Politicians Are Not Known To Be Often Swayed By Art And Women Have A Unique Role And Power In The Arts And Human Rights World – Tom Block, IHRAF Founder

 

POLITICIANS ARE NOT KNOWN TO BE OFTEN SWAYED BY ART AND WOMEN HAVE A UNIQUE ROLE AND POWER IN THE ARTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS WORLD – TOM BLOCK, IHRAF FOUNDER

 

Tom Block is an artist, writer and activist best known for the development and implementation an activist art theory, “Prophetic Activist Art.” His activist work includes the Human Rights Painting Project (www.humanrightspaintingproject.com), Shalom/Salaam Project (www.tomblock.com/11shalom/index.php), Response to Machiavelli Project and Cousins Public Art Project (www. tomblock.com/10cousins/index.php), as well as his Heretical Paintings. He also developed and produced the first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival (www.humanrightsartfestival.com), an international event that took place April 2010 in Silver Spring, MD. In this Interview with Wole Adedoyin, President, Nigerian Chapter of the International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF), he shared with him few facts about his path as an activist artist, and founder of the International Human Rights Art Festival.

 

WA: YOU ARE THE FOUNDER OF IHRAF, WHAT ACTUALLY LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF IHRAF?

 

TB: We live in a world of strife, and the artist-activist often chooses a path of offering more strife — with oppositionality, righteous anger, creative expressions of disgust and other artistic 
means which, while morally just and often factually accurate, do little — in my opinion — to actually change behavior and legislation.  I desired to create a forum where the gentle but 
powerful forces of beauty and engagement might make inroads into the halls of power.  As Lao Tzu said: "There is nothing more soft and yielding than water, but for dissolving the inflexible,
there is nothing more powerful.”  We base our work on connecting creative change-makers to decision makers, and expand the circle of “us” who is fighting to make the world a better place.

 

WA:  HOW IS HIRAF USING ART TO ADVANCE HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD?

 

TB: The IHRAF uses a variety of strategies to advance the cause of human rights around the world.  They are:

• Providing transparency and safety to artists and activists on the front lines of the struggle for human rights.  Often, artists-at-risk have said that one thing that can help secure their safety in more repressive situations is a wide audience, and one that helps protect them from government thugs and security forces who might otherwise act with nefarious purpose, if they thought they could act without witness.
• Providing an international forum to artists and activists who might otherwise be overlooked.
• Partnering with government officials, politicians, non-art activists and other NGO’s to create a spirit force, and infiltrate it into the highest echelons of power.
• Support youth voices through a growing series of initiatives to empower these rising leaders as they prepare to become tomorrow’s leaders.

WA: WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT OF IHRAF?

 

TB: Working directly with great activists — those who raise their belief in the highest human ideals above their concern for their own safety.  The IHRAF has partnered with Omoyele Sowore (Nigeria), Wei Jingsheng (China), Mbizo Chirasha (Zimbabwe), Razack Buwaso Ibrahim (Uganda) and even an American, Reality Winner.  As I have noted, words such as human rights, justice, freedom and democracy are sounds that can just as easily be uttered by a Donald Trump, Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni (Uganda) and Xi Jinping as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela.  These words only become real, when one of these great activists is willing to risk their safety to bring them to life.

 

WA: TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE IN HUMAN RIGHTS ART?

 

TB: I have nearly three decades as an activist artist.  I began my work by exploring spiritual thinkers from the three great Abrahamic paths through painting, back in the 1990s.  Then, I explored how these ideals might if applied to the real world — that is to say, what happens to people who operate in the social and political worlds with the passion, faith and determination of great mystics.  This led me to paint a series of portraits of human rights defenders around the world, working in conjunction with Amnesty International.  This body of work became the Human Rights Painting Project.  This allowed me to see the power of art to infiltrate and affect the social and political worlds — as I worked with major organizations such as Amnesty International and the AFL-CIO national labor union.  I also met many activist artists who had passion, talent and creativity, but not a lot of audience.  So I got the idea of founding the International Human Rights Art Festival, to concentrate all of this positive energy working for the common good.

