In fight against 'resurgence of tyranny', Filipino artists vow to reclaim creative spaces for truth
MANILA, Philippines — In the face of concerted efforts to revise or even suppress Martial Law history, Filipino artists and cultural workers are banding together to reclaim and create new avenues for the truth and prevent what they said would be a "resurgence of tyranny" under a potential Marcos-Duterte administration in 2022.
On Tuesday, they launched Artists against Resurgence of Tyranny (ART), a collective of nine organizations and dozens of artists to "burn away the malignancy of Duterte and Marcos and sterilize their festering legacies."
"Our agenda includes advocacy for nationalism, democracy and social justice. We are committed to help empower the people through our creative works and collective efforts to keep the lifeblood of democracy alive," ART said.
Among them are visual artists, filmmakers, songwriters, writers, performing artists, art educators and cartoonists.
Multi-awarded playwright Boni Ilagan said the alliance was formed to "resist the tyranny as embodied in the candidacies of Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte." Supporters of the younger Marcos say that the abuses and corruption during the ousted dictator's decades in power should not be attributed to the son while others deny them altogether.
RESBAK or Respond and Break the Silence Against the Killings was formed in 2016, at the start of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term to hold the administration accountable "for its atrocities committed against the people, especially the poor."
Five years later, they found themselves at the forefront of yet another fight. "[W]ithout hesitation, we add our voices to call and join the alliance of artists against the tightening grip of Marcos and Duterte," they said.
Reclaiming creative digital spaces
But the Filipino artists acknowledged that there are facing an uphill battle.
False information spread online, including historical revisionism, has long been a lingering problem even before the coming 2022 national elections. Members of the Philippine press have also been suffering relentless attacks. These attacks, as well as statements from government officials, have helped erode the public’s trust in the media.
Visual artist Toym Imao said they know that the online space has become "a major battleground." But, as artists, they can be better content providers that create avenues for truth in various media that may be more effective than written words.
"We can have the ability to encapsulate very big concepts of democracy, about our rights into a few soundbites, certain lines of a song, an image created by a painter or a sculptor that says more than words. We can create avatars, and we have seen this," he said, referring to the "Tumindig" image created by artist Tarantandong Kalbo that created a wave of raised fist images flooding social media.
DAKILA has also launched a digital Martial Law museum that contains facts, including accounts of torture and other atrocities, about the Marcos dictatorship.
They also acknowledged that "virality" has become a tool in the elections.
But as creatives armed with persistence and innovation, DAKILA said they can explore the "realm" of the youth such as social media platform TikTok. "We will utilize what we have and innovate what we have so more people can relate," they said.
There is power in word of mouth too. Ilagan said that he has conversed with taxi drivers who have said they are considering Marcos because he is "what they have been seeing." He said he shared with them his own account of torture at the hands of the elder Marcos' men.
Amid all these, Ram Botero of RESBAK stressed that the conversations must continue.
"Educating each other and continuing the conversation of what is happening and when that discussion ends, the resistance ends," he said.
'More dangerous if we do nothing'
ART is just the latest alliance to join the opposition to the Marcos-Duterte tandem. Marcos’ bid even faces a number of legal challenges at the Commission on Elections.
In one of their latest statements, Marcos' spokesperson said the filing of disqualification suits against them is "part of the continued oppression" of the presidential aspirant. Continued criticism has also made Marcos the "underdog" that supposedly wins the voting population, as shown in recent surveys that they lead.
But this just another political propaganda and another lie being bandied about by Marcos.
Writer Antares Bartolome said the "underdog" claim is just a "bald-faced lie that should be interrogated".
For them, this is just another narrative they need to re-take. Art educator Grace Marie Lopez stressed that standing idly by and not making a stand against Marcos would be the riskier proposition.
"We keep on doing this because our aim is to educate, enlighten our spheres of influence as much as possible… and it really needs a lot from us. This elections needs a lot from us," Lopez said.
Professor Edru Abraham, founder of Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (Kontra-GaPi) raised: "What choice have we got?"
"We have to keep on doing what we’re doing. If we can do it with love, let’s do it with love. But if we have to do it with anger, so be it," he added.
Imao recalled the words of the late playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht: "In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times."
For ART coalition, this is why they gather. Imao said: "We want to sing about the dark times right now and this will define our generation."
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