Signal: 07

A Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture

Josh MacPhee, Alec Dunn, Josh MacPhee, Alec Dunn

• Verlag: PM Press
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781629638904
• Thema: Art
• Thema: Art & Politics

Signal is an ongoing book series dedicated to documenting and sharing compelling graphics, art projects, and cultural movements of international resistance and liberation struggles. Artists and cultural workers have been at the center of upheavals and revolts the world over, from the painters and poets in the Paris Commune to the poster makers and street theatre performers of the recent Occupy movement. Signal will bring these artists and their work to a new audience, digging deep through our common history to unearth their images and stories. We have no doubt that Signal will come to serve as a unique and irreplaceable resource for activist artists and academic researchers, as well as an active forum for critique of the role of art in revolution.

In the US there is a tendency to focus only on the artworks produced within our shores or from English speaking producers. Signal reaches beyond those bounds, bringing material produced the world over, translated from dozens of languages and collected from both the present and decades past. Though it is a full-color printed publication, Signal is not limited to the graphic arts. Within its pages you will find political posters and fine arts, comics and murals, street art, site-specific works, zines, art collectives, documentation of performance and articles on the often overlooked but essential role all of these have played in struggles around the world.

Highlights of the seventh volume of Signal include:

• Philadelphia Printworks: Maryam Pugh discusses the legacy and future of Black political art with John Morrison
• The Vinyl Records of Victor Jara: The world-wide impact of the nueva canción bard documented by Josh MacPhee
• Spectacular Commodities: Mehdi el Hajoui explores the objects of the Situationist International
• The Left Independistas: A fifty year retrospective of the graphics of the Catalan independence movement by Jordi Padró
• Hope in the Midst of Apathy: Vera Williams and the cover art of Liberation magazine by Alec Dunn
• Dario and Maxi: Natalia Revale documents the transformation of a Buenos Aires metro station
• We Will Break Open the Doors That Obscure the Sun: Erik Buelinckx uncovers the graphic work of the anarchist Belgian Expressionist Albert Daenens
• Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Bill Berkowitz interviews California printer and poster maker Malaquías Montoya

In 2001 Argentina was in the midst of a severe economic crisis that had been precipitated by a crushing national debt and subsequent austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund. Mass movements that had been building for the previous decade exploded on the streets in December 2001 demanding restoration of basic government services and support. Following this the Argentine government—at the behest of then-president Eduardo Duhalde—began to crack down on the increasingly militant political actions organized by the autonomous Movimientos de Trabajadores Desocupados (MTDs, also known as the Unemployed Workers Movements and commonly referred to as piqueteros). These groups, consisting primarily of poor and working-class people living in the industrialized cities on the edge of Buenos Aires, organized protests, neighborhood assemblies, and created vibrant neighborhood counterinstitutions such as workshops and autonomous food and health care networks, as well as arts and cultural programming. Additionally, the MTDs supported the metamorphosis of businesses and factories that had been recently shuttered into self-managed workers’ cooperatives.

On June 26, 2002, several MTDs organized a coordinated action to block the roads into Buenos Aires. One of these blockades took part in Avellaneda, a heavily industrialized city directly to the south of the capital. There, activists closed down the Pueyrredón Bridge, one of the major highways into the city, but were forced back by riot police, tear gas, and gunfire. As the protestors retreated, the police followed. On the streets of Avellaneda, Maximiliano “Maxi” Kosteki, a young MTD activist was shot by the police and carried by them into the Avellaneda commuter rail station. Darío Santillán, another young MTD activist, ran into the station to help his fallen comrade. In a moment captured on video, Darío placed himself between Maxi and the police and held up an outstretched arm, palm outward, in an attempt to hold off attack, while his other arm supported the injured Maxi. The police then assassinated Darío and Maxi with shotguns with live ammunition.

June 26 was the day on which Darío and Maxi were murdered. It was also the day their family members, friends, and comrades began a long struggle for justice, so that their murders would not be forgotten or go unpunished.

Darío Santillán, undated.

Maximiliano Kosteki (holding the banner)., at an MTD protet 2002.

Darío Santillán grew up in public housing in the working-class suburbs of southern Buenos Aires. He became politically active in his teens, and following high school he began to work in the MTDs. Darío worked with youth as a mentor and instructor of media literacy and journalism and participated in the creation of people’s libraries. He was active in housing struggles and volunteered his time to work as an organizer and bricklayer to build housing for unemployed and landless young families. He was well respected in the unemployed movement for his discipline and commitment to the struggle and was a popular presence in the neighborhoods. At the time of his murder he was twenty-one years old.

Maxi Kosteki was a fresh face in the MTD. Maxi, like Darío, grew up in the suburbs of southern Buenos Aires. He had only recently become active with the MTDs, in May of that year, and he had volunteered with local food, garden, art, and library projects. He was a painter and musician who planned to enroll in art school. The June 26 blockade action was his first as an MTD activist. At the time of his murder he was one week shy of turning twen...