Poster art spreads the message of tolerance

Poster art spreads the message of tolerance

Boudewijn Brands, Contributor, Yogyakarta
boudewijnb@yahoo.com

Racism and violence toward foreigners and minorities is by no
means unique to Germany, it is just that that country's
experience with Nazism is so extreme and well documented that the
sins of other countries tend to pale in comparison.

Having finally emerged from the violence of World War II,
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Germany is particularly sensitive to
discrimination and violence against immigrants. So the country is
gravely concerned by recent neo-Nazi activity and attacks on
immigrant groups.

To avoid a repeat of its terrible history, the German
authorities want to reach out to the public with messages
condoning fascism and violence.

A good medium for spreading positive messages to the people is
through posters, so a poster design competition was organized
among students at German art institutes.

A selection of these posters has now reached Indonesia, where
hopefully they can teach the people here about tolerance and
acceptance.

So what are the signs of fascism? One is uniformity,
eliminating space for individualism by making everyone dress the
and think the same way. The Nazis had brown shirts and shops
owned by Jews were ransacked, as were the homes of Turks more
recently.

Does Indonesia contain fertile ground for fascism? How to
interpret the wish to make everything yellow, wear all black
uniforms, have private armies, force your own morals or beliefs
on others in the name of democracy, bomb discos where people
dance and drink alcohol? What is being done to prevent a repeat
here of May 1998 or the bombing of churches?

In Indonesia, it is not polite to make such observations too
forcefully. Keeping quiet has become ingrained in daily life.

How about a poster competition here?

Indonesian artists have already created numerous political
works. However, most of these works only appeal to a well-
educated cosmopolitan minority.

So perhaps a local poster competition would help bring the
message of tolerance to the masses, as it did in Germany.

i-box:

Serang! Kekerasan Sayap Kanan (Attack! Violence of the Right
Wing), an exhibition of German antifascist posters, at the
GoetheHaus at Jl. Sam Ratulangi No. 9-15 in Menteng, Central
Jakarta, tel: 021 23550208. The exhibition will run from July 16
to Aug. 7.