-----Original Message-----
From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: unlikely.suspects :; <unlikely.suspects :;>
Date: Wednesday, 10 March 1999 12:45
Subject: Arts agency pulls U.S. grant for Marcos-fable kids book
[...]
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NY Times March 10
Rebel commander paints story of Mexican gods, world of color
New York Times
MEXICO CITY -- A macaw with scarlet and violet plumes soars across
the cover of a book called "The Story of Colors," inviting children
to read a folk tale about Mexican gods who took a gray world and
filled it with brilliant hues.
There are a few surprises, though, in this eye-catching bilingual
children's book just published by a small publisher in El Paso,
Texas, that won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Its author is Subcomandante Marcos, the political mastermind and
military strategist of the Zapatista guerrillas of southern Mexico.
On the inside flap, he appears in a photo with a black ski mask
hiding his face and bullet-laden ammunition belts slung across his
chest.
Tuesday, the chair of the NEA, William J. Ivey -- who is working to
rebuild the agency after its recent reprieve from a death sentence
issued by congressional Republicans -- abruptly canceled the grant
for the book. Ivey overruled a multilayered, yearlong grant-approval
process, acting within hours after the book was brought to his
attention by a reporter's phone call.
He said he was worried that some of the NEA funds might find their
way to the Zapatista rebels, who led an armed uprising in 1994
against the government of Mexico.
Ivey's decision stunned the Cinco Puntos Press, a shoestring
operation that had laid out $15,000 to print 5,000 copies of the
book, half of which was to be paid by the grant. The books are ready
to be distributed and carry the NEA logo on the last page, together
with an acknowledgment of ``generous support´´ from the agency.
``This is spineless,´´ said Bobby Byrd, a poet and editor of books on
border issues who runs the publishing company with his wife and
daughter from their home in El Paso. ``This book is essentially about
diversity and tolerance, everything the NEA is supposed to stand for,
and they just don´t have the courage to publish it.´´
``The Story of Colors´´ reflects a literary, sometimes whimsical side
that has distinguished Subcomandante Marcos, the only non-Indian
among the Zapatistas´ highest leaders, from other steely Latin
American guerrilla commanders. His real name is Rafael Sebastián
Guillén Vicente, and he is a former university graphics professor.
In the text, the masked rebel leader describes himself as lighting up
his pipe, one of his hallmarks, and sitting down on a jungle pathway
to hear a tale from an Indian elder named Antonio.
The old man recounts how mythical gods grew bored with the universe
when it was tinted only in gray, and went about inventing colors one
by one. In the end they pin all the colors on the tail feathers of
the macaw.
The bird "goes strutting about just in case men and women forget how
many colors there are and how many ways of thinking, and that the
world will be happy if all the colors and ways of thinking have their
place," the text concludes.
The illustrations are bright, broad-stroked paintings of gods with
horns and bug-eyes done by Domitila Dom(acu)nguez, a Mexican Indian
artist.
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes. **
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