In the Philippines and other countries, multinational corporations and paramilitary forces are driving indigenous people from their lands to exploit the rich natural resources of that land. Mining companies and agribusiness often hire paramilitary forces or ask government forces to drive indigenous people from their lands.
In the Philippines, paramilitary forces have attacked the schools of Lumad and other indigenous peoples, harassed teachers, arrested and killed indigenous rights activists. They attack schools because they realize that if indigenous children are educated, they are more equipped to know their rights and to have the education to fight for those rights.
Military forces red tag activists, church leaders, journalists, lawyers and any group or individual that speaks out for the rights of indigenous people. “Red tagging” refers to when the military accuses a person of being a “communist” subversive, which makes that person vulnerable to being harassed, jailed or even killed.
“Indigenous Rights and Mining in the Philippines” by Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh for Oxford Academic
“What happens when activists are branded ‘terrorists’ in the Philippines? Indigenous activists live from day to day as they try to hide from authorities and challenge designations in court.” by Michael Beltran for Al Jazeera
On April 28, 2024, fine artists Ketaki Adi and Angelo Lopez had a conversation about Ketaki’s art and her participation in the 2024 Silicon Valley Open Studios.
Ketaki Adi is a self-taught multi media artist and muralist, with an engineering background. Originally from India, Ketaki now lives in San Jose.
Ketaki paints with acrylic, watercolors and alcohol inks. She also creates digital art and does logo designs.
Ketaki has exhibited her work locally and internationally. Ketaki has painted murals for the Cities of Sunnyvale and San Jose, and an electrical box in San Jose. She was selected to do a live mural at the State of the City Festival in 2019 in Sunnyvale; the mural is on display in Sunnyvale.
She has been a board member of the Sunnyvale Art Club and is active in the local art community.
Ketaki loves doing abstract art. Passionately painting with alcohol inks, she embraces serendipity in the free flows and blends, creating unique patterns. Ketaki lets the inks guide her in capturing emotions, creating a meditative and encouraging artistic experience. She crafts her compositions often by layering these ethereal and organic ink patterns with the boldness and structure of acrylic and other paint media.
Ketaki invites her viewers to explore her artwork and discover unique perspectives within the abstracts.
On May 4-5, 2024, from 11am -5pm, Ketaki will be participating at an Open Studios event ad Art Space in the Coast. 2021 Palmetto Ave, Pacifica, California.
On May 18-19, 2024 from 11am-5pm, Ketaki will be participating at an Open Studio event at Site 157, 1583 Meadowlark Ln, Sunnyvale, California.
Angelo Lopez’s art was deeply inspired by his love of comics and his love of children’s book illustrations. As a child, Angelo loved watching the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Willliam Powell and Myrna Loy, Charlie Chaplin and all the old comedians and comic actors and actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He likes to laugh, whether something is funny or not, and he channels this into his art.
Angelo graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Illustration.
Since he graduated, he has created murals and utility box art in the South San Francisco Bay Area. He has exhibited his work in Gallery Saratoga, the Sunnyvale Art Gallery and Chopsticks Alley Art Gallery. His paintings are also seen in coffee shops, libraries, and assorted odd places.
From April 9, 2008 to April 2011, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Tri-City Voice, a local newspaper of the Milpitas, Fremont, and Union City areas in California. From December 2011 to March 2023, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Philippine News Today, a Filipino American community newspaper based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
On April 14, 2024, editorial cartoonists Jack Ohman, Adam Zyglis and Angelo Lopez had a conversation on the state of the American editorial cartooning profession.
Jack Ohman was the editorial cartoonist and Deputy California Opinion Editor of The Sacramento Bee from 2013-2023. He worked at The Oregonian from 1983- 2012, the Detroit Free Press from 1982-1983, The Columbus Dispatch from 1981-1982 and began his cartooning career drawing at The Minnesota Daily while attending the University of Minnesota.
Ohman won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. He has won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Scripps Howard Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award, the National Headliner Award, the Overseas Press Club Award, and was the Herblock Prize finalist in 2013. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Portland State University in 2019.
Adam Zyglis has been the staff cartoonist for The Buffalo News for the past 20 years. He is a Distinguished Alumni from Canisius University, and his cartoons are internationally syndicated by Cagle Cartoons.
His work has appeared in publications around the world, including The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
Zyglis won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. In 2013 he won the Berryman Award, given by the National Press Foundation In 2007, 2011 and 2015 he won National Headliner Awards. In 2015 he was awarded the Grambs Aronson Cartooning with a Conscience award. And in 2020 and 2022 he won the Overseas Press Club Best Cartoon Award.
From April 9, 2008 to April 2011, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Tri-City Voice, a local newspaper of the Milpitas, Fremont, and Union City areas in California. From December 2011 to March 2023, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Philippine News Today, a Filipino American community newspaper based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Angelo’s cartoons are currently published in the Cartoon Movement and Pitik Bulag.
Angelo Lopez won the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Award for Editorial Cartoons. He has also won the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial cartooning for newspapers with a circulation under 100,000. Angelo won first prize for the Best of the West contest in 2016 and third prize in 2017.
