Dozens of US War Veterans Are Urging MoMA to Reject ‘Toxic Philanthropy’ From Investors in Private Military Companies

by admin

Feb 4, 2020

artnet

Forty-five US military veterans who served in Iraq, Kuwait, and
in other theaters around the world have sent a letter to the Museum
of Modern Art asking it to reject funding from “toxic” sources.

“As veterans of the Gulf War and
the ‘Global War on Terror,’ as well as working artists ourselves,
this issue is very important to us,” the letter’s signers wrote.
“We acknowledge our own role in creating the conditions for
ongoing death and turmoil in Iraq, and we continue to grapple with
this reality through our art, activism, and lives.

“We take responsibility for our past actions and as such choose
to stand in solidarity with Iraqi artists and all activists calling
on MoMA PS1 to ‘take a truly radical position by divesting from any
trustees and sources of funding that profit from the suffering of
others.’”

The letter was sent in solidarity with the three dozen artists
currently showing in “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars
1991–2011” at MoMA PS1, who sent their own letter asking
the institution to cut ties with controversial board members. Among
the people who signed that letter were Mona Hatoum, Jon Kessler,
Laura Poitras, Michael Rakowitz, and Martha Rosler.

The service members are part of the Veteran Art
Movement, a collective
that describes itself as a “decentralized network of veterans and
service members” who use art to confront “a society grappling with
endless war, militarism, and dehumanization.”

MoMA PS1. Image courtesy of MoMA PS1.

MoMA PS1. Image courtesy of MoMA
PS1.

The group is calling on MoMA’s
board of trustees, Leon Black, to divest from Constellis Holdings,
a private security firm and defense contractor formerly known as
Blackwater. The company played a sizable role in the US-led War in
Iraq, and three of its contractors were convicted of a deadly shooting in Iraq that left 14 civilians
dead.

In the letter, the writers say
that companies like Constellis “have profited greatly from the
coercive exploitation of Iraqis, while operating under the aegis of
the US military, using service members as disposable labor and
marketing props.” The writers say they have witnessed firsthand the
“parasitic, profit-driven motivations of defense
contractors.”

The veterans are also speaking
out specifically against MoMA board member Larry Fink, whose
company, BlackRock, invests in companies that own private prisons.
Business such as these, the writers say, “represent a domestic war against people of
color and the poor.”

MoMA PS1 did not respond to
Artnet News’s requests for comment.

The Veteran Art Movement
counts nearly 70 artists in its network, many of whom participated
in the first-ever National Veterans Art Museum Triennial and Veteran Art
Summit in Chicago
last year. The collective also produces a podcast series about the
artistic lives of American veterans.

Read the full text of the signed
letter below.

February 3, 2020

Dear Directors and Trustees of
MoMA PS1 and MoMA,

We, veterans of the U.S.
military, write this letter in support of the 37
artists featured in
Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991 – 2011, calling for
chairman of MoMA’s board of trustees, Leon Black, to divest from
defense contractor Constellis Holdings, formerly Blackwater. These
artists have put their careers and reputations on the line in
calling for Black to divest, while simultaneously demanding a
realignment of values at MoMA (and, by extension, all cultural
institutions). Following their example, we, the undersigned, call
on all veterans—especially those who deployed to Iraq between 1991
and 2011—to support their campaign. MoMA claims a longtime
commitment to veterans and service members. Accordingly, we are
confident the board members will seriously consider our collective
call for divestment.

As veterans of the Gulf War and
the “Global War on Terror,” as well as working artists ourselves,
this issue is very important to us. We acknowledge our own role in
creating the conditions for ongoing death and turmoil in Iraq, and
we continue to grapple with this reality through our art, activism,
and lives. We take responsibility for our past actions and as such
choose to stand in solidarity with Iraqi artists and all activists
calling on MoMA PS1 to “take a truly radical position by divesting
from any trustees and sources of funding that profit from the
suffering of others.” Instead of accepting our current state of
endless war and militarism, we follow in the footsteps of other
military veterans who have resisted and denounced war through their
art, such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Leon Golub, Black Panther Malik
Edwards, and the artists of Vietnam Veterans Against the
War.

Defense contractors, like
Constellis, have profited greatly from the coercive exploitation of
Iraqis, while operating under the aegis of the U.S. military, using
service members as disposable labor and marketing props. The
undersigned have witnessed firsthand the destruction and
wastefulness of U.S. wars of aggression, the failed “Global War on
Terror,” and the parasitic, profit-driven motivations of defense
contractors (especially the notoriously violent Blackwater), which
have nothing to do with freedom and democracy.

