a voice crying in the wilderness
Peter Tatchell is fabulous, and absolutely irrepressible. We love him!
The AP photo caption reads:
Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell makes a protest as he stands in the crowd that were spectating the royal wedding between Britain’s Prince Charles and the Camilla Duchess of Cornwall in Windsor England Saturday April 9, 2005.
[image by Peter Tarry from the Associated Press pool; caption also from the AP]
Maurizio Cattalan La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) 1999 carpet, glass, wax, paint as lifesize figure
The incredible fanatical scene which surrounded the death of Karol Wojtyla should be slowing down now that he’s buried, but already the latest headlines ominously suggest that the next story will be his canonization. Do we care? Yes, because most of it is a big lie, it was invented by his contemporaries for evil purposes, and unlike its ostensible subject, this one’s not going to die.
This pope had a lot of time to write and talk in more than twenty-five years of personal autocracy, and it’s mostly all out there on record. Norman Birnbaum’s piece, “An Ambiguous Papacy,” in the newest Nation [the entire text is only available in the print edition or on-line to subscribers] argues that while some of this stern pontiff’s lectures were directed toward enlightened ends like the critiques of war, capitalism and (eventually) capital punishment [all ultimately without any success], when it came to his appalling positions so dearly loved by the media, like those related to gender and sexuality, the man was a total disaster [an amazing success] for ordinary people all over the world, regardless of their sacramental status. His “culture of life” was empty, morally bankrupt, from the beginning.
He was an inflexible traditionalist in denying equality to women in church and society. He regarded homosexuals as sinners and so legitimized the most primitive of hatreds. These are not just matters of dogma. The Vatican’s opposition to birth control programs contributes to the poverty of the Third World; its refusal to accept the use of condoms likely facilitated the spread of AIDS; its coalitions with Islamists in international bodies reinforced their capacity to deny rights to women.
Argument and experiment within the church, so creative under John XXIII, gave way to a personalized party line. The great alternative tradition of Catholicism, conciliar church government with the participation of the governed, was consigned to the history books. Theologian Father Hans Küng declared the papacy of John Paul II a monarchical nightmare. Often, the most engaged groups of the Catholic laity had to struggle with their own church for the right to carry its social doctrines into the public arena. The fate of the liberation theology movement is a striking example: In a continent desperate for justice, it was pronounced heretical–setting back reform of Latin American society a generation.
. . .
[In Europe, the] Christian [Roman Catholic] social parties have recently put their energies into an entirely symbolic campaign to write into the European constitution an affirmation of Europe’s “Christian identity”–or into supporting anti-Muslim campaigns. In Italy itself, the Vatican and bishops have allied themselves with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a figure who hardly reminds us of Saint Francis.
The case of American Catholicism is especially disappointing. Our great social achievement, the development of an American welfare state, owes much to Catholic thinkers and organizations. . . . . Nevertheless the American Catholic Church–despite the Pope’s opposition to the Iraq War, the Bush doctrines of global domination, and the sovereignty of the market–contributed to the defeat of John Kerry. Prominent cardinals and bishops instructed Catholics not to vote for him because of his views on the rights of homosexuals and women.
Too much was given to this man; the least we can do is stop now. This was more than a horrible waste of a life; his was responsible for wasting those of countless others, and the evil will continue for generations.
The shoes of the fisherman stink.
[Cattalan image from artthrob; image of Pope Paul VI’s red shoes from spiritrestoration]
Just call me anti-pope, but the incredible AP story headline looks to me like someone’s fantasy: “Americans Mourning the Death of Pope.” And not to be outdone, their competition, Reuters, has a story with a banner even more over-the-top, “Pope John Paul Dies, World Mourns.”
Now our media will be telling us repeatedly that we’re all waiting around for the appearance of his reincarnation, when his reactionary staff chooses his reactionary doppelganger. With a Dalai Lama at least, the world has an even chance each time he dies off.
I’m just sorry they didn’t plug him in, as I said two days ago.
For a brief starter course on papal malevolence and malefactory, see Buggery.org.
Jor-El, father of Superman
I haven’t posted much of a true politcal nature lately. Frankly, I’ve felt that the game is over as far as this benighted nation is concerned. We’ve failed as a society and as a republic. Except for my concern about this exceptional international republic called New York, I think I may have given up.
The damage is already too mortal. At this point I have no interest in incremental change. You’re not likely to find me at meetings any more. The option of revolt, which would require a count of people and a kind of awareness and courage totally inconceivable in a country which thinks the Democratic Party is The Left, would seem to be out of the question as a viable means for rescuing this state – in spite of Jefferson’s suggestion that we needed a revolution every twenty years. For the sensitive individual who mourns his country’s death both as an idea and as a reality, I see no real alternative but emigration, even if it is only an internal emigration. For now, I’ll be staying in New York City – and traveling abroad as much as possible. Like Tony Kushner’s Homebody, I love the world!
