Consider this sea of movement, the multitude in waves. Now, deceptively calm, until by a mysterious wave of a demagogue’s hand, it shall arise tidal to sweep and ruin everything in its path.
Then, what crimes in whose or what name will be committed?
And history is replete with precedents which lessons we refuse to learn or have unlearned:
A hundred flowers bloomed, a thousand flowers crushed.
First, they predicted a fire. Then, they started a fire.
(Last night, I taught my children to weep in secret because the predators, when they see tears, smell blood.)
In the name of superstition, religion. In the name of science, revolution. In the name of one man.
It shall be another spectacular but unbeautiful release. A pyrotechnics of collective anger. A cause righteous or unrighteous but without doubt waged virulently—violent and vicious.
We’ll run away to survive, only to perish at borders.
Artist Note: “Mob Rule” is my son Kaleb’s film adaptation of my 2019 Best of the Net-nominated poem of the same title. The poem is the first of three that make up “A Trifecta For Our Times: two lamentations and a song of hope,” our film project that I contributed to the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) last year in fulfillment of my tenure as one of their 2024 International Fellows.
YouTube Note: Nominated for the Best of the Net 2019 by its first publisher, Collective Unrest literary magazine, then republished in Bulb Culture Collective in 2023, the poem “Mob Rule” by Karlo Sevilla was put into animation by the poet’s son, Kaleb Sevilla, for their 2024 collaboration project, “A Trifecta For Our Times: two lamentations and a song of hope.” This poetry and animation project was the third and last co-created by the Filipino poet with his sons in fulfillment of his tenure as a 2024 International Fellow of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) for poetry.
Hello IHRAM: Created by our 2024 International Fellow, Karlo Sevilla (Philippines), this piece explores lamentation and hope. A Trifecta For Our Times: two lamentations and a song of hope, a poetry and animation collaboration by Karlo and Kaleb Sevilla Created for the International Human Rights Art Movement (2024).
Karlo Sevilla and Kaleb Sevilla
Three Questions for Karlo Sevilla
What inspired your choice of medium(s), genre(s), and/or form(s) for "Mob Rule"?
First, about the poem:
For me, poetry is a profoundly influential medium that reminds us of the social values that we should always hold dear and zealously protect. I wrote this poem in 2018, and it was published in 2019 by the now-defunct Collective Unrest literary magazine, then republished in Bulb Culture Collective in 2023.
About the poem’s representation in film:
In 2024, I started my tenure as an International Fellow of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM). And for one of my projects for the organization, I collaborated with my son Kaleb, who is an amateur animator, in creating an animated poetry project. “Mob Rule” is the first of my three poems that were interpreted into film in our collaboration project titled, "A Trifecta For Our Times: two lamentations and a song of hope.” (And may I admit that I included this poem among the three partly because my confidence in it was reinforced by its nomination by Collective Unrest for the 2019 Best of the Net.)
I’ve long been conscious of V.I. Lenin’s words on the power of film for propaganda and education: “...that of all the arts, the most important for us is the cinema.” Let me also quote poet Jack Hirschman on propaganda: “I don’t have the negative association with the word ‘propaganda'.... A love poem is propaganda for love.”
Can you walk us through your creative process for this work?
The poem’s original version, titled “Flashpoints,” was my entry to Spank the Carp’s poetry contest in 2018. It didn’t make the cut, but the literary magazine’s editor, Ken Schweda, provided some helpful feedback that I used to guide me in revising it. My inspiration and impetus in writing this poem is expressed in my response to Ken: “It's about mass uprisings in general, spurred by causes and leaders noble or ignoble, that turned (and will turn) excessively violent, abusive, and deadly.”
In creating the film, my son and I exchanged ideas on which images and effects to use to effectively convey the thoughts in the poem — frame by frame. My sole contribution to the animation was to suggest the images that would best interpret the poem—most of which my son accepted, while a few were entirely his own. All the other steps in creating the film up to its final form were accomplished by my son using his creativity and technical know-how.
What is the significance of this work to you?
When I wrote this poem in 2018, I was deeply troubled by the mounting cases of extrajudicial killings perpetrated and encouraged by the regime of our former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. I was also affected by another administration overseas: Donald Trump’s. In fact, I feel that this poem that I wrote in 2018 somehow foresaw the January 6 United States Capitol attack of 2021. That is also why we included images of Trump and the U.S. Capitol in the short film.
Amid these vile circumstances, I set out to write a strong and evocative anti-fascist poem. I am pretty satisfied with my output in “Mob Rule,” and I believe that its representation in the minimalist film created by my son considerably amplifies the message.
Karlo Sevilla of Quezon City, Philippines, is a widely published poet who is also a three-time nominee for the Best of the Net and a 2024 International Fellow of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) for poetry.
Kaleb Sevilla of Cabanatuan City is an 18-year-old visual artist and member of Top Link Global College—senior high school's internationally award-winning robotics team.