RandomPottins: When they do it, it's not called a boycott

NOT GIVEN HOUSEROOM? Images like this one from Larissa Sansour’s Nation Estate project proved too much for Lacoste, who have removed artist from Elysée Prize.

I'M not a great fan of the "Cultural Boycott" idea, though I can understand the legitimate motivation which leads friends to reach for this tactic, against the "normalisation" of oppressive regimes and occupations, like Israel's hold on the West Bank, now approaching its 45th year.

Sometimes such boycotts can hit the wrong people, as when a lecturer was banned from speaking at Leicester University back in the 1970s because he was a white South African, though he had been helping black African trades unionists and was no friend of the Apartheid regime. (An apparatchnik fell back on the excuse that the man was "not approved by the ANC", unaware as of course we all were that the London ANC office was being manipulated by the South African intelligence service).

I know my friends waging the anti-Israel boycott would not be so unjust or crude, but there was the hostility misdirected at Juliano Mer-Khamis in Hungary, foreshadowing his assassination outside the theatre he had founded in Jenin.

Besides, the other side - governments, business and reactionary outfits - are much more able to enforce their boycotts, as an army checkpoint is more effective than a couple of kids giving out leaflets. They don't use the "boycott" word, don't depend on voluntary adherence, and don't care whom they hit.

It does not do them any credit.

A big American DIY firm, Lowe's Home Improvement. decided recently to pull ads from a TVreality show about American Muslims, following protests from an evangelical Christian group. The North Carolina- based retailer stopped advertising on TLC's "All-American Muslim" after a group calling itself the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

The show, premiered last month, simply chronicles the lives of five families from Dearborn, Michigan, just outside Detroit. The area has a large and long-established Muslim and Arab-American population, and the programme just shows ordinary families going about their lives, their kids going to school and saluting the flag, and so on. But evidently this suggestion that Muslims, Arab-Americans, are just plain folk, American citizens, even human beings, is too much for some good Christians to bear.

They mobilised supporters to write to the show's sponsors, and one company pulled its ads. It is reminiscent of the days of the Hollywood witch-hunts, when such tactics made sure actors or screen-writers labelled "communist" could not work in the United States. Except in this case the bullying is aimed not at individuals nor even a political spectre, but at an entire section of people defined by ethnicity or religious faith. The comparison with Germany in the 1930s need not be stressed. In America, fascism often appears in religious guise.

Slamming the Lowe company's decision as "un-American" and "naked religious bigotry", a state senator from Southern California has said he was connsidering calling for a boycott. Senator Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, said he would also consider legislative action if Lowe's doesn't apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads. The senator sent a letter outlining his complaints to Lowe's Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Niblock.

"The show is about what it's like to be a Muslim in America, and it touches on the discrimination they sometimes face. And that kind of discrimination is exactly what's happening here with Lowe's," Lieu said.

Suehaila Amen, whose family is featured on "All-American Muslim," said she was disappointed by the Lowe's decision. "I'm saddened that any place of business would succumb to bigots and people trying to perpetuate their negative views on an entire community," Amen, 32, told The Detroit News on Sunday.

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/11/143552956/lowes-pulls-ads-u-s-muslim-reality-tv-show

WHEN it comes to Palestine and Palestinians, boycott can be applied so automatically and unhesitatingly that merely to utter the names can be treated as "political", indeed an act of rebellion. I well remember the American gentleman who was scandalised, and lectured me about the iniquities of Arab regimes, because I wore a tee shirt artistically depicting old Jerusalem rooftops and with the one word in small print "PALESTINE". More recently I heard of the crates of Taybeh beer which could not be imported into the United States because they were labelled "made in Palestine" and the US customs insisted there was "no such country". I thought maybe Pressident Obama, who had spoken about 1967 borders, should have a word with them, but evidently they had interpreted America's policy correctly, as we have seen by the US decision to boycott UNESCO.

And it is not just America, as the story below from Ali Abumineh's blog on Electronic Intifada indicates:
The high-end French clothing chain Lacoste has demanded the removal of work by Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour from the shortlist for the €25,000 Lacoste Elysee Prize that is awarded by the Swiss Musee de l’Elysee with sponsorship from the firm.

Sansour was among eight finalists shortlisted for the 2011 prize. According to a press release issued by Sansour, “Lacoste stated their refusal to support Sansour’s work, labelling it ‘too pro-Palestinian.’”

