The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Hi, all. The following is not about sanctions on Iraq, but it freshly illustrates what those who work for peace in Iraq are up against. It is also an encouragement that our acts of peace, no matter how small, do have an effect. Best, Suzy >From Robert Shetterly, UNION OF MAINE VISUAL ARTISTS NEWSLETTER, Vol. 23, No. 3, www.umvaonline.org <http://www.umvaonline.org/> , March 2003, p. 1: Many of us, as artists, spend a lot of time in considerable anguish over the fact that art seems to do nothing. So much thought and feeling and nobody listens, nobody sees. Well, consider these three events: 1. Last year Attorney General Ashcroft spent $8,000 of the taxpayers' money for a drape to cover the marble breasts of the statue of justice in his offices. One must assume that he is so ashamed of his sexuality, so antagonistic toward women for what they make him feel, so appalled at the simple and beautiful truth of the human form that he felt compelled to act. The truth of art may lie in the acts that it inspires in response to it. 2. Just recently Laura Bush cancelled the White House conference on poetry because many of the poets intended to read anti-war poems. The White House! The symbolic heart of our democracy! Afraid of free speech! The center of United States power, a power that wants all the world to tremble before its terrible weapons and immoral arrogance, is afraid of a few lines of poetry! Art does nothing? Even if it is not heard, it exposes. 3. When Colin Powell made his case for attacking Iraq before the Security Council at the UN, the US insisted that the UN's copy of Picasso's great anti-war mural Guernica be covered. A blue cloth was draped over it. The US did not want people exposed to the horrors of war while it was promoting them. Or, put another way, the US did not want truth on display while it was building a case of half-truths, obfuscations and lies in order to murder thousands of civilians. Colin Powell censors Pablo Picasso. Remember that Picasso painted Guernica in response to the brutal 1937 bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by the German Air Force with the help of Mussolini and Franco. They wanted to try out their techniques and weapons on this small, defenseless city. Could it be that Secretary Powell felt some trepidation that there may be similarities between what the fascists did to Guernica and what the US intends for Baghdad? Don't think for a minute that art does nothing. Immoral power is terrified of it. Speak your mind! Paint from your heart! _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk