(UPDATED)
Farmers asking for rice.
Farmers asking for food.
Hungry farmers asking for food met with bullets.
These were the short and simple grasp of most people who saw the video of the violent and bloody dispersal of the farmers’ protest in Kidapawan City on April 1. Photos of wounded and bloodied farmers uploaded on the Internet just as the shooting happened enraged netizens. Raw videos gave more credence to the short and simple understanding that could be derived from the turn of events on this year’s April Fool’s Day.
The hashtag #BigasHindiBala encapsulated and expressed the more common sentiment of netizens and citizens on the incident.
In a rush of solidarity, artists were quick to create and share their works to show their support to the long-starved and brutally dispersed farmers of North Cotabato.
Andrei Venal posted this image on his Facebook account on April 1.
Renowned patriotic artist Neil Doloricon posted on his Facebook account on April 2 an artwork he dedicated to the martyrs of the Kidapawan shooting.
Peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), to which some farmers from North Cotabato belong, used this image as their Facebook profile picture on April 3. KMP is a national organization of peasants pushing for genuine agrarian reform.
On April 3, Facebook user Neen Sapalo shared the artwork of artists collective Ang Gerilya.
She found the work in Art in the Park, an annual art fair in Makati that offers more affordable rates of artworks usually found in art galleries.
Tina Legarda (teeniequa) saw the artwork as it was being produced and posted about it on Instagram.
The same day, TomasinoWeb published a poster by Ian James along with the status post: “Hindi sila kalaban. Sila’y ating mga kababayan na naghahangad na matulungan.”
Progressive youth group Anakbayan posted this artwork in a waiting shed on April 5. Anakbayan is a comprehensive youth organization, its youth members coming from peasants, workers, professionals and students. Its chapters, ranging from a nationwide to an international scale, work for human rights, land, education and decent jobs and wages wherever they are established.
Campus publications alliance College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) posted this image on their Instagram account on April 6. CEGP, celebrating its 85th year in July, holds the distinction of being the oldest intercollegiate alliance of student publications in the Asia-Pacific.
Youth group Liga ng Kabataang Propagandista posted on their Facebook page on April 6 an artwork made by one of their members, Tsina Lee Pineda. They also issued a call for artworks for an exhibit in support of the farmers. Liga ng Kabataang Propagandista is a group that aims to continue the tradition of nationalistic contributions of the first propaganda movement led by Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Antonio Luna and Juan Luna among others, in the context of the current state and nature of Philippine society.
The University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman College of Fine Arts in Quezon City redesigned their freedom wall and a photo of the completed mural was posted on Facebook on April 7.
Neil Doloricon, a faculty member of the UP Diliman College of Fine Arts and a member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, posted another artwork on the plight of the peasants on April 7.
Activists and supporters of the North Cotabato farmers gathered at the Quiapo Church for a mass before marching to Mendiola on April 8. The protest, supported by the International League of People’s Struggles, was dubbed Global Day of Action for Land, Food and Justice. In the rally, Liga ng Kabataang Propagandista (LKP) posted this artwork through wheatpaste near Mendiola.
Katsa Art Collective hanged this artwork behind a waiting shed in Mendiola.
Facebook user Luigi Almuena used this image as his cover photo.
Another patriotic artist, Federico Boyd Dominguez, shared on Facebook on April 8 his artwork on the Kidapawan shooting. He gave this artwork the title “Ani sa Tagtuyot.”
On April 12, Cultural Center of the Philiippines’ Thirteen Artists awardee Leeroy New posted a photo of this mural he produced on a structure along the Pasig River.
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