That Morbid Curiousity Thing
Expect I'll be visiting the right wing sites to see how they cover these two stories. I can make an educated guess, though.
Roy hopes Saddam's fate for Bush
Writer Arundhati Roy, who wants an ongoing anti-globalisation conference to launch a campaign to shut down US companies, said Sunday she hoped President George W Bush would share the fate of the captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein."If Saddam Hussein deserves to be humiliated and have his fillings counted and his hair checked for lice on primetime TV, then so does George Bush," Roy told about 100 people at a leftist convention on the sidelines of the World Social Forum.
"Saddam Hussein surely ought to be tried for crimes against humanity. But so should all his accomplices in the US and Europe," she said.
"To applaud the US army's capture of Saddam Hussein and therefore justify its invasion and occupation of Iraq is like deifying Jack the Ripper for disembowelling the Boston Strangler," Roy said.
Doubt that's going to go over too well.
Meanwhile, over in Europe: Israeli Ambassador Kicked Out of Swedish Museum After Vandalizing Art
The art installation, called Snow White and located in the museum's courtyard, featured a basin filled with red water, designed to look like blood.A sailboat with the name Snow White floated on the water, and placed like a sail was a photo of a smiling Hanadi Jaradat, the female lawyer who blew herself up in the Haifa suicide bombing attack in October which killed 21 Israelis.
"For me it was intolerable and an insult to the families of the victims. As ambassador to Israel I could not remain indifferent to such an obscene misrepresentation of reality," the ambassador told Swedish news agency TT.
According to museum director Kristian Berg, the ambassador went berserk in front of the 400 specially-invited guests when he saw the piece.
"He pulled out the plugs and threw one of the spotlights into the fountain which caused the entire installation to short-circuit and made it totally life-threatening," he told TT.
Life-threatening? Well, I'm sure the ambassador will be sternly rebuked for this display of. . .
Sharon praises art vandalismPrime Minister Ariel Sharon has praised the Israeli ambassador to Sweden for vandalising a Stockholm art exhibit about Palestinian suicide bombers, saying the "entire government stands behind him".
[. . .] Sharon expressed unreserved support for the ambassador's action.
"I called our ambassador in Sweden Zvi Mazel last night and thanked him for his strength in dealing with increasing anti-Semitism, and told him that the entire government stands behind him," he told a cabinet meeting.
"I think Ambassador Mazel behaved in an appropriate way," he added. "I think the phenomenon (of anti-Semitism) is so serious that it would have been forbidden not to have acted on the spot.
Dror Feiler, the Israeli-born artist who created Snow White and the Madness of Truth, said it was supposed to call attention to how weak, lonely people can be capable of horrible things.
Israeli-born anti-Semites are the worst kind, you know.
Back in the previous article:
One of the two artists who created the work, Israeli-born Dror Feiler, told AFP the ambassador was "totally unreasonable and undiplomatic" and would not listen to his explanations."He said he was ashamed that I was a Jew," Feiler said. "We see this as an offensive assault on our right to express our thoughts and feelings."
The other artist, Feiler's Swedish wife Gunilla Skoeld Feiler, told daily Expressen that the work was "not a glorification of the suicide bomber."
"I wanted to show how incomprehensible it is that a mother-of-two, who is a lawyer no less, can do such a thing," she said.
"When I saw her picture in the paper, I thought she looked like Snow White, that's why I gave that name to the piece," she added.
Well, see, there's the problem. That's practically treating her like a human being, when everyone knows the Paleostinians are subhuman savages, etc., etc. Oh, that reminds me, in that thread at Tacitus' place, someone did write:
This quote:
"When I heard Bush was coming here I couldn't believe it. I was outraged and disgusted, and I just think it's a photo op. It's so transparent," said Kathy Nicholas, a flight attendant from Atlanta, who was among hundreds of local supporters protesting Bush before his appearance at the tomb of the civil rights leader.
From:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,108508,00.html
Looked to me as a faint echo of the Palestinian repsonse to Sharon's visit to the temple mount. I wonder how similar are the sensibilities.
I wonder what the fuck he's talking about, but that's me.
Ah. And the art destruction story has already spawned a thread at Little Green Footballs. Eh, Static Shock doesn't start for another few hours -- and why it's premiering on Sunday here in Chicago is (Batman) beyond me -- so where's the harm in having a quick look?
