Monday, June 17, 2013

Every Right

We help the CBLDF every chance we get, to make sure people have freedom of speech so they can express themselves if they're artists, and so they can help spread the word created by others if they're publishers, retailers, bookstores or libraries.
We create stories to talk about subjects we think should be discussed. Most of the time, they're works of fiction.
Every now and then, they talk about our times.

Last week, we saw our city (São Paulo) become what looked like a war zone, with the extreme violent police response to a public manifestation. Violence calls for more violence, and by the end of a very long thursday night many people were hurt for no good reason, wrongly arrested and terrorized by the police force. Add many acts of vandalism to the mix and suddenly you've lost sight of what people were there for in the first place: for their right to complain and express their opinions.
A new manifestation will happen this monday. My brother and I will be there as part of those who believe in peaceful, reasonable gathering. We believe in people's right to have an opinion and we've turned our opinions, as usually happens, in stories.




3 comments:

Dan said...

Humble and powerful work.

Thanks for your art, guys.

DWJ

Unknown said...

I live in the United States, so sometimes it's easy for me to forget that not everyone has the same rights, freedoms, and privileges as I do. I never get worried that what I write or say will land me in jail. I never worry about my creativity being silenced. No one tries to edit me or delete my words. I really believe in what you're saying in this post -- even though I've never had to defend this right I was so freely given, I recognize how important it is to do so. Thank you for sharing your story.

Paul said...

How are things over there now? Over here in England it's all gone quiet in the news.

Keep telling your stories, we make our world by the stories we tell ourselves and each other.