4 July 25 | Rebel Art and Public Debate: Siqueiros and Valtierra
Also in this edition: Historic LGBT+ march. Less maíz, more corn. Narcoengineering. A Political Earthquake on the left in the U.S.
Lea La Jornada Internacional en español aquí.
The Rebellious Spirit in a Painter’s and Photographer’s Images
Artist David Alfaro Siqueiros and photojournalist Pedro Valtierra come from different eras and work in different media, but they share a common goal: that their work contribute to public debate on social struggles, rather than just serving as images meant to please collectors or illustrate the news for a single day. In other words, that it transcends.
Siqueiros’s personal and political life sometimes overshadows his artistic work. His exiles and imprisonments often kept him from creating murals, so he focused on experimenting with easel paintings. However, the muralist feared that such pieces would disappear into private homes, so he preferred that his work be placed in public spaces.
The artist considered all his works to be "photogenic masters"—that is, made to be mechanically reproduced, photographed, filmed, and animated, according to Irene Herner, a specialist who has dedicated her career to studying the artist’s work. “In fact,” she tells La Jornada, “if you photograph, film, or animate his work, you discover a fascinating narrative. To make Donald Duck move, for example, you need several drawings to create movement. Siqueiros learned that he could achieve that same effect with a single image, constructed in such a way that when a viewer walks in front of it, it seems to unfold.”
“It’s important to understand that he was a political artist, not an activist. He didn’t paint like an activist—he painted like a great artist. He believed you had to be a great painter to appeal to the masses—not just well-intentioned, but a technically skilled, experimental artist who brought about a technical revolution in art,” Herner explains.
Veteran photojournalist Pedro Valtierra learned the secrets of photography in the 1970s and honed his skills when he covered the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979 alongside then-war correspondent Carmen Lira—now director of La Jornada—and Jaime Avilés. “War isn’t like in the movies—there you die for real,” he explains.
“I respect the struggles of guerrilla fighters, of those who are doing work with communities, of everyone I’ve photographed. I’m grateful they gave me that opportunity,” he says in an interview with La Jornada, of which he was a founder and the head of photography, and is still a collaborator. “I committed myself to journalism and photography, but also to the political side of it. For me, photography is about, first, information—and then the politics of it.”
He emphasizes, “Photography isn’t about the camera. You can have the best gear, but you become a photographer through what you want to say and through your ideas. If you’re well-informed, you can say even more,” he says, amid exhibitions and books marking over 50 years of his photographic career.
He adds that the role of photography doesn’t end on the page it’s published on—if it’s good, it should keep circulating.
The Quote:
“We’re not in favor of the death of Jews, Arabs, or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine… A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.”
—The Bobs from the group Bob Vylan
In Case You Missed It
◻️ Record-breaking LGBT+ marches. A total of 800,000 people flooded the streets of Mexico City, marching in dozens of contingents in “a day of celebration but also protest,” from the Angel of Independence to the Zócalo. According to city officials, last year’s march saw 260,000 attendees, meaning the 2025 event nearly tripled that number, reaching a historic record.
◻️ Government to reimburse 1% remittance tax to families. After reports that the U.S. may impose a 1% tax on cash remittances, the President announced the government will reimburse the tax to migrant families.
◻️ Less maíz, more corn. Thanks to NAFTA and a dearth of domestic policies, Mexicans are consuming more and more imported corn from the U.S., writes Ana de Ita in an in-depth essay on the country's staple food.
◻️ Rescuing Pemex. Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, is pushing for greater private participation to address Pemex’s growing debt and inability to pay suppliers and producers. Slim also warned that Mexico has fallen behind in infrastructure and expressed concern over the dire financial state of the Federal Electricity Commission and the halt of private investment in the energy sector.
◻️ Narco-engineering. Another semi-submersible vessel (at least 15 have been intercepted in the last decade), mini oil refineries, a one-kilometer narco-tunnel built under a National Guard base on the U.S. border, cyber hacks to locate FBI informants, and an entire fleet of vehicles—from armored luxury cars to tankers—are just some of examples of the engineering skills of organized crime recently uncovered in Mexico. Also revealed: a binational plot to steal Pemex fuel.
◻️ In the U.S., a political earthquake on the left. The election of a young, immigrant, Muslim, democratic socialist candidate in the largest city of a country that is today governed by the anti-immigrant, Islamophobic right has shocked political and economic elites in New York and Washington. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York, and is currently the front-runner in the general election this November, a race with national implications.
◻️ The right at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Rosa María Payá—anti-Castro activist, and close to Senator Marco Rubio—was elected president of the IACHR, placing a figure accused of “far-right terrorism” at the head of a body designed to combat terrorism and human rights violations. Tatiana Coll calls this another piece of the “fetid, toxic, arbitrary, and despotic” U.S. policy to destroy Cuba.
◻️ Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the Power of Words. Jaime Ortega writes about how the Kenyan author’s novels explore the contradictions of the quest for freedom—whether during colonialism or post-independence—leading him to long-term reflections on the productive conditions of culture. One might say Thiong’o is to Kenyan literature what Fanon is to the philosophical reflection on colonialism in Algeria.
◻️ Tzitcli—or chewing gum—another treasure stolen from Mexico. Hermann Bellinghausen writes about the “chewable imperial history” of how the same caudillo who gave half of Mexico to the U.S. also handed over chicle to American gum tycoons Adams and Wrigley.
📚 What We’re Reading
Emma Tenayuca Championed Class Struggle and Migrant Rights
