Indymedia Censors attacks on Iraqi Artists
John Brown's Daughter | 13.05.2008 14:35 | Repression
Indymedia Censors attacks on Iraqi Artists
Hussein Al-alak, The Iraq Solidarity Campaign
May 12, 2008
Would someone be so kind and please explain why the Indymedia UK website has taken down the following article: "Iraqi artists and singers flee amid crackdown on forbidden culture" by Afif Sarhan in Baghdad and Caroline Davies.
The article is about the persecution of artists in Iraq and the cultural cleansing by sectarian death squads, with death threats and killings being directed against actors, singers and painters and even includes a paragraph about how one person was even beheaded for his trade.
The article was first published by the national Observer newspaper on May 11th 2008 and has also been carried by highly respected online Middle Eastern sites including Uruknet and Iraqi Solidarity News (Al-Thawra) but yet, the article has been taken off Indymedia, by what appears to be a member of the Indymedia Collective.
What is worrying, is that Indymedia claims to be an "independent" media outlet and is allegedly run by radicals, leftists and members of the British anti-war movement but quite possibly, anti-Arab (anti-Semitic) sentiments maybe prevalent if the person who removed the article cannot cope with statements such as "Culture was encouraged under Saddam, but not anymore".
It maybe the case that the authors of the article should not have mentioned the fact that until the invasion of Iraq, the country did have a thriving culture or that "Cinemas, art galleries, theatres, and concert halls are being destroyed in grenade and mortar attacks in Basra and Baghdad", but the question that comes to mind is why the plight of the Iraqi people is being censored by the British anti-war movement .
"According to the Iraqi Artists' Association, at least 115 singers and 65 actors have been killed since the US-led invasion, as well as 60 painters. But the terror campaign has escalated in recent months as both Shia and Sunni extremists grow ever bolder in enforcing religious restrictions on the citizens of Iraq."
It appears though, that in Great Britain it has become advisable to not mention the destruction of Babylon by the occupying forces, the growing illiteracy among Iraqi children or the killings of those in the arts because clearly, in a "democracy" your words may just be censored.
Read the article on Iraqi Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)
http://iraqsolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com/2008/05/artists-f
lee-crackdown-on-culture-afif.html
Read the article on Uruknet
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m43956&hd=&size=1&l=e
:: Article nr. 43978 sent on 13-may-2008 02:07 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=43978
:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Uruknet .
Hussein Al-alak, The Iraq Solidarity Campaign
May 12, 2008
Would someone be so kind and please explain why the Indymedia UK website has taken down the following article: "Iraqi artists and singers flee amid crackdown on forbidden culture" by Afif Sarhan in Baghdad and Caroline Davies.
The article is about the persecution of artists in Iraq and the cultural cleansing by sectarian death squads, with death threats and killings being directed against actors, singers and painters and even includes a paragraph about how one person was even beheaded for his trade.
The article was first published by the national Observer newspaper on May 11th 2008 and has also been carried by highly respected online Middle Eastern sites including Uruknet and Iraqi Solidarity News (Al-Thawra) but yet, the article has been taken off Indymedia, by what appears to be a member of the Indymedia Collective.
What is worrying, is that Indymedia claims to be an "independent" media outlet and is allegedly run by radicals, leftists and members of the British anti-war movement but quite possibly, anti-Arab (anti-Semitic) sentiments maybe prevalent if the person who removed the article cannot cope with statements such as "Culture was encouraged under Saddam, but not anymore".
It maybe the case that the authors of the article should not have mentioned the fact that until the invasion of Iraq, the country did have a thriving culture or that "Cinemas, art galleries, theatres, and concert halls are being destroyed in grenade and mortar attacks in Basra and Baghdad", but the question that comes to mind is why the plight of the Iraqi people is being censored by the British anti-war movement .
"According to the Iraqi Artists' Association, at least 115 singers and 65 actors have been killed since the US-led invasion, as well as 60 painters. But the terror campaign has escalated in recent months as both Shia and Sunni extremists grow ever bolder in enforcing religious restrictions on the citizens of Iraq."
It appears though, that in Great Britain it has become advisable to not mention the destruction of Babylon by the occupying forces, the growing illiteracy among Iraqi children or the killings of those in the arts because clearly, in a "democracy" your words may just be censored.
Read the article on Iraqi Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)
http://iraqsolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com/2008/05/artists-f lee-crackdown-on-culture-afif.html
Read the article on Uruknet
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m43956&hd=&size=1&l=e :: Article nr. 43978 sent on 13-may-2008 02:07 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=43978
:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Uruknet .
John Brown's Daughter
Additions
Had you bothered...
13.05.2008 15:33
...to read the Indymedia guidelines, or at least take a good look at Indymedia, you'd have realised that Indymedia is an open publishing platform for grassroots 'non-corporate, non-commercial' coverage of important social and political issues. (re)Posting an (old) article from the Observer is not only pointless but defeats the object of Indymedia and is against the guidleines...for which it was rightly hidden.
You are quick to cry censorship but very slow to appreciate what Indymedia is.
You are quick to cry censorship but very slow to appreciate what Indymedia is.
IMC
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