 

WA: HAS THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS CHANGED USING ART?

 

TB: An article in the New York Times (Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts) noted: “Artists play a distinctive role in challenging authoritarianism. Art creates pathways for subversion, for political understanding and solidarity among coalition builders. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value...Authoritarian leaders throughout history have intuited this fact and have acted accordingly.”  That is to say, a human right might be most visible when it is taken away.  As the founding director of the International Human Rights Art Festival, I have worked with numerous people who have had their creativity truncated and their lives threatened due to their art.  Zimbabwean poet-in-exile Mbizo Chirasha has moved clandestinely around southern Africa, sometimes actively pursued by the Zimbabwean security apparatus due to his writings.  Ugandan poet-in-exile Razack Buwaso Ibrahim watched his editor beaten and arrested, and then fled Uganda to Kenya where he was jailed (his relationship with us helped get him released) and then he moved to Tanzania.  Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng spent 18 years in jail due to his creation of the “Democracy Wall” writings, and since his release due to international pressure, has said he will always work with artists, due to the fact that in his darkest hour, they were the only ones standing by him.  And we worked on many occasions with Nigerian writer and activist Sowore Omoyele, who was tortured as a college student and has since spent his time fighting for human rights in his home country.  Artists lionizing him and his activist work, he assured, helped him rebuild his sense of self after being tortured in Nigeria and watching some of his best friends killed.  

I think art moves beyond being a “human right,” to being a central aspect of the human character, the one human act which points to the spirit of every human soul, and not just a believer in this or that political or religious system.

 

WA: IN WHAT WAY IS IHRAF CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROWTH OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA?

 

TB: We are fortunate to have an expanding footprint in Africa.  Not only have we initiated the IHRAF Nigerian Secretariat, but we have supported poets-in-exile Mbizo Chirasha (Zimbabwe) and Razack Buwaso Ibrahim (Uganda).  Additionally, we participated in the SOTAMBE International Film and Arts Festival (Kitwe, Zambia, 2019) and have partnered with other groups in Burundi, Tanzania, South Africa and around the continent.  We hope to bring the IHRAF to Africa when we are past this Covid pandemic!

 

WA: AS A FOUNDER AND PROMOTER OF ART IN HUMAN RIGHTS, WHAT KINDS OF OBSTACLES DO YOU FACE?

 

TB:  a large, international human rights/art organization is a tall order.  We face the usual structural concerns of person-power, funding and the like.  We are fortunate in that — so far — we have met with little or no political or social resistance.

 

WA:  HOW DO YOU DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS IN OTHER COUNTRIES?

 

TB: We have been fortunate in that as our profile grows, we have many groups approach us, from the Lawyers for Human Rights group in Paris to UNESCO-RILA in Glasgow, Scotland.  Additionally, as we meet more and more like-minded activist creators, they often introduce us to new potential partners.

 
WA:  WHAT ROLE DO WOMEN PLAY IN IHRAF?

TB: Women have a unique role and power in the arts and human rights world.  We have sponsored several “Celebration of Women” live performance events; most of our Board, Staff and Volunteers are women and we highlight the power of women through our IHRAF Publishes literary magazine and other platforms on a regular basis.  

 

WA: IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ARE THE GREATEST NEEDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ART?

 

TB: I think there are two great needs: one is exposure and audience, and the other is access to those in power.  Politicians are not known to be often swayed by art, but I think there is a strong possibility to change that, and to use art — through a growing constituency — to change legislation, support marginalized people and create a stronger platform for real social justice.

 

WA:   HOW WOULD YOU BOLSTER HUMAN RIGHTS ART LITERACY?