Update: Oh, right. Because they're horrific racist morons over there. How could I forget?
As usual, the more I look at this, the more I'm reminded of why I avoid the political stuff lately. From Haaretz: Swedish envoy: artwork exhibited in Stockholm 'in bad taste':
[Sweden's ambassador to Israel Robert Rydvberg] said that the artwork was not a justification of suicide bombers. "The piece is about a Palestinian woman having murdered innocent civilians. It mentions the names of the tragic Israeli victims in Haifa. It is not a justification of suicide bombings. It is in my view an example of bad taste, but I think the whole issue has been blown out of proportion."
Which doesn't quite match the headline, but it's hard to fit all them words in.
[Israel's ambassador to Sweden Zvi Mazel] was unrepentant about damaging the "Snow White and the Madness of Truth" exhibit at Stockholm's Historical Museum. "My wife and I stood there and began to tremble," he said on the Ynet site. "There was the terrorist, wearing perfect makeup and sailing placidly along the rivers of blood of my brothers and the families that were murdered."The envoy told Haaretz that his protest was not spontaneous; he had planned the act after learning about the exhibit in the local press. He said he could not understand how an exhibition devoted to preventing genocide can feature a work that casts the murderer of 22 Israelis as Snow White. "In my eyes, that's not art; it's abominable," he said.
So, that's premeditated destruction of a work of art. By an ambassador. Is it possible to satirize something like this?
The exhibit is the work of an Israeli expatriate musician and artist, Dror Feiler, who has been active in "Jews for Israeli-Palestinian peace," a Stockholm-based group opposed to Israeli activities in the territories. As background music to his exhibit, the Tel Aviv-born Feiler mixed music from Bach's 199 Cantata "My Heart Swims in Blood." Feiler castigated Mazel's action as vandalism."At last, he managed to render something which caused a political outcry - that's what is called artistic terror," Buki Greenberg, a friend of Feiler's and fellow musician-artist, said Saturday.
Feiler told Army Radio Sunday morning that his artwork was misunderstood. "The display itself is against violence. It can be summed up by a biblical quote: 'He who spills human blood shall have his own blood spilled by man,' and this is exactly what we need to put an end to. The Israeli ambassador caused diplomatic and political damage to Israel, and since he is an intellectual midget, his actions were similar to those of a stall owner in a third world country," Feiler said.
Historical Museum Director Kristian Berg said that the exhibit will remain on display. "You can have your own view of what this piece of art is all about, but using violence is never, ever allowed, and it is never allowed to try to silence the artist," he said.
In recent months, Israel's Foreign Ministry has invested considerable effort to ensure that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is kept off the agenda of the genocide conference. "The goal has been to prevent the Durbanization of this conference," a top Foreign Ministry official said Saturday, referring to the eruption of anti-Israeli protests at the 2001 human rights conference in the South African city.
I mean, I can't, but perhaps others are more imaginative.
No one, with the possible exception of Kristian Berg, comes out looking good on this one. The artist was trying to provoke a reaction -- possibly a discussion, but that quote from his friend ain't encouraging -- and the ambassador was only too happy to oblige.
Lost in all this, of course, is the perfectly reasonable question of why a "mother-of-two, who is a lawyer" would choose to kill herself and twenty-two others.
OccupationalHazard.org 10.15.03: Ticking bomb - Vered Levy-Barzilai - Ha'aretzFour months ago, Hanadi Jaradat stood over the freshly dug grave of her brother Fadi and vowed to avenge his death. "Your blood will not have been shed in vain," she is quoted as saying by the Jordanian daily Al-Arab al-Yum. "The murderer will yet pay the price and we will not be the only ones who are crying." Weeping bitterly, she added: "If our nation cannot realize its dream and the goals of the victims, and live in freedom and dignity, then let the whole world be erased."
But why ask questions you already know the answers to?
Comments
"If our nation cannot realize its dream and the goals of the victims, and live in freedom and dignity, then let the whole world be erased."
Does that apply to Israeli's as well? Can the family members of Hanadi Jaradat now kill 22 people apiece? So lets see.. 22x22= a really bad way to reason.
Posted by: Lisa | January 18, 2004 11:21 AM
So if the brothers and sisters of each of the twenty-two people who were killed by this suicide bomber decided to blow themselves up in the midst of Palestinian crowds, you would find this justified and reasonable?