This latest instance of apparent censorship of Palestinian artists by a cultural institution comes just months after the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, California censored an exhibit of art by children in Gaza just before its planned opening under pressure from anti-Palestinian Zionist groups.

Sansour, who is based in London, is a native of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The press release explains:

As a nominee, Sansour was awarded a bursary of €4,000 and given carte blanche to produce a portfolio of images for the final judging. In November 2011, three photos for Sansour’s Nation Estate project were accepted, and she was congratulated by the prize administrators on her work and professionalism. Sansour’s name was included on all the literature relating to the prize and on the website as an official nominee. Her name has since been removed, just as her project has been withdrawn from an upcoming issue of contemporary art magazine ArtReview introducing the nominated artists.

In an attempt to mask the reasons for her dismissal, Sansour was asked to approve a statement saying that she withdrew from her nomination ‘in order to pursue other opportunities’. Sansour has refused.

Søren Lind, Sansour’s assistant, told The Electronic Intifada today that the Lacoste company had yet to give any public response on the matter. A Google-cached image of the official Elysée Prize website captured by The Electronic Intifada proves that Sansour’s name was on the shortlist until at least 12 December, and then removed on the current version.

Sansour’s multimedia project Nation Estate was “conceived in the wake of the Palestinian bid for UN membership. Nation Estate depicts a science fiction-style Palestinian state in the form of a single skyscraper housing the entire Palestinian population. Inside this new Nation Estate, the residents have recreated their lost cities on separate floors: Jerusalem on 3, Ramallah on 4, Sansour’s own hometown of Bethlehem on 5, etc.”

Sansour was born in Jerusalem and her multimedia work has been exhibited all over the world. The photo above, from the exhibit, is published courtesy of Sansour. More can be seen at her website.

Full text of press release

20th December 2011

LACOSTE: NO ROOM FOR PALESTINIAN ARTIST

French fashion brand demands the removal of Bethlehem artist Larissa Sansour from major photographic prize.

The prestigious €25,000 Lacoste Elysée Prize is awarded by the Swiss Musée de l’Elysée with sponsorship from Lacoste, the clothing brand.

Larissa Sansour was among the eight artists shortlisted for the 2011 prize. In December 2011, Lacoste demanded that her nomination be revoked. Lacoste stated their refusal to support Sansour’s work, labelling it ‘too pro-Palestinian’. A special jury will convene in January 2012 to select the winner.

As a nominee, Sansour was awarded a bursary of €4,000 and given carte blanche to produce a portfolio of images for the final judging. In November 2011, three photos for Sansour’s Nation Estate project were accepted, and she was congratulated by the prize administrators on her work and professionalism. Sansour’s name was included on all the literature relating to the prize and on the website as an official nominee. Her name has since been removed, just as her project has been withdrawn from an upcoming issue of contemporary art magazine ArtReview introducing the nominated artists.

In an attempt to mask the reasons for her dismissal, Sansour was asked to approve a statement saying that she withdrew from her nomination ‘in order to pursue other opportunities’. Sansour has refused.

Sansour says: “I am very sad and shocked by this development. This year Palestine was officially admitted to UNESCO, yet we are still being silenced. As a politically involved artist I am no stranger to opposition, but never before have I been censored by the very same people who nominated me in the first place. Lacoste’s prejudice and censorship puts a major dent in the idea of corporate involvement in the arts. It is deeply worrying.”

Sansour’s shortlisted work, Nation Estate, is conceived in the wake of the Palestinian bid for UN membership. Nation Estate depicts a science fiction-style Palestinian state in the form of a single skyscraper housing the entire Palestinian population. Inside this new Nation Estate, the residents have recreated their lost cities on separate floors: Jerusalem on 3, Ramallah on 4, Sansour’s own hometown of Bethlehem on 5, etc.

Regretting Lacoste’s decision to censor Sansour’s work, Musée de l’Elysée has offered to exhibit the Nation Estate project outside of the confines of the Lacoste sponsorship. Musée de l’Elysée is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Lacoste Elysée Prize 2011 is the award’s second edition.

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/french-clothing-firm-lacoste-censors-expels-palestinian-artist-larissa-sansour

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/evidence-lacostes-censorship-palestinian-artist-larissa-sansour-captured-google

I'd be tempted to call for a boycott of Lacoste, but to be honest I have never worn their stuff and could not afford it even if they catered for overweight old gits like me. But others might take the idea up., if they haven't done so already.