Hi All, Respect for your thoughts so far.
I can see a strong argument for keeping the various political elements separate 1) one man's vociferous public support of Israeli State agression, 2) one man's enormous influence over NYC politics and global news media 3) one man's faith 4) his corporation's sponsorship of contemporary art. But for better or worse these elements do not remain separate these days. They flow together more and more- and fast- and I can see an argument for engaging with this phenomenon. And I can't see this as just *one man*. This is Michael Bloomberg, a public figure who uses the various power-tools of the networked age, to great effect, for his own political gain. The artists initiating this project definitely lay themselves open to accusations of political opportunism by aligning themselves with the Palestinian cause. However their critique and pushing back at politically dubious infrastructures of contemporary art seems like a valid impulse to me. Even if it is messy. Lastly I recognise that I may just be horribly niaive and not have any kind of grasp on the mechanisms of religious hatred. But while my jury is still out I'm really pleased that I posted the project here on the list because the dialogue that followed has given me lots to think about. cheers! Ruth Simon Biggs wrote: > It isn’t clear whether the target of the boycott is Bloomberg the > person, the politician (mayor of NYC, etc) or the corporation - one of > the largest news companies in the world which sets agendas in government > and the media? If either of the latter then I’d say they are fair game. No difference is being drawn, though. The latter are being targeted because of *what* the former is. If people wish to show solidarity with Gazan civilians, and to critique corporate domination of the arts, throw this misbegotten project away and start two separate projects that don't start with identifying a Jew to target. - Rob. I worry that there is a conflation of two issues here, that could lead to this project being perceived as anti-semitic and, worse, actually engendering anti-semitism, rather than political opposition to the state of Israel and its barbaric behaviour. The first is the issue of support for the Palestinians and the other the corporate sponsorship of art. I'm all for ,for example, campaigns for dis-investment or for a boycott of Israeli goods or for the cultural boycott of Israeli *institutions*; campaigns that target political Zionism, not Jewish individuals. Likewise I'm all for campaigning against the BBC and the British media in general's abject capitulation to Israel. On the second issue also it seems to me that there's a lot to be said for all sorts of comment and campaigns against the corporate presence in art ( and indeed in academia and pretty much everywhere) But to target a *particular* Jewish individual , with a *particularly* Jewish name, to link this in with the possible implication there is a *particular* connection between Jewishness, suuport for the state of Israel and the corporate presence in art seem to me to risk ( unintentionally I hope) reviving the worst kind of anti-semitic propaganda. At a time when political Zionism is doing its very best to muddy the waters between what constitutes opposition to Zionism and anti-semitism, so as to smear those who opposed the Gaza massacre and those who stand solidarity with the Palestinians this is, to put it at its very best, playing a dangerous game. michael --- On Mon, 2/16/09, Ruth Catlow <[email protected]> wrote: From: Ruth Catlow <[email protected]> Subject: [NetBehaviour] [Fwd: BOYCOTT BLOOMBERG - CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS] To: "NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 2:20 PM WE ARE LOOKING FOR ARTISTS & WRITERS TO CONTRIBUTE TO A 'FREE SCHOOL' MAGAZINE WORK SHOULD RELATE TO THE RECENT ATTACKS IN GAZA, THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE, MEDIA BIAS, THE CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP OF ART, BLOOMBERG, ART AS A SPECULATIVE COMMODITY, ART & PROTEST, AND OTHER ASSOCIATED OR RELEVANT SUBJECTS. THE MAGAZINE WILL BE LAUNCHED ON 6 MARCH OUTSIDE ARTFUTURES AT BLOOMBERG SPACE. CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD BE B&W TO FIT A4 SIZE, AND SENT TO THE FOLLOWING EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] DEADLINE 1 MARCH. PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO ANYONE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED Thanks, Free School. 'Boycott Bloomberg' artwork by Andrew Cooper & Dean Kenning _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
