces (Candies) Mexicanos

Shot at the Coyoacan market place. I was chillin on a Sunday afternoon and the place was packed. Check out the actual photo album to the left.

Estria's Pieces in Neza

...from Mexico City... This whole city is bombed. There is graf everywhere u turn. My man Estria was out here chillin with me this past weekend and he painted with Sketch out in ciudad Neza. They call Neza the Mexican Bronx, because it is where hip hop emerged here in Mexico. Estria represented with a piece about a strong woman of color. You can view the graff pics in the photo albums.

Pablo from El Faro

Many of ya'll know I am out here teachign a 1 month residency in Mexico City. I am teachign at a cultural center called FARO de Oriente. FARO is located in Ixtapalapa, one of the most poorest areas of the entire city. I was walking through the FARO's gallery and I came across the woodcuts of Pablo Lopez. This brother's artwork is super tite. He ended up enrolling in my screenprint political poster workshop.

Ambulantes

A vendor out in Coyoacan on a Sunday afternoon.

A Bird will read your luck

Coyoacan. I paid 10 pesos so that Pepito the little birdy could read me my luck. Pepito is a little bird that comes out of his little pad and picks out a fortune from the box.

Sketch Piece

This piece is by Sketch, one of the more well known writers out here in Mexico City. Estria painted with him over the weekend.