A platform for artistic expression
A portal for anti-racist* education and action
NOVEMBER 2020 COVER PAGE
'those who favor fire', ink and aquarelle on Chinese paper, 139 x 35cm, 2020
Artwork by Jim Holyoak
Jim Holyoak lives in British Columbia. For more on his art visit his website. Above is his self-portrait by touch on September 20th, 2020
‘those who favor fire’
The 20 companies that have together contributed 480 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere since 1965 (according to The Guardian*): Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gazprom, ExxonMobil, National Iranian Oil Co, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India, Pemex, Petróleos de Venezuela, PetroChina, Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Iraq National Oil Co, Total SA, Sonatrach, BHP Billiton, Petrobras.
The banks most responsible for financing fossil fuels (according to Rainforest Action Network): In North America: Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, CIBC, CITI, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, RBC, TD Bank, Wells Fargo. In Asia & Australia: Agricultural Bank of China, ANZ, MUFG, China Construction Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ICBC, Mizuho, NAB, SMFG, Westpac. In Europe: Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, RBS, Santander, Standard Chartered, UBS, Unicredit.
The companies most responsible for deforestation (according to Mongabay.com ): Groupe Danone (France), Kao Corp. (Japan), Nestle S. A. (Switzerland), Procter & Gamble (US), Reckitt Benckiser Group (UK), Unilever (UK) and HSBC (UK).
For an alternative approach, see here to learn about how the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest used controlled burning to avoid catastrophic forest fires.
VIEW POEMS, PROSE AND MORE ART - RED BUTTON - BOTTOM OF PAGE
"To be an artist, means
never to avert one's eyes."
Akira Kurosawa
Content
POEMS & PROSE
Peter Asco - The Enlightened
Milen Aklilu - Could We Be Loved?
Jacki Apple - A Meditation on the State of the Union (1992)
William Doreski- We Never Dance
Sabra Marie - A Taste of Soul
Marjorie Sadin - Blind Justice
Russell Willis- Flooding Ol’ Jim’s Grave
Jimmy Pappas - Our Legacy
Catherine Harnett - Captivation
VISUAL ART
Jim Holyoak - “those who favor fire”
Vanessa Holyoak - ‘I See More Clearly in the Dark”
Milen Aklilu - “Could We Be Loved?”
Peter Asco - “Dove & Amethyst”
EDITORS
Leopoldo Seguel
Chief Provocateur
Keith Holyoak
Associate Editor
Paul Abramson
Iconoclast at Large
Tania Love Abramson
Art Director- Champion of the Artistic Visions That Emerge in the Aftermath of Trauma
Say His Name - Walter Wallace Jr.
The Philadelphia police on Monday, October 26, fatally shot a 27-year-old Black man who they said was armed with a knife, touching off protests and violent clashes hours later in which the authorities said more than two dozen officers were injured.
It began when two officers confronted Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old with a history of mental health problems. A lawyer for the family said that he was experiencing a crisis that day and that the family told officers about it when they arrived at the scene.
Mayor Jim Kenney said the shooting, which was partly captured on video by a bystander, raised “difficult questions that must be answered,” and the police commissioner promised an investigation. (Excerpts from articles in The New York Times)
EDITORS STATEMENT
Peter Asco’s photograph, Dove & Amethyst and poem, The Enlightened, were inspired by the accomplished Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Peter lives in California.
The Enlightened
When the soft lands on the hard
A change has taken place
Harmony is at hand
Healing has begun
Any fool can separate
Only the enlightened unifies.
El Ser Iluminado
Cuando lo suave se asienta sobre lo inflexible
Un cambio ha tomado lugar
Armonía es alcanzable
Y la cura a comenzado
Porque cualquier tonto puede separar
Unicamente el ser iluminado logra unir.
BREATHE makes a difference by rallying dissent against racially discriminatory policies through the publication of artworks, poetry, and essays to counter the protracted disavowals and lethargy that allow racial coercion to persist.
BREATHE IS A MISSION
Our mission is to interrupt and dismantle racist and oppressive attitudes, behaviors and systems, especially its harmful impact on the lives of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States (see THE BIPOC PROJECT). We acknowledge the connections between racism and other forms of oppression, including the disproportionate impact of climate change, COVID-19 and environmental damage. Our greatest collective evil is compliance. Intentional or even inadvertent tolerance of racism and oppression serves to sustain it.
BREATHE IS A PLATFORM
We invite artists, regardless of your medium, to submit works that illustrate the connections between racism and other forms of oppression, as explicitly or implicitly as your artistic form of expression enables you to do.
BREATHE IS A PORTAL
We intend to stimulate and provoke thinking that can lead to concrete actions to interrupt and dismantle racist attitudes, behaviors and systems. We believe all Americans, and especially white Americans, have a great stake in dismantling racism. What they think they’re doing to black people, James Baldwin said in a 1984 interview, is what they’re really doing to themselves.
*We have adopted the following definition: "Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably." - NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity. For more on defining anti-racism visit The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre at the University of Calgary.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
WHO GOVERNS MATTERS
ART MATTERS
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