Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History

We must have slept on this:  Guantanamo prison has been closed and turned into a museum!

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Featuring:

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• Center for Critical Studies
• Artist Residency
• Planning Your Visit
• Membership

Here’s a statement from Museum organizers, via Lawfare:

Artists’ Website Project Closes Gitmo and Replaces It With Art Museum

 On August 29^th, 2012, the website of the Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History was publicly launched. Designed by a group of artists from around the globe, the project creates a ‘speculative present’ in which the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facilities have been closed and replaced by an art museum whose purpose is to reflect on the history of the site.

The museum was listed as an official place on google maps ( http://goo.gl/tg72v ) and features original artworks from 6 different contemporary artists, as well as essays on Guantanamo Bay from leading contemporary scholars including Judith Butler and Derek Gregory.

Ian Alan Paul, an artist from San Francisco who coordinated and curated the project, states:

“The purpose of the project is both to explore the human rights abuses that occurred and continue to occur in Guantanamo Bay, but also to provide a space for radical imagination and potential openings and to insist that it is both possible and necessary to close the prison facility.”

The project was the result of large collaboration, with over 25 artists, writers and other volunteers contributing to the project in some way from Europe, North America and South America. Visitors to the museum were invited to plan their trip to Guantanamo Bay, become a member of the museum, apply to be an artist in residence, as well as read about the history of the museum itself.

There were over 3000 visits to the museum on the first day from 42 different countries.

 

Update on Labor Struggle at Fine Arts Museums of SF

Via Change.org

Hello Champions for Workers,

COFAM nonprofit workers are deeply moved by all of the community support they have been receiving. Unfortunately, management hasn’t budged much on proposals that would be harmful to the workers and their families. They have made it clear that they aim to destroy the job securities that workers have fought for decades to get.

This would jeopardize the long-term stability of the museums which would have a negative impact on the quality of your experience when visiting the de Young and the Legion of Honor.

In response, the museum’s workers have authorized a strike if absolutely necessary. They will only use this tool once all other options are exhausted.

They still have much fighting to do before winning a fair contract. A win for these workers will set a precedent that will have far-reaching effects in our city. You can leverage your community influence to support these workers in one of the following ways:

1. The cities unions and allies will be mobilizing en masse Friday, September 7th at 6PM to takeover the de Young Museum. Your participation will show that our city will not stand idly by while its workers’ rights are under attack. RSVP here: http://on.fb.me/PK3BOq

2. We ask that you call Charlie Castillo, director of human resources, at (415) 750-3673 to let him know that you support nonprofit museum workers and that he must settle a fair contract now.

3. Spread the word about what’s going on by signing and sharing our online petition. http://chn.ge/LWndth

Onward,

COFAM Nonprofit Worker Supporters

Got Racism? Students Dress Up As Mexican Stereotypes At OC High School

From CBS-LA (video), via Think Mexican

During Senior Spirit Day at Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills, boys dressed up as gardeners and gang members, and one girl dressed as a pregnant woman, pushing a baby stroller.

Other students dressed in “Border Patrol” T-shirts and were photographed “arresting” their fellow students dressed as gang members.

An alum filed a complaint.  Instead of turning this into a teachable moment, the administration simply canceled the event entirely.  More

Anaheim Hills, hmm…  that’s about 15 miles from

Anaheim Police brutality protest at Disneyland after two fatal police shootings, resulting in the deaths of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo. Photo: Creative Commons/Amber Stephens (via Colorlines, 8/3/12)

Sotheby’s knowingly tried to sell stolen Asian art?

Via NY Times: Prosecutors File Arguments in Effort to Return Cambodian Statue, 8/21/12

Federal prosecutors seeking to repatriate a 10th century statue to Cambodia filed court papers Monday accusing Sotheby’s of knowing the sculpture “was an important piece of cultural property that had been stolen” from a remote temple complex when the auction house put the massive sandstone artifact up for sale in March 2011.

A 2011 Sotheby’s catalog shows a thousand-year-old statue believed to be from the Koh Ker temple in Cambodia. (New York Times)

Despite testimony from multiple experts declaring it stolen property, Sotheby’s continues to argue for the right to sell the Cambodian temple statue for as much as $3 million on behalf of its Belgian “owner,” shamelessly arguing that “that no one has provided proof the item was stolen.”

As if the temple monks had a yard sale, but failed to keep receipts?

No, the lack of provenance of this statue is in keeping with what researchers found of the Asian antiquities collected by Norton Simon (Pasadena), Walter C. Mead (Denver), Sherman Lee (Cleveland), Avery Brundage (Asian Art Museum), John D. Rockefeller III (Asia Society NY), and others.

But since those collections were formed before international heritage laws went into effect, they are apparently immune from this kind of scrutiny and repatriation effort.

Rosenfeld’s Richard Aoki allegation: “Don’t Believe The Hype”

UPDATE 9/26/12:  “Connecting The Past And The Present: Harvey Dong’s Insights On The Allegations Against Richard Aoki,” by Tala Khanmalek, Racialicious, 9/26/12.  Speaks to Rosenfeld’s “sloppy academic research,” “bad analysis,” and “conservative summation” of protest movements of the ’60s and ’70s.

