It is my duty as an artist and my job as a worker in the state of maine and my job as an American, and my job as a human being to stand against Governor Paul LePage. My stance is that if you, LePage, want to take down the labor mural I will put it up a hundred times.
If you do not know what I am talking about, I will explain. I have been caught up in a whirlwind of political excitement here in Portland Maine and have not had the time to blog about all the fun. Not to mention my laptop broke. Regardless to say I wrote on my art blog a week ago that the Governor of Maine, Paul LePage, should never take down that mural. The mural I am speaking of, is a mural of the history of labor painted by Judy Taylor.
The Governor of Maine, Paul LePage, has been making the news for his insensitive and rude comments not to mention signing horrendous policies and cutting funding on basic human rights but he has made the most impact by removing a mural. When he decided to illegally take down a fantastic mural because it was too 'pro worker, and not pro business enough' it pissed off a lot of people. As many of you know, I have only lived in Maine for 6 months, and I already take pride in this state. If the Governor wants to disrespect the working class of Maine and kick them while they are down, you Lepage are kicking the working class of America and the working class of the entire world in the gut at the same time. I strongly disagree with censorship of art, and feel strongly that our history as workers needs to be more present and represented in the world around us. Taking down Judy Taylor's mural is the exact opposite of what a Governor in America should be doing right now. Workers are being treated unfairly right now in 2011, and this is a pattern that has been repeated since forever (forever = in the history of human beings).
I stand with the working people of Maine; I stand against Governor Paul Lepage. If you, LePage, want to take down the labor mural I will put it up a hundred times.
I'll start with stickers and murals, and I have friends who happen to be workers and artists, and they have friends, and they are armed with stickers and murals. And pretty soon this mural you took down Governor LePage, this mural is a walking breathing army of workers following you around. The mural will be everywhere. It is our history, our fathers and mothers, our grandmas and grandpas, our great grandmas and grandpas, the workers that paved the way for us, we ARE ALL that mural. The mural is everywhere. We ARE the mural.
I speak for everyone when I say, "Put the mural back up!". However, what we mean by put the mural back up, is that you, Governor LePage; you need to physically put the Judy Taylor mural back on the walls of the Department of Labor but you also need to apologize for your actions, and give the working class the respect that we deserve. When I say 'respect' I mean you need to start signing policies that provide health care, education, housing assistance, human rights! You need to starting working for us, or get the hell out of office.
6 comments:
not to be insensitive about the mural, but as one of my good friends put it:
"All of the wars we are fighting (and subsequent deaths), jobs leaving the country, people losing their homes and a redistribution of wealth for the wealthy and we are angry about a fucking mural.
Distraction 101."
I agree. I have talked to multiple people that feel the mural is a distraction, or just not an important issue. I think anything for us to rally around is a good thing. Sometimes you have to start small, and sometimes the small things are the big things. The mural may be a small thing, but never count out that it may be the little zap that awakens the giant. Also, never overlook that the people that are mad about the mural generally have been mad about the wars, poverty, and wealth inequalities for years. Just because we are mad about those things, doesnt make us less mad about mural. Any fuel is good fuel right about now.
I disagree that this is a distraction. I see this as the poetic embodyment of exactly what is wrong with our country today.
When the fascist Roman empire invaded and occupied another nation, the first thing they do is tear down symbols of national identity and replace them with their own. They do this to say "we've won, stop fighting."
When the nazi's invaded and occupied another nation, the first thing they did was tear down symbols of national identity and replace them with their own. They did this to say, "we've won, stop fighting."
When the USA invaded and occupied Iraq, the first thing we did was tear down symbols of national identity and replace them with american flags. We did this to say, "we've won. Stop fighting."
In the war on the working class, that is exactly what Paul LePage has done, whether he realizes it or not.
One must realize, however, that Paul LePage isn't that smart. He isn't thinking about poetic moves to crush the will of the working class. He is nothing more than an obedient attack dog for the Koch Brothers. He is a useful idiot, who has found his way to the seat of power through a broken electoral system.
I think it's also important to not let this vitriol for the GOP turn into pro-democrat sentiment. They are just as guilty, and have just as much blood on their hands in this perpetual war against working people.
Right now Obama is appointing Wall Street executive after Wall Street executive to his cabinet. He has kept most of George W Bush's staff. Obama, with the difference of a few key social issues, has been a continuation of George W Bush's economic policies.
So long as we keep bouncing between two heads of a Wall Street monster, we are doomed to continue, by our own hands, the economic violence against ourselves and others around the world, by the monied elite of Wall Street.
Seems to me that the removal of this mural is on par with the burning of holy books and flags. It was an enormous act of disrespect to a specific group of people. It was totally unnecessary and served no purpose toward making the world a better place.
To paraphrase Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. " This is pure bullying, totally undemocratic, and if not stopped now, will be standard operating procedure for this administration. Around the country, educators and parents are trying to stamp out bullying. How can we teach the children, when the head of our state is setting the worst example possible? And it's an insult to Maine history and its workers, past and present. It's also an insult to art and artists. If one anonymous email or the alleged 'handful' of complaints against the mural trump demonstrations against its removal by several hundreds of Maine voters, artists and workers, we are in real trouble. Especially if we choose to consider it a distraction.
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