I see no argument why a reasonable person should raise a hand, even a computer keyboard finger, to fight for something the rest of America clearly doesn’t want. As hard as it has been to accept, I have finally come to the conclusion that most of my fellow citizens actually have the goverment they want right now. I don’t know how else to explain George Bush or the complacence of the entire population in the face of the tyranny, and stupidity, of this administration.
I have no doubt that there is going to be hell to pay, and although it will continue to be paid for by others all around the world, in the end we will not escape the damages ourselves. We will disintegrate. We can only hope we will be quaint enough, and sufficiently nonviolent, to attract foreign tourism.
The forces of ignorance, superstition, hatred and greed have certainly prevailed nationally and, because the institutions which might have saved us seem to have been irreversibly corrupted, I don’t see the country coming out of this in my lifetime. I hope I’m wrong, as I was when decades ago I assumed that the liberalism of the 60’s would just continue to thrive and expand here and everywhere, but I doubt it.
Arthur Miller doesn’t seem to have ever had any illusions about the triumph of goodness and light in this much-too-proud republic. A letter [by Barbara Allen Kenney] in the latest issue of The Nation reminds its readers of an article Miller wrote wrote in the NYTimes shortly before the 1972 election. He was addressing the reasons why George McGovern’s candidacy had not attracted serious support.
What this tells about our inner attitudes, I think, is that we are far more apprehensive than we are confident of ourselves; and that what we want in a political leader is enough larceny, enough insensitivity to permit him to do our dirty work for us, to fight dirty in a dirty world.
Miller was writing in an era when all four American “estates” were like pillars of the Enlightenment compared to the miserable players we have today. More than thirty years later the goverment of the most powerful nation on earth is fighting very, very dirty.
We’re all doomed.
If and when I begin to feel otherwise, it will show up here. Is that a qualification of everything I’ve written above? Maybe. After living with it all these years, how can I now let a mechanical George Bush doll take away my essentially pollyanna outlook?
[image from theages]
Opal Petty 1918-2005
She was 16 when her family had her committed to a mental hospital.
“Being fundamentalist Baptists her family didn’t approve of her wanting to go out dancing and such things. A church exorcism didn’t work, so the family made the decision to commit her.”
The quote is from the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, Jim Harrington, the man who fought successfully for Opal Petty‘s right to return to society after 51 years.
She died one week ago at the age of 86, damaged by an “institutional syndrome,” but having lived nearly twenty years with people who loved and cared for her, and who were responsible for her resurrection.
Petty’s story should strike a painful chord in the hearts of most girls and women, and certainly queers of any age, who as little children were chastised by their families, to any degree, for behaving inapproriately. Some of us make it through.
[1994 image by Larry Kolvoord/The Austin American-Statesman via the NYTimes]
drawing from a pre-school Chechynan child
To Chechnya with art, with deep concern, and love too.
A number of artists from around the world have organized what they are calling the “EMERGENCY BIENNALE in CHECHNYA.”
The extraordinary occasion, a work of conceptional art itself, will be inaugurated tomorrow, February 23, at 5 pm with a press conference at le Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Thereafter a suitcase filled with works, projects and concepts by more than 60 artists from all over the world will “hit the road,” to be delivered in Grozny to a location yet to be finalized. The project is co-curated by Evelyne Jouanno and the artist Jota Castro with the support of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH).
Duplicates of the works and documentation packed in the suitcase sent to Chechnya will be displayed in Paris until April 23.
All kinds of information on Chechnya will also be presented [in le Palais de Tokyo]. Mylene Sauloy’s and Manon Loizeau’s films on daily life and culture of Chechens since the beginning of the first war in 1994 will be screened.
In addition, an internet post with webcam and direct access to the website created for the occasion – http://www.emergencybiennale.org – will do its utmost to connect with Chechen partners, to receive images and information on the suitcase and the organization of the exhibition in Grozny. A discussion forum will also offer an opportunity to react and exchange on the subject across and beyond all borders.
A publication is in preparation. It will comprise texts on the situation of human rights, some theoretical articles on art, political and social sciences as well as images of the various artistic projects.
[tip from e-Flux, image from sauseschritt, where it was accompanied by the text I’ve copied below]
terror und gegenterror in tschetschenien: aus einem 2002 veröffentlichten bericht (der russischen föderation und der republik chechnya) über die lage des Bildungswesens in tschetschenien stammen folgendes zitat und die kinderzeichnungen:
pre-school children were born and lived during war and continue to live in war affected situation. the psychological condition of children could be described by words and expressions like terror, reserved disposition, cautiousness in behavior with other adults, insufficient level of development of native speech, poor imagination, absence of variety of emotions …
[my] English translation of the German above:
terror and counterterror in Chechnya: these drawings and the following quotation comes from an official report (of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Chechnya) published in 2002 on conditions within the Chechnyan education system:
a girl holds a poster reading ‘Seriously damages human rights’ during an anti-Bush demonstration in front of the US Embassy in Brussels today
Of course, like most people outside this country, William Pfaff knows that Bush doesn’t really know a damn thing, so in this excellent discussion of the enormous and essential divide between the U.S. and the European world he addresses the myths held by a much larger constituency, the one which has made that little man President – and still likes what it sees.
