In Mexico, antimonumentos (transl. anti-monument) are installed and traditionally placed during popular protests. They are installed to recall a tragic event or to maintain the claim for justice to which governments have failed to provide a satisfactory response in the eyes of the complainant.[1] Many of these are erected for issues related to forced disappearances, massacres, femicides and other forms of violence against women, or any other act of violence.
The term anti-monument finds its genealogy in the reflections of James E. Young. After World War II, Young looked at "those devices of memory that do not seek to glorify national glory but to do a living memory work through the experiences of the victims", in contrast to the traditional monuments that exalted nationalist heroism.[1] In Latin America, anti-monuments emerged as a way of dealing through the arts with "the violence of the State, as in the cases of Nazism and Latin American dictatorships".[2]
In Mexico, anti-monuments have emerged as protest art and a rejection of the state. If traditional monuments are usually installed by the state to last and represent official positions, the anti-monument has the opposite function which "does not imply a denial of the importance of monuments".[3] That is, it tries to remember those victims who did not achieve justice so that "their cases do not fall into oblivion".[4] Thus, according to anthropologist Alfonso Díaz Tovar, the anti-monuments arise in this way to "deconstruct" the "official positions through an appropriation of public space".[4] The anti-monuments have also been interpreted as "a new way of dealing with the new role of memory".[1] According to the authors of the Antimonumento +43, the first anti-monument, they decided to use the term antimonumento because they considered an error to name it a monumento, as those refer to the past and they did not want the Iguala mass kidnapping to be forgotten. Even though they considered calling it contramonumento at some point, they agreed with the name antimonumento instead.[5]: 18
Cause and implications
Mexico, in addition to having one of the highest crime rates in the world, also is a country where nine out of ten reported crimes are left unpunished.[1][4] As a result, anti-monuments have emerged as a way to remember the victims and prevent their cases from falling into oblivion.[4] For Rosa Salazar, a human rights, communication, and ICT Laboratory coordinator, anti-monuments have a function similar to that of memorials.[6] Anti-monuments leave behind the idea that aesthetic objects "were only judged by their beauty, according to a given artistic canon". Apart from their aesthetic appearance, anti-monuments are "artifacts charged with affection" that, with their subversive activities in the public space, tend to reinstate its communitarian sense.[1] For Eunice Hernández, a cultural facilitator, their location is key to prevent the issue from fading into oblivion, since those spaces are emblematic and represent a hegemonic power.[7]
Government position
Anti-monuments are rarely removed by the authorities once they are established. Although not removing them can affect the image of the government, removing them would imply that they have no interest in resolving the cause of their placement. After being installed, several sit-in groups remain in the area watching over the anti-monuments to prevent the authorities from removing them.[8] In some instances, some governments have installed their own anti-monuments and in other cases have tried to dialogue with the protesters to decide where or how they should be installed. For philosopher Irene Tello Arista, these actions represent an absence of political commitment to change the situation that originated them.[9]
The antimonumenta is a type of anti-monument erected to demand justice for the victims of gender violence and femicides in the country.[9] The first antimonumenta was erected on 8 March 2019, the date commemorating International Women's Day. It was installed on Juárez Avenue, in front of the Palace of Fine Arts in downtown Mexico City during the annual march of women protesting against gender violence. Since then, similar monuments have been installed throughout the country.[10] The Antimonumenta represents the symbol of the feminist struggle, which is based on the symbol of Venus with a raised fist in the center. The antimonumentas of Mexico City and Guadalajara, for example, are purple. The color represents the history of the feminist struggle: "loyalty, constancy towards a purpose, unwavering firmness towards a cause".[11]
The anti-monument features a "Plus 43" and a "Because they were taken alive, we want them alive!" slogan in reference to the 43 students that were kidnapped as they were traveling to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre. Six other students were killed.[12] In 2018, a concrete turtle whose shell contains 43 little turtles and whose limbs bear the names of the students, was built in front of the anti-monument.[13]
