This is part of the online version of this Saturday’s edition (11) of Jamil Chad’s newsletter. In the full subscriber-only newsletter, the columnist also writes about how agribusiness and banks are aligned with Brazilian foreign policy, Brazil’s recommendation to countries not to increase subsidies for agriculture, and the delay in deciding patents for vaccines against covid-19. . Click here to receive the newsletter and access the full content.
Dear Anita,
“I woke up in the morning with the curfew. God, I’m a prisoner too. I couldn’t recognize the people around me. They were wearing brutality uniforms.”
It was the lyrics to this Bob Marley song that convinced UNESCO to declare reggae a World Heritage Site.
Beyond an artistic recognition, the Unesco decision saw the music of the Caribbean island as a tool of denunciation. The organization “his contribution to international reflection on issues such as injustice, resistance, love and the human condition highlights the intellectual, sociopolitical, spiritual and sensory power of this element of cultural heritage.”
In 1973, another song by Marley would gain status as one of the main protest songs of the second half of the 20th century. continue to struggle”.
Music from the ghettos of Jamaica became a reflection of a country that could not provide suitable living conditions for its environment despite the end of slavery. Reggae has become a way of expressing this disappointment.
Anitta, I am writing this letter to you in the midst of a heated debate about our future in Brazil. If your art cannot be described as “disabled,” at least to most orthodox, the truth is that you have become part of the complex and turbulent Brazilian political and social scene.
Defiant, you have displaced the collective imagination in a sexist country that doesn’t even know how to pronounce the word misogyny. Without compromising, you openly declare that you are against oppression. All.
You are still causing us to experience the typical earthquake of a patriarchal society. Is there a way to be strong and sensual on stage and live in public?
Your answer is politics. Yes, with a capital “P”.
I always asked myself: Where are the borders of politics? I confess that I do not know them. Where does art end and politics begin? Is silence – often a crime – really tantamount to not taking a political stance? The truth is that even the artists who fought for the autonomy of their creations were acting essentially as activists.
Fascists were well aware of the power of art to affect hearts and minds. The truth is – some have already said – dictatorships also produce good songs.
But there are also artists who choose to save humanity in scenarios of injustice. Those who seek the courage of the struggle for liberation in brushstrokes, chords or choreography.
If dictatorships soon realized the power of art, the truth is that it is resistance. Even when it’s not militant or partisan. When asked if their art was meaningful, surrealists here in neighboring Zurich answered with another question: Does a war with millions of dead make sense? It is art that shouts a message.
Who would dare to say that in front of Picasso’s canvas he would not hear Guernica’s cries of pain? What can we say about the work of the Jewish artist Peter Kien, which has become real documents of the horrors of the ghettos. He was to be cowardly killed at Auschwitz at the age of 25.
In music, the story is no different. Imperfect bard Woody Guthrie borrowed a phrase from the syndicates and wrote on the guitar cover of each performance: “This Machine Kills Fascists.” Pete Seeger took the stage to popularize an anthem in the US civil rights movement: “We’ll Overcome”.
In our environment, identity is forged and shaped by Hip-hop, a movement that lends its rhythm to giving voice to a part of society that is deliberately placed in turmoil, violated, and ignored.
Without a “political art”, your busy personality also allows you to fulfill a destructive role. Breaking the oppressive order. And that’s why it’s so frustrating.
Artist who uses her global exposure to make millions understand the strengths of society. The personality that deconstructs false certainties consolidated in a world of uncertainties.
You are helping to push the boundaries in your own way. If Frida Kahlo’s or Mary Kelly’s feminism has shattered paradigms, you speak of liberation when you take certain stances.
Salvation cannot be a picture on the wall. There has to be an action. And that’s what many fear. Liberation from the judgment of another person. Financial, sexual, body, soul and destiny liberation.
A few months ago, I met Ai Weiwei and asked him what the community’s immune system was. And she answered: freedom of expression and an independent voice. “If we don’t have that, we can’t control the future,” he said.
For many of you, you are part of the struggle to control the future and use the conquered global megaphone to influence millions of people. And that scares a lot of people. What a relief.
Democratic greetings,
jamil
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