Posted by: kid charlemagne | January 18, 2004 11:30 AM
Here's an Israeli reaction to this story - not from your beloved "right-wingers", but from a left-leaning, spiritually-minded mother of two:
http://imshin.blogspot.com/
Posted by: kid charlemagne | January 18, 2004 11:44 AM
I find it par for the course that the artists don't have their facts right on the suicide bombers. The mother of 2 who murdered the 4 Israelis was not a lawyer. The lawyer who blew herself up killing an Israeli earlier was a lawyer. Mothers of infant children who go commit murder are savages. There is no other description. It's difficult to comprehend but if you are able to obtain copies of the materials that Palestinians indoctrinate their children with, it would remove all your faith in human beings. I haven't seen such depravity since the Nazis.
Posted by: DeShane | January 18, 2004 12:14 PM
Hey DeShane even the Nazis didn't sacrifice their children like the "palestinians" do. ROP my ass.
Posted by: hen | January 18, 2004 12:25 PM
Lisa, I kind'a think "let the whole world be erased" doesn't leave much room for being more extreme, or for retaliation. What with the whole world being erased and all.
kid charlemagne, there's a distinct lack of "justified and reasonable" on anyone's part here. Which may be why I didn't describe anyone's actions in those terms, and I'm not sure why you seem to think I did.
DeShane, hen, you're. . . not helping.
Posted by: Aaron | January 18, 2004 12:34 PM
Vandalize what? How can one vandalize shit?
Posted by: cubanbob | January 18, 2004 12:34 PM
I guess "uppity" is synonymous with "dumb as a brick and proud of it."
Posted by: 44ruger | January 18, 2004 12:37 PM
Speaking as one "horrific racist moron" to another, I wonder how you would feel if someone, purely in a spirit of "artistic expression" you understand, did a bit of "art work" like this, only the tank was filled with urine and feces. And in the tank, floating around in a little boat, was a picture of Martin Luther King, with the caption "Just Another Black Turd", or some such pleasantry.
Given that, under such a circumstance, not only would the "art work" be defaced, but most likely the entire museum burned to the ground along with everyone in it (hey, it's been done before; ask Al Sharpton), the point is clear to all with more than two brain cells to rub together.
It all depends on whose ox is being gored...
Posted by: The Captain | January 18, 2004 12:54 PM
Its a shame for the artist that the exhibit was damaged, but in the long run, it will probably benefit him/her in terms of the publicity this incident will generate.
More people need to get the world out about how Israel is oppressing the Palestinians. Until the oppression stops, suicide bombings and other forms of violence will surely continue.
Posted by: Joseph | January 18, 2004 1:09 PM
"DeShane, hen, you're. . . not helping."
One cannot help a deliberate enabler of racism who has blinded himself to the truth. Tell it to Francis Bok. Unlike you, he's a man who stands on his own two feet and is not interested in assisting Islamofascism's spread:
http://www.iabolish.com/news/press-kit/bio/francis.htm
Posted by: Ernest Brown | January 18, 2004 1:33 PM
Ernest, which truth is it I'm blinding myself to this time? I tend to lose track, there being so many contradictory truths floating around.
Captain, so you're comparing the Israeli ambassador to Al Sharpton? That seems a bit rude. And I somehow missed that burning down a museum with everyone in it thing; got a link to a story?
Posted by: Aaron | January 18, 2004 1:56 PM
I would like to see the american ambassador keeping his cool and smiling politely while looking at the piece of "art" glorifying the 9/11 massacre.
Posted by: Samuel deVries | January 18, 2004 4:57 PM
"A hundred times I have been asked why we have allowed little children to march in demonstrations, to freeze and suffer in jails, to be exposed to bullets and dynamite. The questions imply that we have revealed a want of family feeling or a recklessness toward family security. The answer is simple. Our children and our families are maimed a little every day of our lives. If we can end an incessant torture by a single climactic confrontation, the risks are acceptable. Moreover, our family life will be born anew if we fight together. Other families may be fortunate enough to be able to protect their young from danger. Our families, as we have seen, are different. Oppression has again and again divided and splintered them. We are a people torn apart from era to era. It is logical, moral, and psychologically constructive for us to resist oppression united as families. Out of this unity, out of the bond of fighting together, forges will come. The inner strength and integrity will make us whole again." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don't know, seemed apropos in the context of discussing what one might consider savage. Because, you know, perspective and context might be different when living different experiences.