Why Bush will fail in Europe
The President has an enormous political gulf to bridge. The trouble is, he doesn’t even know it’s there
William Pfaff
Observer, February 20
[Mr Bush’s] trip will fail because he and his administration do not understand what really divides most continental European governments from the US … Few Europeans believe either in the global “war on terror” or the “war against tyranny,” as Washington describes them.
American claims about the threat of terrorism seem grossly exaggerated, and the American reaction disproportionate and even hysterical … The invasion of Iraq is widely regarded in Europe as irrelevant to the reality of terrorism, overwrought in scale and destruction, and perverse in effect, vastly deepening hostility between the western powers and Muslim society … Many Europeans believe it is not the world that has changed, but the United States.
[these excerpts from the full article appeared on a Guardian page covering the attitude of the world’s press to the purposes of Bush’s European visit]
I don’t know how I’m going to be able to stay.
[image by Jacques Colett for Agence France Presse Belgium]
the “politicization” of the gates!
Many thanks to Noah Lyon for giving me the opportunity of pulling together my last two posts about art and politics (and maybe a good many more of these blogs, going back almost three years) with an email to which these photos were attached. The elegant sticker in the pictures is Noah’s art, and my caption is taken straight from his message. Of course none of us knows much about the specifics of this particular “politicization” operation.
Incidently, for those who might be disturbed by the negativity of some of their critics, remember that we’re still all part of their art, according to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, even when we quibble about or shout at The Gates.* It’s such a burden.
| * | “The work is not only the fabric, the steel poles, and the fence. The art project is right now, here. Everybody here is part of the work. If they want it, if they dont want it, either way they are a part of the work� I believe very strongly that twentieth century art is not a single, individualistic experience.” – Christo |
[the images from Michael Carreira via Noah Lyon]
paradise, an imaginary park where “Fair Use” really is doctrine
Hide those cameras and sketchpads if you’re planning on using them in Central Park this month, and even if you’re not going, think of an alternative phrase to describe those 7500 orange-ish shower curtains. Do Christo and Jeanne-Claude own Central Park? Their publisher at least seems to think so, according to a post in Infoshop News by street artist and dedicated artists’ rights gadfly Robert Laderman.
Christo’s publisher [Kunst-Verlag Schumacher/Edition Fils] claims a vast new degree of copyright and trademark protection. They claim they will prosecute anyone who sells their own original photos of The Gates; who makes and sells a drawing of The Gates or who even uses the words, The Gates, without their permission. They claim to have copyrighted the words, The Gates. They also claim to have an agreement with the media that media sources may only use news photos of the gates for the period the installation is up. That after that the media will only be allowed to use “official” photos of The Gates.
They also claim that all of Central Park is now “private property.” Talk about privatization! Be sure to thank Christo, Bloomscrooge and the CPC [Central Park Conservancy, the private group which now controls New York’s parks, or at least the areas enjoyed by communities of money – ed.].
Don’t forget the Maybach.
[image of Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise” from Artchive; story tip from Robert Boyd]
Leon Golub Two Heads (II) 1986 oil on canvas 21″ x 68″
It’s a terrific show, and don’t let thoughts like that expressed in the remark of the guy we passed on our way across 20th Street deter you. We heard him tell his companion, “If there’s one thing I don’t like it’s the politicization of art.”
Full disclosure: If you’ve been reading these pages for even a little while you already know that I have no problem with the “politicization” of art – any more than I have a problem with art which addresses any other subject. Man is both the creator and the subject of all art, and the root of the word, “politics” is the Greek word for “people.”
The Jack Shainman show was organized by Claude Simard and it will be up until March 12. The title is a mouthful to be sure: “The Whole World is Rotten: Free Radicals and the Gold Coast Slave Castles of Paa Joe,” and the content may be a headful, but there’s beauty and power in the images of the mid-twentieth-century activist reponse to centuries of racism, and the continuing engagement of contemporary artists, which are included in this exhibition.
And exhibition it is, at least so it is in the larger room, where the works are displayed almost as they might be in a museum of natural history. We were at the opening with our friend Karen who liked the work but complained that the show just wasn’t messy enough. Then she immediately added that her complaint “might just be the Group Material in me.” But I thought immediately when she said it that she was right about the room. The works were generally excellent, even at first sight (they will further reward a return), and the crowd was dynamic, but the walls were holding back.
Then we found the small gallery to the side, which was hung just right. There were posters, photographs and newspaper clippings hung imaginatively in something vaguely like salon style, and in the center one of Paa Joe’s large coffin replicas (there are two in this show) of slave castles from the Ghanian coast. Dynamite.
I’ve finally accepted the fact that I really do enjoy going to (some) openings, and the major lure, aside from the ties of friendship, must the be the kind of energy created by the crowd at the reception for this show.
Nick Cave The Day after Yesterday 2005 human hair on found beaded and sequined garment fabric 43″ x 111″ x 1″ detail