UPDATE 9/11/12:  “Richard Aoki : Oakland town hall discussion defends controversial activist’s legacy (Review),” by Eric Arnold, Oakland Local, 9/11/12.  Great write-up of important gathering, featuring Aoki biographer Diane Fujino, and former Black Panthers Tarika Lewis (first female panther), Emory Douglas (Minister of Culture), and co-founder Bobby Seale, at EastSide Cultural Center.

UPDATE 9/10/12:  “Distorting the legacy of Richard Aoki,” by Ward Churchill, Kathleen Cleaver, and Natsu Taylor Saito, San Francisco Bayview, 9/9/12.

UPDATE 9/1/12:  “Scholars Challenge Author’s Assertion That 1960s Activist Worked for FBI,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/31/12.  Also, I attended a presentation by Prof. Harvey Dong at UC Berkeley this week, who showed how Rosenfeld’s “evidence” is inconclusive at best and likely doubtful, and questioned Rosenfeld’s motive.

UPDATED 8/24/12:  KPFA’s Apex Express with scholar, activist and close friend of Aoki’s, Harvey Dong

and SF BayView:  Fred Ho refutes the claim that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant

UPDATED 8/23/12:  Democracy Now! hosts Fujino, Rosenfeld

While many were shocked by Seth Rosenfeld’s damning allegation that activist Richard Aoki was an FBI informant, the evidence appears to be far from conclusive, and a growing number of voices are calling it into question.

Here are a few:

• “Don’t Believe the Hype.“  On KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio, Davey D hosted a conversation with Emory Douglas, former minister of culture of the Black Panther Party, and Billy X. Jennings, archived at KPFA.org until Sept. 4. (~24 min.), 8/21/12.
• Oakland Local:  Snitch Jacketing 2.0?, Carlos A. Rivera-Jones, 8/20/12.
• Colorlines:  Historian Calls for More Evidence, Jamilah King, 8/21/12.
• Said Historian Scott Kurashige’s Initial Thoughts: “Rosenfeld has not provided any evidence that Aoki was actively working to undermine the Panthers on behalf of the FBI.”
• Statement by Aoki documentarians, Mike Cheng and Ben Wang, 8/21/12.  “However, as the discourse and investigation of these claims commence, we feel it is important to remind people that the burden of proof must fall on those that make the accusation…  Accusing anyone of being an informant is extremely inflammatory and any allegations must be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated for evidence….  After reviewing Rosenfeld’s article, video, and book, there is no solid evidence presented that Richard was as an FBI informant.”  (more)

“What’s my motive?” Seth Rosenfeld timed his damning, inflammatory yet inconclusive allegation with the release of his new book.

What strikes us as particularly questionable is Rosenfeld’s ethics in deliberately choosing to time his public allegation with the day his new book went on sale, knowing full well both the inflammatory nature of the allegation and the lack of conclusive evidence about the role Aoki actually played.

Diane Fujino, academic and author of Aoki’s recently published biography, Samurai among Panthers, responded in the San Francisco Chronicle, 8/22/12.  Excerpts below:

“As a scholar, I insist on seeing evidence before concluding any “truth.” But as I read Rosenfeld’s work and cross-checked sources from my biography on Aoki, I realized Rosenfeld had not met the burden of proof. He made definitive conclusions based on inconclusive evidence…

“I also questioned Rosenfeld’s motives. Rosenfeld’s piece, published the day before the release of his own book, gained him widespread media and public attention that surely will augment sales…

“So why did Rosenfeld magnify Aoki when his book focuses more on Mario Savio, Clark Kerrand the Free Speech Movement? What responsibility does an author have to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt before broadcasting disparaging accusations? Rosenfeld’s article, video and book raise many questions, but fail to meet the burden of proof.”  Read more

Guerrilla Art We Like: SF Muni Bus Ad

UPDATE (8/22/12):  “Racism, MUNI and the Arab Community” Full story at Arab Resource & Organizing Center.

“The people speak: Free speech not hate speech”

San Francisco Muni Bus Ad: BEFORE (8/12/12)

San Francisco Muni Bus Ad: AFTER (8/16/12)

Should City Art Museums be Free?

An article in today’s Detroit Free Press reports on how “attendance more than tripled last week compared with the same five-day period in 2011,” after the Detroit Institute of Arts made admission free to residents of three local counties “in exchange for voters’ approval a day earlier of a property tax in all three counties to support the museum.”

The bump in attendance was helped by ongoing special exhibitions, as well as media attention on the local tax measure which is designed to sustain the museum by enabling it to grow its endowment.

Other museums which have “gone free” also report substantial growth in attendance.

At the Baltimore Museum of Art, a recent contemporary show drew 80% more visitors than the average contemporary show prior to eliminating admission in 2006.

“The Baltimore museum is drawing an average of 43% more first-time visitors since it went free.