 

TB: Through classes, workshops and hands-on engagement.  The best way to learn is by doing, and involving school children in activist-art projects would open a new and important world to them, and affect them throughout their lives.

 

WA:   HOW DO YOU PRIORITIZE MULTIPLE PROJECTS WHEN THEY ALL SEEM EQUALLY IMPORTANT? 

 

TB: The IHRAF is very fortunate in that — as the Hasidic Rabbi MIkhail said — I have found that I never needed something until I already had it.  For instance, our IHRAF Publishes Literary Magazine is getting very important, and too large for me to handle, so just at this point, we had a wonderful Editor appear, who is taking over and growing that as its own initiative.  In the same way, you came to me and suggested beginning the IHRAF Nigerian Secretariat, which is amazing, as Nigeria is the country with our single largest number of Facebook followers!  So, as we grow, we are finding that projects attract passionate people at just the right time — and so, we don't have to “prioritize”.  We do them all at the same time!

 

Woman Scream Festival’s Projects Encourage Women To Write, To Create, To Showcase Their Talents And Change The World Using Art – Jael Uribe - Woman Scream Festival Founder

 

WOMAN SCREAM FESTIVAL’S PROJECTS ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO WRITE, TO CREATE, TO SHOWCASE THEIR TALENTS AND  CHANGE THE WORLD USING ART – JAEL URIBE - WOMAN SCREAM FESTIVAL FOUNDER

 

Jael Uribe is a writer, storyteller, poet and painter. She is the creator of the female poetic foundation named Women Poets International. She is considered the initiator of the Woman Scream International Poetry and Arts Festival, a chain of events celebrated by poets, artists and cultural associations worldwide, to honor women and against women violence during the month of March. In this Interview with Wole Adedoyin, President, Nigerian Chapter of the International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF), she shared with him some facts surrounding her life, art activism and literary career.

WA: YOU ARE THE FOUNDER OF THE WOMEN POETS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT, WHAT ACTUALLY LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MOVEMENT?

 

JU: It was my own personal quest to find talented women writers all over the world that were using words as a healing process. Being confined in bed, years ago, due to illness and using poetry as a means to exorcise pain, I developed curiosity and started to seek for those female writers that were dealing with similar processes and that were sharing their poetry online seeking for an audience, just like me.

 

First, I created a page on Facebook to share these talented women's work. Then, I started making poetry calls and contests, then we made our first anthology. What was meant to be just a page, became a movement due to the great support of women that joined in Europe and Latin America. Then we reached abroad when we created the Festival Grito de Mujer (Woman Scream Festival), a place where all these women that became part of the movement, could emerge as cultural leaders and coordinators of their own physical poetry events, serving as platform to showcase female talented poetess on their own cities, instead of just one page.

 

 

WA: HOW IS THE WOMEN POETS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT USING ART AND POETRY TO ADVANCE WOMEN DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD?

 

JU: In 2011, we created the Woman Scream Festival not only as an open door to women poets but also, as an event with a sense of cause and a social mission beyond our own personal interests to become the voice of abused and mistreated women and families destroyed due to domestic violence. We decided to educate and advocate through arts. Instead of just making a poetry reading, we chose to communicate and deliver a message to those in moments of need: Women with low self-esteem, women of talent who didn’t really realize their own inner value. We encouraged them to write, to create, to show themselves, to speak up, as well as helping on their international promotion through our collective projects. We have also incorporated through Woman Scream Festival all genders and all arts, as means to target a bigger audience. In time men and children were incorporated in the cause, making our work more inclusive, reaching all other communities.

 

We believe only by uniting, we can reach the violence’s free society we seek for, especially the one affecting women, girls and families all over the world. We welcome anyone with any special talent to support the cause in any way they can and to help us spread our message further.  

 

 

WA: WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT OF THE WOMEN POETS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT?