We also support the
MoMA/BlackRock Divest campaign. MoMA board member Larry Fink is CEO
of BlackRock, which invests in private prison companies. Such
companies represent a domestic war against people of color and the
poor. War and prison profiteering are intimately connected. The
rampant privatization of the military and the prison system
epitomize U.S. militarism, prioritizing the profits of the few who
make billions from war, tactical equipment, and mass incarceration,
over the health, education, and well-being of the many.

If MoMA truly celebrates
“creativity, openness, tolerance and generosity,” as stated in its
mission, MoMA will recognize the hypocrisy in displaying the work
of dispossessed peoples—Iraqis in this case—while continuing to
profit, if indirectly, from the bloodshed and misery of those very
people. Such “toxic philanthropy,” as Michael Rakowitz has called
it, must end if we are to make the deep changes necessary to
address issues like endless war, climate change, poverty, and
racism. The successful 2019 campaign calling for the resignation of
the Whitney Museum’s former vice chairman Warren Kanders, CEO of
Safariland, a company that manufactures tear gas and other weapons
(and uses veterans and service members as marketing props),
demonstrates that major cultural institutions will respond justly
if enough people speak up. Accordingly, we are confident that MoMA
will divest, and realign its values by extricating itself from all
toxic philanthropy.

Most sincerely,

Aaron Hughes (U.S. Army (ILNG),
Kuwait & Iraq 2003–04)

Kevin Basl (U.S. Army, Iraq
2005; 2007–08)

Amber Hoy (U.S. Army, Iraq
2006–07)

Carlos Sirah (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003–04; 2004–05)

Drew Cameron (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003)

Essam Attia (U. S. Army, Iraq
2005; 2006)

W.A. Ehren Tool (U.S. Marine
Corps, Desert Shield/Desert Storm 1991)

Nicole Goodwin (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003)

Nathan Lewis (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003)

Eric J. Garcia (U.S. Air Force,
1997–02)

Edgar Gonzalez-Baeza (U. S. Army
(Reserve), Iraq 2005–06)

Ash Kyrie (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003–04)

Caleb Nelson (U.S. Navy, OIF
2007–08)

William Chan (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003)

Monty Little (U.S. Marine Corps,
Iraq 2007)

Anthony Torres (U.S. Army, Iraq
2004–05)

Jesse A Albrecht (U.S. Army,
deployed to Iraq 2003–04)

Hector R. Membreno-Canales (U.S.
Army, Iraq 2009)

Daniel J. King (U.S. Air Force,
2002–05)

Emily Yates (U.S. Army, Iraq
2005–06; 2007–08)

Rishi Srinivasan (U.S. Marine
Corps, Iraq 2007)

Jonathan Hart (U.S. Marine
Corps, Iraq 2004; 2005)

Irwing Lazo (U.S. Marine Corps,
Iraq 2006; 2007; 2008)

Mark Pinto (U.S. Marine Corps,
Bahrain 1991 (Desert Storm))

David Keefe (U.S. Marine Corps,
Iraq 2006–07)

Fanny Garcia (U.S. Army, 2010–13
(Conscientious Objector))

Abraham Hernandez Romero (U.S.
Army, Iraq 2007–08)

Frederick Dessau (U.S. Army,
Iraq 2004; 2006–07; 2008–09)

Joshua Zeis (U.S. Army, Iraq
2007–08)

Eric Perez (U.S. Marine Corps,
Iraq 2004–05; 2006)

Gin McGill-Prather (U.S. Army,
Iraq 2004–05)

Hipólito Arriaga (U.S. Marine
Corps, Iraq 2005; 2006–07)

Adam Allegro (U.S. Navy,
2005–12)

Jeremy Berggren (U.S. Marine
Corps, 1999–2004)

Ken Nielsen (U.S. Army
1990–93)

Michael Applegate (U.S. Navy,
1998–06)

Jason W. Hunt (U.S. Marine
Corps)

Kiam Marcelo Junio (U.S.
Navy)

Willyum LaBeija (U.S.
Army)

Anthony Murtha (U.S. Navy, OEF
2009–13)

Eli Wright (U.S. Army, Iraq
2003–04)

Joseph Lefthand (U.S. Marines
Corps, Kuwait & Iraq 2003)

Roger Ourthiague Jr. (U.S. Navy
2006–08)

James Yee (U.S. Army, Guantanamo
Bay 2002–03)

Jacob Lee (U.S. Army, Iraq
2010)