Censorship: Cote St-Luc library, is it specific Group library or all citizen library?

 

Mr. Libman;

 

We the Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM) are appalled at your decision to censor the work of Kazami. Yet we witness another bureaucratic bullying, discriminatory action aimed at art and freedom of _expression_.

 

The removal of the Kazemi exhibition from the Cote St. Luc Library because "it offended the sensibilities of the Jewish Community", photos of Israelis soldiers carrying weapons in the Kazami show, why was the objection only directed at the Palestinians' showing. Why the double standard, the bias representations, the fear and effacement of the "other".

 

Many of the North American Jewish are in a state of "denial," because they refuse to admit the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians. They are destroying their own credibility by censuring all culture and art that depicts the suffering of the Palestinian people. There is more freedom and debate about this issue in Israel itself, than there is in North America.

 

Might I remind you that Arabs and Palestinians in this country also contribute with their taxes to maintain those libraries.

 

Libraries are and should always be an open forum for all communities. It does not belong to a single community.

These subjects were obviously the artist's initial choices to photograph, and they ought to be shown and respected. Enough with the cultural hegemony, censorship, racist exclusions.

 

We call on all people to send their protests to:

Mayor Libman: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ,

CSL Library: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 

Example of messages;

 

Dear Friends:

 

This morning The CBC reported the removal of the Kazemi exhibition from the Cote St. Luc Library because "it offended the sensibilities of the Jewish Community."

 

Some of the photographs included in the exhibition, were sympathetic to the Palestinian Intefada against the Israeli occupation.

 

I called into the radio noon show, as did others, to complain about the fact that the North American Jewish Cummunity is in a state of "denial," because they refuse to admit the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians. In the long run, the Jews are destroying their own credibility by censuring all culture and art that depicts the suffering of the Palestinian people.

 

There is more freedom and debate about this issue in Israel itself, than there is in North America.

 

Nadia Alexan

 

 

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Subject: Censorship: Cote St-Luc library !!!!

 

I am appalled at your decision to censor the work of Kazami. Yet we witness another bureaucratic bullying, discriminatory action aimed at art and freedom of _expression_. Might I remind you that Arabs and Palestinians in this country also contribute with their taxes to maintain those libraries. Libraries are and should always be an open forum for all communities. It does not belong to a single community . There are photos of Israelis soldiers carrying weapons in the Kazami show , why was the objection only directed at the Palestinians' showing. Why the double standard, the bias representations, the fear and effacement of the "other". These subjects were obviously the artist's initial choices to photograph, and they ought to be shown and respected. Enough with the cultural hegemony, censorship, racist exclusions. I am certain that there are books in your library's content that are as "controversial"

and "menacing" as Kazami's images. Where and when will it stop, your censorships, your fears and ignorance that is?

 

Rawi Hage

Montreal

 

 

 

 

Library removes Kazemi photos after complaint

07 Jun 2005 CBC Arts

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/06/07/Arts/kazemiexhibit050607.html

 

An exhibition of work by slain Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi has been shut down, following complaints it was too sympathetic to the Palestinian uprising.

 

Last week, a collection of 23 black-and-white photos Kazemi took during her travels in countries like Israel, Iran and Afghanistan opened at a municipal library in the Montreal borough of C�te Saint-Luc, which has a large Jewish population.

 

A library patron complained that several of the photos depict scenes of the intefadeh, the Palestinian uprising in Israel, and of Palestinian refugee camps. Gallery officials decided to remove five images.

 

Kazemi's son Stephan Hachemi told Radio-Canada Monday that dismantling the exhibition shows a lack of respect.

 

"To me, this is truly a violation of the spirit of my mother's work," he said.

 

Hachemi gave the borough an ultimatum – either display all the photos or none of them – so organizers have closed the exhibit.

 

C�te Saint-Luc Mayor Robert Libman told CBC News Tuesday that the library's gallery isn't there to provoke controversy.

 

"It's a very complicated conflict, and to create an impression where the Palestinian cause is being martyred by oppression by the Israeli government, we don't consider that to be a fair portrait," Libman said.

He added that, in the future, such politically charged work won't be displayed at the library.

 

The borough council had commissioned the exhibition to draw attention to the ongoing fight to find out what happened to Kazemi, who died in Tehran on July 11, 2003.

 

At the time, the Montreal-based photographer was in the custody of local police, who had arrested her for shooting pictures of a student demonstration outside an Iranian prison.

 

 

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/

Please visit also:  www.apm-ram.org

Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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