 

JU: The Woman Scream Festival (Grito de Mujer) is our pride and joy. Being recognized by the world, awarded internationally and having been able to share our vision with people in around 70 countries, celebrating over 1,000 events worldwide, uniting volunteers and institutions in solidarity with our cause, has been the most amazing achievement we have ever conquered so far. We are coming for more!

 

WA: TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE IN WOMEN ART AND POETRY?

 

JU: I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old. Motivated by long hours reading the books my father kept on his many bookshelves. I never knew what poetry was all about, until I encountered it at school, then decided to take it seriously before graduating from college. I began getting involved in cultural events a few years after I began creating my projects and ever since, poetry has been the only language I know. I have achieved some poetry awards and recognition for my involvement in human rights advocacy through the projects I’ve developed. There is very little time to create when you get involved so much to help others find their expression, however, poetry has always been my drawing board and so has art.

 

Having faced a very hard transition to adulthood, poetry saved my life “literally”, shaped the harsh, rebel and dark young girl I was and turned her into a Phoenix. That was exactly the type of experiences and expression I started looking for when I found my movement, getting to know women who were creating due to traumatic experiences and turning them into any form of art.  I wasn’t in contact with female arts or poetry before that, I was facing my own personal process of understanding my own poetry and my own artistic expression as a designer, painter and artisan.

 

The work of women in poetry came later on, after I began to work with the Women Poets International Movement. I met women in arts two years later, after I started Grito de Mujer (Woman Scream Festival). Being a leader and creator of such a movement, gave me the impulse to improve and become a better poet and moreover, a better artist as I encouraged other women to do the same.

 

 

WA: WHERE IS ART AND POETRY TODAY IN TERMS OF WOMEN DEVELOPMENT?

 

JU: There’s so much we have achieved as women in arts and poetry compared to the past! but I certainly believe it's still not enough. The path of women in any stage of society has been literally paved by the blood of those who fought and gave their lives to make these changes happen and I feel women haven’t yet taken full advantage of the enormous space there is, men are still ahead and they are usually the most on any list. Until we reach at least half of the names highlighted not due to a quote but, as fruit of our talents, there will still be a lot we’ll need to do. I admit there is more openness of space for female expression nowadays, thanks to feminist movements such as mine but, the women names reaching an international level of recognition in art, poetry or any other, are still too little to consider. It’s time to change that!

 

 WA:  HAS THE SITUATION OF WOMEN CHANGED USING ART?

 

JU: If you mean by change, that women have achieved anything by expression themselves using art, I must say: YES! We haven’t changed as many laws as we should, we haven’t stopped women violence nor have changed the mind of abusive men but hey! How many sleeping consciences have we awakened? How many women have been saved? How many deaf hears have we unclogged ever since we all began screaming louder? We have made a difference in the world, and I mean all female movement around the globe making pressure to make this change occur. Yes, we have opened our eyes. Yes, we have regained self-esteem, respect and we have moved some important walls and yes, there is much more we can and will achieve if we remain united raising our voices.

 

WA:  IN WHAT WAY IS THE WOMEN POETS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROWTH OF WOMEN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA?

 

JU: The same way we have done for women in every country we take our mission: this is an opportunity! We open an international door through collective projects but it’s up to women to cross. Woman Scream is just a platform, it is just the base that seeks to make them strong enough to raise their voices. There are many other resources out there for women to further advance, what happens later and what they do with the support given, it’s up to them.  

 

 

WA: AS A FOUNDER AND PROMOTER OF WOMAN ART ACTIVISM, WHAT KINDS OF OBSTACLES DO YOU FACE?

 

JU: A lot. You might think it is monetary, as this cause is only sustained by volunteer’s love but no. It is the tendency to sabotage and the lack of moral support that should not exist in such a beautiful art world. Sadly, many of these obstacles are imposed by women themselves, those we seek to reach. We do this to add a little more to the feminist fight around the world, to open a space in art for women of talent to grown, to be known however, we’ve encountered women sabotage each other sometimes, diminishing their own sisters, who only want to build their own path to shine. How can we grow, seek for equality and change, if we dig a hole for other women to fall as we walk the freedom path?