On the run up to the 2022 Philippine elections, I did an occasional series of cartoons about some of the heroes and heroines who opposed the Marcos dictatorship.
During that time, Bongbong Marcos was running for Philippine President and there was a disinformation on Philippine social media that falsely painted the Martial Law Period as a “golden age”.
Two political cartoonists whom I admire, Eric Garcia and David Brown, occasionally used their cartoons to educate their readers on the history of the Hispanic community and the African American community. They inspires me to use some of my cartoons to educate my readers of the history of Filipino American activists and Philippine activists during the Martial Law period.
Below is a good debate between progressive Ana Kasparian and conservative Ben Shapiro. In this video, Kasparian and Shapiro have a good-faith discussion about breaking ideological bubbles and finding nuance in complex political issues.
They’re able to agree — and disagree — on a number of topics, including renewable energy, campaign strategy, localism vs federalism, political power incentives, and the destructive outcomes of liberal policies in California. Ana and Ben also debate nationalized healthcare, labor and economic incentives, and diagnose the current state of the Democrat and Republican parties.
I personally think it’s important for our democracy to have these civil and thoughtful debates between people of very differing views. Democracy is premised on the idea that no one person or group has a monopoly on the truth. All of us, whether we be progressive or moderate or conservative, are right some of the time and all of us are wrong some of the time. In a democracy, people of differing views should be able debate fiercely on an issue and be able to compromise and find common ground when the debate reaches an impasse.
I’ve wrote this countless times in various Facebook posts. This should not be a controversial thing to state in a democracy like the U.S. Yet over the past few years, several individuals have gotten mad at me for making this point, as they see debating anyone who disagrees with them as a waste of time. I disagree with them, but I can understand their point of view. Over the years I’ve been in some exasperating conflicts with more extreme ideologues who try to destroy individuals who disagree with them rather than just have a good faith debate on ideas. And as the conservative movement has moved farther and farther to the Right, it’s been more difficult for me to figure out what is a sane conservative argument and what is just crazy. I no longer have the time or inclination to research and figure out what is sane and what is crazy. It’s also just too emotionally draining to deal with an extreme ideologue who basically just wants to insult me for having a differing viewpoint.
I am liberal but I used to have close conservative friendships. And 20 years ago, I used to be able to have the same type of civil and thoughtful conversations with conservative friends that Ana Kasparian and Ben Shapiro have in this video. Those conversations helped me to find out the strengths and weaknesses of my own political opinions. We were both able to acknowledge when the other side made a good point and we found areas where we had common ground.
Acknowledging that my conservative friend pointed out a weakness in my argument did not make me become a conservative. As my conservative friends did not suddenly become progressives when I pointed out a weakness in their arguments. I would just do research and either find a counterargument to my conservative friend’s argument or I would admit that my conservative friend is right on a point. Finding common ground with my conservative friend on some issue did not make me become a conservative. I think there used to be a assumption that there would be common ground between people of differing views.
We no longer have that assumption. In the past, my conservative friends and I used to agree that there is a problem, we just didn’t agree on the solutions to the problem. We’d have a progressive solution or a conservative solution on a problem, but we’d agree that there was a problem. What I’m finding nowadays is that conservatives and progressive no longer agree on the problems. Many conservatives do not believe in climate change or systemic racism, as 2 examples off the top of my head. Or they focus on social issues like LGBTQIA+ rights or abortion where the Left and the Right do not have any common ground. You’re either pro-choice or anti-abortion. You either support the civil rights of LGBTQIA+ people or you don’t.
Having those conversations with conservative friends gave me the practice to better able to argue my point of view, since I better knew the strengths and weaknesses of my ideas. Also, since I stutter a little, these friends would patiently wait for me to find the right words to articulate what I wanted to say without interrupting me. After losing those friends, I find that I’ve gotten rusty about articulating and defending my political opinions. I’m no longer that sharp in political discussions.
Though it probably was inevitable that I would lose many of my conservative friends as the times got more partisan, it was still very painful to lose those friends. When I make friends, I don’t ask them about their political affiliations. I get to know them first as a person and I usually only find out about their politics later. It hurt for me to see those formerly close friendships become toxic.
I’m hoping that this nation returns to a time where progressives and conservatives have the same type of conversations that Ana Kasparian and Ben Shapiro have in this video.
On February 11, 2024, San Francisco Bay Area fine artists Hadi Aghaee, Viviana Leiga-Sysak, Carolyn Li and Angelo Lopez had a talk on their artistic inspirations, what they want their art to communicate, and the best ways to exhibit and market their art.
At a young age, Hadi Aghaee discovered his passion for art, but life took him on a different path, and he temporarily set aside his artistic pursuits for nearly three and a half decades. However, in mid-2014, he made the decision to reignite that creative spark and pick up where he had left off.
As Hadi dedicated himself to art, his artistic skills rapidly developed, and his works took on a more profound and thought-provoking nature. Within this relatively short period since his return, he has actively participated in group exhibitions and competitions locally, regionally and nationally, receiving multiple awards for his creations. Notably, his art has been displayed in group exhibitions at renowned venues such as the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Haggin Museum in Stockton, the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, as well as various Art centers in Northern California. He was honored to hold a 10 weeks solo exhibition at the Triton Museum in 2023.
