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