SUPPORT WAFAA BILAL
Freedom of artistic expression is being compromised at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
An Iraqi born artist, now US citizen, Wafaa Bilal's work was shut
down at the West Hall Art Department Gallery. It was then re-opened at the Sanctuary for Independent Media on March 11, then closed the day after it opened, due to apparent breaches of the 'fire code' (the door was slightly too small).
Wafaa escaped from Iraq in the early 1990's risking his life by
crossing the Iraq/Kuwait border and is now a professor at the School
of Art Institute of Chicago. He was invited to RPI as part of the art
department artist residency program and is exhibiting a work entitled
"Virtual Jihadi" that consists of a "hacked" version of another
commercial video game called "Quest for Saddam." In the real game
players target the ex-Iraqi leader, in Wafaa's modified version the
artist casts himself as a suicide bomber who gets sent on a mission to
assassinate President Bush Jr.
"It feels like a military camp, not an educational institution," said
Bilal, 41.
The piece is an anti-war allegory, but the public has been misled by a
Times-Union article reprinting accusations by RPI Campus Republicans
that the school's arts department is harboring "terrorists." Bilal
himself is a US citizen and a noted pacifist whose work of the
last several years has been dedicated almost exclusively to ending
violence.
What you can do:
1. write emails to President Jackson president@rpi.edu supporting the
decision of the Art Department, and to Harry J. Tutunjian, Mayor of Troy, NY at MayorsOffice@Troyny.gov
CC all emails to freetroyletters@gmail.com. Letters are being collected on Free Troy's blog at http://freetroyletters.wordpress.com.
MORE ON THE STORY
From Washington Post
"Terror-Themed Game Suspended Iraqi-Born Artist Asserts Censorship After
Exhibit Is Shut Down"
Article from the Times Union, Albany, NY "RPI suspends 'Virtual Jihadi'"
Sanctuary for Independent Media coverage
Wafaa interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGzb6lNLY98
SUPPORT WARD CHURCHILL
Scholar and activist Ward Churchill was recently fired from the University of Colorado. For details on how you can help out, follow this link. There is also a good article by Gary Leupp on the situation, and on academic freedom here.
SUPPORT NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago for his views on the Israeli/ Palestine conflict. For updates on the campaign and how you can help, follow this link, and this link, aptly named "Finkelgate". Online petition here. Norman Finkelstein's official website is here.
This page will be regularly updated. This page will allow for posting soon, but for now, to suggest an announcement, please email Kirsten Forkert
SUPPORT WAFAA BILAL
His work is being censored at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
For more info on the situation, links and suggestions on how to take action, see here.
SCREENING OF STRANGE CULTURE at CAA 2008, the film about the CAE court case.
Friday, Feb.21 2008 12:30-2:30.
More information here.
CAA 2009 session: Migration Struggles and Migratory Aesthetics. More information here.
New text by Gene Ray
see Reading Room.
As Radical as Reality Itself: Essays on Marxism and Art for the 21st century is now available at this link.
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