Posted by: Jason | January 18, 2004 5:05 PM
44ruger: Precisely.
Posted by: kid charlemagne | January 18, 2004 7:26 PM
Gee thanks, Pontius Pilate, your not-so-implicit denial of the reality of modern Islamic enslavement of "uppity" (i.e. faithful to animist and Christian traditions) Africans is duly noted and despised.
Posted by: Ernest Brown | January 18, 2004 11:17 PM
What they didn't report was that same ambassador expressed distaste with his dinner that evening. Shouting incoherently, he flipped over his table and accused the chef of "seasoning ant-semitically".
Honestly, he's an ambassador. I say turn it into an international incident by calling attention to the display saying "these people are glorifying terrorism". You can engage in a debate at that point. Going balistic and smashing shit just reinforces the belief that Israel's solution to the "Palestinean Problem" is to uhh...go balistic and smash shit.
Sorry, late to the party and I'm not wearing shoes.
Posted by: Ramon | January 19, 2004 2:43 AM
Comment in no particular order
Ramon:
You got a cite for him turning over the dinner table? Haven't found anything in Google.
As for making an international incident, Israel had already protested, and the Swedish government did 2 things:
1) Assured Israel no exhibits regarding the conflict (from either side) would be shown.
2) Removed the only pro-Israeli exhibit.
Makes you all warm and fuzzy regarding the efficacy of diplomacy, doesn't it? I don't agree with what Mazel did, but it definately wasn't a first resort.
Aaron:
Re "life-threatening", there seems to be a contradiction here. If he "ripped out electrical wires" and then shoved the light into the pool, how could he short circuit it? You might want to watch the video of the incident; he didn't "rip out electrical wires", but rather unplugged all of them from the power source. If that still electrified the pool, I hope someone checked the wiring in that building fast.
Posted by: Eyal | January 19, 2004 11:56 AM
Eyal, I think it was pretty obvious that Ramon's joke about "seasoning anti-semtitically" is, um, a joke.
The Captain, on the other hand, seems quite confident that Negroes can't handle insulting art. Which is odd, since the very next thread on this web site discusses our failure to react to (supposedly) insulting art. Odd, that.
And I was relying on press reports, specifically the quote from the museum director. I have limits, and rolling the videotape on an ambassador tearing up shit at a museum goes beyond them.
As does Ernest's accusation that I'm denying. . . wait, you're mentioning Pontius Pilate in a discussion about Israel?
Are you insane?
Posted by: Aaron | January 19, 2004 12:34 PM
>>Eyal, I think it was pretty obvious that Ramon's joke about "seasoning anti-semtitically" is, um, a joke.
Unfortunately, you can never be sure these days (I've seen more outlandish stuff reported as news)
Posted by: Eyal | January 20, 2004 12:18 PM
"blah blah blah blah islamofascist" zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
aaron, you have bigger stones than i do - i was going to post a twenty page flaming fucking rant about the whole damn thing, and then just hung my head and wept with despair, predicting that the usual people would react in the usual manner.
*[probably ineffective] troll repellant:* i also found the articles at islamic fundamentalist websites equally misinterpreting the piece of artwork the same way, only in defense of it as supporting their side, to be equally depressing. also: terrorism very, very bad.
in her undergraduate level my wife did a performace art piece which utilized dance and a spliced video tape of scenes from popular hollywood films in which women were brutalized for dramatic/titillating effect; the artwork was intended to provoke one to think about, among other things, the way that violence against women is fetishized by hollywood. some, but not all, of these movies were protested by feminist groups when originally released. interestingly, more than one upset individual came up to her after her performance and accused her of "glorifying violence against women" with the piece.
how do you create art that addresses the issue of human suffering in a historical context without upsetting and offending some people? it is impossible. it is urgently necessary to create such art however. it is good that people write letters and blog posts saying what they think about it, one way or the other. but vandalizing art has a rather uncomfortable history we should consider very carefully.
Posted by: r@d@r | January 20, 2004 6:50 PM
Extra long strings of characters are not kind to web design.
Posted by: Michelle | January 20, 2004 7:42 PM
DOH!
feel free to delete part or all of my comment as necessary, or preferred.
Posted by: r@d@r | January 22, 2004 4:23 PM