 

Sometimes, we find more support in men that are part of our cause and more resistance among our own womankind. It’s sad! That behavior only draws all female movements advances back.

 

WA: WHAT HAS BEEN THE HALLMARK OF YOUR TENURE AS THE FOUNDER OF THE WOMEN POETS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT?

 

JU: I believe the use of modern technology into the promotion and growth of our project that began in the Dominican Republic and spread all over the world thanks to nowadays tools.

 

 

WA: YOU ARE AN EFFECTIVE FEMALE LEADER. WHAT DRIVES YOU?

 

 

JU: I believe results speak for themselves. I believe if I had inspired any other woman with my dreams to achieve hers,  that makes me an effective leader. There were only 400 women poets in our database when I began the Women Poets International Movement, now there are over 10,000 artists, women and men. We were only 200-300 followers in our Spanish fans page when we began, now there are over 20,000 plus, the thousands of followers in our festival’s pages. Our festival was only “Grito de Mujer” in Spanish in 201 now, it is translated into English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and others (Woman Scream, Cri de Femme, Grido di Donna, Grito de Mulher, Schrei Der Frau, etc.,).

 

Not everything is about how much you make but about how much difference you can make with what you do, how many others you can inspire. What are you doing to be the change you wish to see in the world?

 

WA: WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNGER WOMEN AND GIRLS?

 

JU: We have had many events throughout the years focusing on young women and girls. They always have been my favorites. As I have been called to share my poetry for girls on poor communities, my message to them has always been the same:

 

“Study and learn. Do not depend on a man to call you a princess nor to build a castle for you. Build your own castle, be your own queen. Don’t wait for no one to show you you’re valuable, you’re pretty and should know your own worth. We, as women have a harder job in this society, we need to be the example for those who will come after us, may our lives serve as an example of strength and courage, may others see you as the girl who conquers now, the woman she will become.”

 

WA: AS SOMEONE WHO HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMBINED FAMILY LIFE AND CAREER ADVANCEMENT, WHAT ARE THE KEY LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED?

 

 

JU: -I have learned that nothing is easy: Even to convince your family that what you’re doing benefits them too it's hard to achieve. I did and do my part to predicate my example of courage and fight in spite of rough times.

 

-Nothing comes for granted: I have fought hard to conquer everything I have set as a goal for me and still wonder what’s next for me.

 

-Never stop and never remove your eyes from your goal: No matter how cloudy the sky might seem, stars are there, no matter if you can’t see them.

 

-Love yourself: Never stop believing.

 

 

 

WA: WHAT DOES THE WORD FEMINIST MEAN TO YOU?

 

JU: It is just a word. I’m a womanist, I believe in the fight for our rights as women and I believe no word should define who we are but women. Some words are vandalized by the minds of those who seek to put us down, those who think we haven’t earned our place so far. I am a woman, I guess I’m more drawn to that word.

 

 

WA: WHAT IN YOUR LIFE HAS BROUGHT OR GIVEN YOU THE GREATEST SATISFACTION OR FULFILLMENT?

 

JU: Knowing that I’ve achieved most everything I wanted in life and conquered old fears. Being proud of being me!

 

 

WA:  LOOKING BACK, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? WHAT WOULD YOU DO AGAIN?

 

JU: I would have stopped worrying for unimportant things, paying less attention to those who tried to stop me and at that, at some point threatened to stop me from advancing in my goals.

 

If I have to sacrifice myself to build what I’ve built, like I’ve done all these years, I would have done it again!,

 

 

 

WA: WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE CULTURAL HEROINES? WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT THEM?

 

JU: Any feminine figure that throughout history has conquered a better place for us women, is my favorite heroine. I believe the role in society of all of them has been key to reach the spot in which we are now. It is hard to pick a side!