Through his artistic journey, Hadi has experienced both personal growth and recognition within the art community. Hadi Aghaee is excited to continue exploring new horizons, pushing the boundaries of his creativity, and sharing his artwork with a wider audience.
Viviana Leija-Sysak is a visual artist, art educator and video producer working in the Bay Area. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB). Viviana has experimented with many materials and techniques, creating a vast body of work in traditional and digital strategies. Her recent artwork emphasizes her passion for drawing, using a mixed-media approach based mostly on watercolors, pastels and graphite.
She has also served as an art educator teaching traditional art and digital strategies, video production, animation and art experimentation to a variety of schools and organizations.
Carolyn Li is a fine artist residing in Sunnyvale, CA. (b. 1994) Inspired by nature, she primarily paint landscapes as introspective narratives and commentary on the human experience, and she also addresses environmental concerns. Carolyn gravitates toward painting wild, dramatic landscapes plein air and have painted many of our beloved California state parks and US national parks.
Carolyn’s artwork is about beauty and light and the metaphors they embody. She uses the transparency of watercolor to allow bright white paper to shine through washes and apply layering techniques to create depth and texture. Drawing from her Asian heritage, Carolyn uses sumi brushes to create lucid and calming watercolor paintings, expressing her spiritual and emotional responses to the surrounding world. She aims to inspire connection to beauty in the natural world and create artwork that conveys beauty, truth, and hope.
Carolyn Li received her BA in Studio Art and Illustration from Seattle Pacific University. Her artwork has been profiled in several publications and exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Angelo Lopez’s art was deeply inspired by his love of comics and his love of children’s book illustrations. As a child, Angelo loved watching the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Willliam Powell and Myrna Loy, Charlie Chaplin and all the old comedians and comic actors and actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He likes to laugh, whether something is funny or not, and he channels this into his art.
Angelo graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Illustration. Since he graduated, he has created murals and utility box art in the South San Francisco Bay Area. He has exhibited his work in Gallery Saratoga, the Sunnyvale Art Gallery and Chopsticks Alley Art Gallery. His paintings are also seen in coffee shops, libraries, and assorted odd places.
On February 4, 2024, political cartoonists Emanuele Del Rosso, Stellina Chen and Angelo Lopez had a talk on the challenges facing political cartoonists in Italy, the Netherlands and Taiwan.
Emanuele Del Rosso is an Italian editorial cartoonist whose work appears in The Washington Post, The Japan Times, Le Monde, Courrier International, Alternative Economiques, the Swiss daily Le Temps, the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad, the environmental magazine Renewable Matters, France24 TV, The Nation, and more.
Since 2016, he has been a member of Cartoon Movement, where he also works as a freelance social media manager.
Emanuele won second prize in the political cartoon competition “Libex 2018”. He won the Italian “Strike” competition for young talents. In 2019, he won the second prize in the “Inktspotprijs 2019”.
Since 2021 he has been organizing and overseeing, on behalf of the European Press Prize, the cartoons contest European Cartoon Award.
Since October 2020, he has been a member of the French editorial cartoonists association Cartooning for Peace.
Stellina Chen is a Taiwanese press cartoonist who splits her time between her island and France. She is a member of Cartooning for Peace and publishes in Le Monde, France 24, Courrier International, Le Temps, and more.
In 2020, she also self-published “In Search of Roots,” which tells the story of her family fleeing China during the civil war.
On January 21, 2024, editorial cartoonists Nick Anderson and Angelo Lopez had a conversation on the political scene in Texas, the editorial cartoon website Counterpoint, and the power of editorial cartoons to make a difference both locally and nationally.
Nick Anderson has been the editorial cartoonist for the Louisville Courier Journal and was staff cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle from 2006 to 2017. He currently draws cartoons for the Tribune Content Agency and is editor of Reform Austin.
His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post and USA Today. Nick Anderson founded Counterpoint in 2019 as a platform to sustain and grow the art of political cartooning.
Counterpoint publishes a newsletter featuring the rotating work of 16 cartoonists from all over the United States, with diverse viewpoints from both the progressive and conservative ends of the political spectrum.
In 2005, Anderson won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning while working for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Anderson earned the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award. He’s also a two-time winner of Columbia College’s Fischetti Award, and the National Press Foundation’s Berryman Award.
From April 9, 2008 to April 2011, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Tri-City Voice, a local newspaper of the Milpitas, Fremont, and Union City areas in California. From December 2011 to March 2023, Angelo Lopez was the regular cartoonist for the Philippine News Today, a Filipino American community newspaper based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Angelo’s cartoons are currently published in the Cartoon Movement and Pitik Bulag.
Angelo Lopez won the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Award for Editorial Cartoons. He has also won the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial cartooning for newspapers with a circulation under 100,000. Angelo won first prize for the Best of the West contest in 2016 and third prize in 2017.
ANGELO LOPEZ BLOG 