The anti-monument has a 49 and the letters "ABC" in reference to the name of the daycare where the 49 children were killed. The daycare was owned by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).[14] Two years later, multiple bronze statues of children's shoes with the names of the victims were placed next to it.[15]
David Ramírez and Miguel Ángel Rivera, who were kidnapped on 5 January 2012. Although the ransom payment was made, both were not returned and their whereabouts or conditions are unknown.[14]
The plaque calls for padlocks to be placed as a sign of protest.[17]
Esquina de la Información, Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, Colonia Juárez
The main anti-monument features a 65 number that supports a plus symbol. The symbol has written a legend that says "With one voice, rescue now!", as well as the names of all the victims of the collapse.[12] The following day, across the street a cage with 63 helmets with the names of the victims that were not rescued was placed buried with charcoal lumps.[18]
In front of the Mexican Stock Exchange Building, Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, Colonia Juárez
It was installed to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the killing of Karla Pontigo Lucciotto and the 60 women murdered between 2010 and 2018. It was destroyed within a month.[20][21]
It was installed during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to memorialize the women murdered in the state of Jalisco.[24]
It was installed during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It has a plaque that reads "In memory of all the women murdered by those who claimed to love them or just because they were women" in Spanish.[26]
It was installed during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It reads "In memory of all the female children, adolescents and women victims of femicide violence. Truth and Justice!" in Spanish.[27]
It was installed during protests where the feminists took the Chetumal Congress. The anti-monument was later destroyed and a replica was installed.[28]
It was installed during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to memorialize the women murdered in the state of Oaxaca.[33]
It was installed during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to memorialize the women murdered in the state of Yucatán.[34]
Samir Flores Soberanes [es], who opposed the construction of a federal hydroelectric plant in his community.
One year after his assassination, a bust was placed in the school named after him in the community of Amilcingo, Morelos.[37] The next day, after a related march in Mexico City, a replica of the bust (pictured) was placed in the Zócalo square.[38]
With the permission of the Puebla City Council, residents placed photographs of several missing persons on trees in the streets of the historic center. The next day, the photographs were removed to place Christmas decorations.[42]
The more than 100,000 missing persons in the country
It was installed by collectives that sought to make visible the numbers of missing persons. The anti-monument was removed by the city government but was reinstalled days later.[43]
The Mayan jungle and its human and animal population
It was installed by environmentalists protesting against the Mayan Train, which will pass through several jungle zones. The plaque reads, "Here we put on record that in the name of 'development' and 'progress' the Mayan Train was built, evicting people, extinguishing species, devastating the jungle, and threatening ecosystems. Only you, in the future, will be able to say if it was worth it..."[44]
Esquina de la Información, Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, Colonia Centro
It was installed adjacent to the Antimonumenta on the third anniversary of "El Halconazo Jaliciense" when police officers disappeared for hours demonstrators claiming the death of López.[45]
The installation received negative criticism from activists who have placed anti-monuments, considering it disrespectful and an appropriation of their movement for political purposes,[49] adding, "[t]o them, as to all political parties, we demand respect, that you refrain from looking at the big debts just to win votes. As long as you do not resolve them, you are accomplices of impunity".[50] MORENA politicians called their PAN counterparts "opportunistic vultures" and called the installation an act of politicking.[51]
^Because most of the anti-monuments are unnamed anonymous works, and the press refers to them simply as "Antimonumentos", some names are unofficial and use recognizable elements to distinguish them from other similar works.
^Muñoz Ramírez, Gloria (3 June 2019). "Antimonumentos, la ruta por la memoria amenazada" [Anti-monuments, the route for threatened memory]. Desinformémonos.org (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
^ abTello Arista, Irene (May 2021). "Arrebatar las narrativas" [To snatch the narratives]. Revista de la Universidad de México (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^Rodríguez, Marco (9 March 2018). "El Memorial de David y Miguel". Grupo Radiofónico y Medios. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.