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Artistic Sign Language: Symbols of the Coming Bush Fall
By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers
Sign is symbol, symbol is sign. Consider:
*Powell goes to the United Nations so that the missile attacks on Baghdad
and Basra can begin -- and, in the lobby of that grand building, Picasso's
"Guernica" painting, which depicts the horrific results of the Nazi bombing
of that Spanish town, is covered over prior to Powell's arrival. No use
embarrassing the U.S. by reminding folks of what's in store for Iraqi
civilians.
*Ashcroft, in his police-state zeal, begins shredding the Constitution's Bill
of Rights with its guarantees of due-process of law, and, early on, has the
huge lobby statue of the Goddess of Justice draped and covered over
because of its exposed breast. How appropriate to shroud Justice so that
she can't see what's being done in her name.
*First Lady Laura Bush cancels a poetry workshop at the White House
because she suspects that a number of America's high-profile poets, in the
sacred grounds of that seat of power, will raise the issue of the coming
war with Iraq.
Did you notice the thread that unites these events? In all three cases,
symbolic shrouds are placed over art, so that nobody will notice the bad
things that are being done in American citizens' names.
But art knows. Art sees beyond, often before the general public is aware
of what's going on. (Often before the artists themselves are conscious of
what they're revealing.) Art points us in new directions that make us think
and question.
To those inclined more to rigid-order mentality, art is a virus that needs to
be stamped out, or, at the least, tightly controlled. ("When I hear the
word culture," said Nazi leader Goebbels, "I reach for my revolver.")
It's all part of the so-called "cultural civil war." Those who control the signs
and symbols control the polity. Thus, minions are trotted out to denounce
artists and their tendency to look for complexity, ironies, hypocrisies,
hidden humor. To incipient fascists, the world is a Manichean one, divided
into black and white, those who are Good and those who are Evil ("You're
either for us or against us").
And since they are certain that God obviously favors their side, it follows
that those in opposition -- or even (or especially) those who point the way
to other visions of complex reality -- are part of the enemy forces and
must be dealt with.
One problem with authoritarianism -- whatever brand comes along: Stalin's
communism, or Hitler's fascism, or Islamic Talibanism, or whatever we're
moving into in America right now -- is that it makes art more delicious and
tempting. The public is not dumb and eventually comes to figure out that
the "truth" being propounded by the frightened rulers does not match the
world most citizens actually live in. And so they begin to seek out and
support art and artists and, most of all, comedians -- those sly artisans,
those holy fools, that can shake the foundations of power with a well-
aimed dart.
Musicians, playwrights, poets, painters, sculptors, dancers, novelists,
filmmakers, online satirists, comics -- everything these artists do in an
authoritarian society comes to be seen by the public in the light of the
repression visited from above.
A story to illustrate this point: American avant-garde theater artist George
Coates was invited to bring his visual extravaganzas to Poland during the
dark times there. One of the huge slide projections used by Coates was of
a manhole cover, which image covered the entire staging area. Various
human forms emerged from the holes -- i.e., real actors came out of holes
in the stage, but, given the projection, they appeared to be emerging
from the holes in the manhole cover.
The audience took this in with rapt silence and then a few brave souls
began clapping. Then waves and waves of applause and cheering washed
over the actors. Coates was mystified by the audience reaction. Audiences
in the U.S. loved this bit of theatrical magic, to be sure, but nothing like
this Polish crowd.
After the show, various Polish theater artists came backstage to talk to
Coates and his cast. They nudged Coates in the ribs and whispered their
admiration for his willingness to confront the Polish Communist rulers by
celebrating the "underground." Yes, what was merely an interesting use of
a visual image for Coates was a cunning reference to the underground
resistance of a budding Solidarity movement. After a few attempts at
explaining himself, Coates simply smiled and nodded as the Poles heaped
praise on his revolutionary "political" art.
Art has power. Art unmasks. Art tells lies in the service of truth. (Whereas
governments lie in order to conceal truth.)
The more lies authoritarian governments tell their citizens, the more a sub
rosa consciousness bubbles up from the culture's artists and then from its
ordinary citizens. It's a slow-growing and, at times, dangerous movement --
which is why the forces of reaction try so hard to stomp on it -- but it is
an amazingly strong and vital and resilient force.
Because totalitarian governments rest on fake foundations, when those
regimes fall, they fall with amazing quickness and ferocity. One day there's
a wall, the next day it's torn down and the celebrations begin. One day
there is officially sanctioned art, the next day those huge statues are
toppled. One day, the culture arbiters and censors are in control, the
next day they are in disgrace -- or in jail.
Americans, still gripped by fear from 9/11, have tended to be in a state of
animated numbness, putting up little resistance to the machinations of the
authoritarian rulers. Similarly, out of great sympathy for the post-
9/11United States, various nations around the world bowed to the wishes
of the Bush government.
Bush&Co., meeting little resistance, interpreted this relative lack of
opposition as full support for their programs, foreign and domestic. And so
they've continued to want more, tighten the screws more, reach and then
over- reach for more. Their motto and guiding principle seems to be: "We
can't be stopped, so let's just go take it all."
Suddenly, though, Bush&Co. are running into overt opposition. Their allies
abroad are telling them -- to their face -- that current American policies
are mad, wrong, dangerous. More and more conservative allies at home are
warning the Bush Administration that their dash toward imperial rule
abroad and draconian Constitution-shredding at home is a violation of what
America stands for, and will bring the United States (and, given the
economic interweavings between nations, much of the world as well)
nothing but disaster.
The current U.S. rulers will not alter their course. It's war with Iraq, full
speed ahead and to hell with the rest of you -- especially ignorant "old
Europe," and American dissidents at home. It's a proposed extension of the
so-called USA Patriot Act, to give the federal government even more
martial- law-like police powers in controlling the society -- the "cover" is
hunting for terrorists, of course -- and to hell with the protections
guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
These Bush&Co. leaders are so arrogant, so rude, so greedy and power-
hungry, so taken with themselves as God's mesengers and as the world's
only Superpower, so convinced they are right in the tunnel-vision black-
and-white world they inhabit, that it's clear their days are numbered. It
may take a bit longer to build to critical mass -- and there is going to be
death and destruction and persecution while that momentum is being built
up -- but when the time for their fall arrives, it's going to be quick and
nasty. And we'll finally all wake up from this nightmare that has crushed
our economy, diminished our moral light in the world, disgraced our
beloved Constitution and country.
And at the vanguard of this movement away from the shadow America and
back into the light will be our our poets, our comedians, our painters, our
playwrights, our novelists, and so on -- "dangerous" artists all, even when
they're not political. They simply see too much, too clearly.
A toast to their hungry vision.
-------
Bernard Weiner, a Ph.D. in government & international relations, has
taught at various universities, served as theater critic for the San
Francisco Chronicle, and written widely for progressive journals. He is co-
editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes.)
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