In response of the systematic and offensive
political persecution and
the intolerance that for various years have been going on at the
University
of Chile's Fine Art School (actions promoted and spurred by
reactionary,
totalitarian an pro Pinochet sectors) on March 98, the Mail Art
Exhibit
"Stop: liberty, diversity and pluralism" was held at
the Santiago's
Museum of Contemporary Art, in defense of the constant attacks by
sectors
in power. As a result, Humberto Nilo, the Director of the U. de
Chile's
Fine Art School and organizer of the event, was dismissed from
his position
along with the Museum's Director and the Curator of the exhibit:
Mrs. Rosario
Letelier and Mr. Ernesto Munioz.
The brillant track records of the dismissed wich includes their
strong
defense of Human Rights during the chilean dictatorship;
recuperating
Guillermo Deisler memoirs, and hundreds of other artistic
manifestation in defense
of Human Rights and the dissemination of the best in Contemporary
Art,
were not taken into account.
It is paradoxical, not to mention denigrating, that after 17
years of
military dictatorship in Chile, and after reaching (as certain
oficialist
sectors proclaim) democratic and social harmony levels
worthy of being
emulated by the rest of the continent; we have to experience the
sad spectacle
in wich cultural spaces are closed through economic
strangulation, harrassment
and dismissal of distinguished artists, simply because they don't
share
the "official line" and open or covert censorship of
critical manifestations
on what's established and current.
These cases, are not only attacks on people of proven
professional and
artistic excellence, they constitute a frontal attack on the
principles
that ground culture, in addition to being a crass outrage on the
libertarian
aspirations of an broad sector of the national and international
artistic
community. It is time we sponsor and stimulate the global
coscience among
all those artists who believe on the diversity and pluralism in
art, to
confront outrages such as that have just taken place in Chile. It
has to
be done now, since with the sophisticated strategies for
manipulation and
control, in the hands of the new inquisitioners of culture...
tomorrow
could be too late!
The intolerance and desdain for cultural diversity are achieving
strategic
permanence in those places that have historically been destinated
to
protecting diversity. Perhaps that's why there's been a strong
push to silence them.
What about critical view and reflection? Or is it that we are
facing the
beginning of a world regime with a cultural policy that is
predominently
non-critical, blind and "light" aligned with the
purposes of Neo-liberalism?
Faced with the fear that the arrogance and brutality of the
chilean
regime could put in peril the future of Humberto Nilo, Rosario
Letelier
and Ernesto Munioz, we begin this World Campaign to repudiate
censorship
and personal attacks against any artist, regardless of whether he
practices
Mail Art, anywhere on the face of the Earth, requesting from
everyone to
send-in expressions of solidarity and rejection against all sorts
of discriminatory
policies on cultural matters, so that in some way, their
offenders can't
get away with their threats unscathed.
Protest against the attack to the Chilean artists to the following e-mails:
Humberto Nilo Saavedra
Calama 8435, La Cisterna, Santiago, CHILE
tel. 5581888
hnilo@hotmail.com
Presidente de la República: Sr. Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle
Dirección postal/postal address: Palacio de la Moneda, Av.
Libertador
Bernardo O´´Higgins, Santiago, Chile. Fax: 6387332
Email: webmaster@presidencia.cl
Presidente de la Cámara de Diputados: Sr. Gutemberg Martínez
Dirección postal/postal address: Av. Pedro Montt s/n ,
Valparaíso, Chile.
Fax: 6874152
Email: mctoro@congreso.cl or lgonzale@congreso.cl (secretarias de
Gabinetes)
Presidente del Senado: Sr. Andrés Zaldivar Larraín
Dirección postal/postal address: Av. Pedro Montt s/n,
Valparaíso, Chile.
Fax: 6326603
Email: gabinete@congreso.cl
or presenst@congreso.cl
(secretarias de
Gabinetes)
Rector de la Universidad de Chile: Sr. Luis Riveros
Dirección postal/postal address: Av. Libertador Bernardo
O´Higgins 1058
Fax: 6781012
Email: lriveros@abello.dic.uchile.cl
Ministro de Educación: Sr. José Pablo Arellano
Dirección postal/postal address: Av. Libertador Bernardo
O´Higgins 1317,
Santiago,
Chile. Fax: 6716164
Email: secremin@neruda.mineduc.cl
Agencia UPI: Sr. Rodrigo Bustamante(editor)
Dirección postal/ postal address: Nataniel 47, piso 9, Santiago,
Chile.
Fax: 6986605
Agencia ORBE: Sra. Marisol Freire (editor)
Dirección postal/ postal address: Phillips 56, oficina 66,
Santiago, Chile.
Fax: 6396826