“The Indianapolis Museum of Art reinstituted free admission in 2007 after briefly charging a fee in the wake of an expansion. Attendance soared 152% in the first year after eliminating the fee, but a blockbuster show of Roman art that year from the Louvre in Paris attracted 112,000 and surely skewed the numbers, said Candace Gwaltey, public relations manager at the museum.”

It’s encouraging that city museums around the country are finding ways to fulfill their civic roles as cultural stewards in the public commons, by not only making art accessible to everyone regardless of financial status, but also removing the troubling burden of earned income from the ticket gate while drawing ever larger audiences.

It’s ironic that by making museums free, the resulting growth in attendance could only make corporate sponsors happy (right?), thus leading to greater sustainability.  Could this be a wave of the future?

KŪMĀRÉ: Documentary plays on fetishism of Oriental Cosmology

“I have always wanted to connect with a true authentic person from India.”

Official Trailer for Kūmāré: the true story of a false prophet, a documentary about an Indian American man from New Jersey who impersonates an Indian guru and builds a following of real people in the American Southwest:

Bursting the bubble of “Eat, Pray, Love” fetishism, the film about “this perfect simple man” and the investment of his followers’ devotion is playing to rave reviews of its humor, depth, and complexity, around the country.

A great counterpoint to contemporary American Orientalist fantasies of Asian “spirituality” recently seen in the New York Times or manifested in an art museum, here’s hoping it comes to a theater near you.

Update: Filmmaker and star Vikram Gandhi on The Colbert Report.

Justice for Pvt. Danny Chen rally in NYC today

UPDATE (8/17/12) – Links to event photos, taken 8/11/12.

Speakers included community leaders, family member, a number of NY City Councilpersons, and the City Comptroller:
https://picasaweb.google.com/109077540544836974769/JusticeForPvtDannyChen
The following link, to Asian American Art Centre, includes photos from a mid-July rally, in addition to last week’s:
http://artspiral.blogspot.com/2012/08/danny-chen.html

Original Post:

JUSTICE FOR PVT. DANNY CHEN RALLY
Columbus Park
Bayard and Mulberry Sts.

2pm Saturday, August 11, 2012

Earlier this month, a jury of military personnel found Sgt. Adam Holcomb not guilty of the most serious charges stemming from the alleged suicide of Pvt. Danny Chen, an Asian American soldier in the U.S. Army who was driven to his death by three months of continuous mental and physical abuse and racist taunts from fellow soldiers and superior officers in Afghanistan.

Holcomb was found not guilty of negligent homicide, and guilty of “one count of assault and two counts of maltreatment of a subordinate.”  The court martial panel was given the discretion to charge “anything from no punishment up to the maximum, a dishonorable discharge, two years confinement and total forfeitures” but only delivered a sentence of 30-day confinement, $1,811.55 fine, and a reduction in rank.

An African American infantryman claimed that he too was subject to racist abuse by Holcomb.  “He told me he would kill me, put me in a body bag and send me home,” testified Pvt. Marcus Merritt.  He said the abuse he received from Holcomb before Chen arrived caused him to think seriously about committing suicide.

Seven more trials are scheduled to start soon to further probe the environment that permitted such treatment.

OCA-NY (Organization of Chinese Americans) has called for a public rally on Saturday, August 11 at 2 PM at Columbus Park in Lower Manhattan’s Chinatown. Asian American Arts Centre will be a co-sponsor, along with other diverse community organizations.

The rally will protest the verdict and sentencing of the first of Danny’s superiors who was put on trial.

Links to more information about the case of Pvt. Danny Chen

Democracy Now: “First Soldier Tried in Hazing Death of Pvt. Danny Chen Gets 30-Day Term, Evades Homicide Conviction,” 8/1/12

AMY GOODMAN: Julia, what were you most struck by as you watched this court-martial?

JULIA CHUNG: I think what I was most struck by was the lack of awareness about Asian-American issues that the—even the defense attorneys had and the lower-ranking PFCs had, because when the witness was on testimony, one of the witnesses said, “Oh, ‘gook,’ that’s a common term for Asian Americans.“

Alternet: “U.S. Soldier Found Not Guilty of Negligent Homicide, Racist Hazing of Private Danny Chen,” 7/31/12

Free Speech Radio News: “Death of Chinese American Private Chen Caused by Racist Hazing,” January, 2012

UPDATE 8/13/12

A second soldier, Ryan J. Offutt, was sentenced today: six months in prison and discharged from the military for misconduct after pleading guilty to maltreatment and violating an order against hazing, part of a plea bargain that dropped more serious charges of reckless endangerment and negligent homicide.

Reuters: “U.S. soldier pleads guilty to hazing Chinese-American serviceman”

How Far We Haven’t Come: Friends vs. Terrorists

[Via Colorlines: Distinguishing Your Friends From Potential Terrorists]

A publication of the Chicago Tribune recently published a “Turban primer“, a taxonomy of Otherness in the wake of the white supremacist shootings at the Wisconsin Sikh temple.

“Angry Asian Man compares this to the a 1941 article in Life magazine on how to distinguish Japanese from Chinese people. Amazing how 71 years later, folks are still using the same finger-pointing tactics.”

Read Original Post by Hatty Lee at Colorlines.