Sabbah Report » Freedom of Expression

Sculpture offends and ‘hurts’ poor little Israel

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:22:55 +0000

The Israeli embassy in Madrid is "hurt" and "offended!" How touching... It's okay for Israelis to kill everyday, to spit on Christians and Muslims, to kidnap people and harvest their organs, to arrest and jail children, to use illegal weapons, to impose an illegal siege on a million and a half people in Gaza, to occupy Palestine, Syria and Lebanon and to threaten more war and occupation everyday.. It's okay for Israel to ignore International Law, UN resolutions, the International Court of Justice, the NPT and on and on... but its not okay for a piece of art to be critical of "poor little Israel"... After 62 years of lies, Israel can no longer hide its true ugly colors from the world... even with its total control of mainstream media... (Hat tip: Cherifa Sirry)

Stairway to Heaven by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino

A controversial art piece on exhibition at the Madrid art fair, was condemned by the Israeli Embassy in Madrid as being "offensive to Judaism."

"The hurtful message this piece conveys doesn't hurt less because it is displayed under the veil of art," the Israeli embassy wrote in a letter to the organizers of ARCO art fair, one of the world's top contemporary art fairs.

The installation "Stairway to Heaven," by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino, displays a crouching Muslim, topped by a kneeling Christian, and he in turn is topped by a Jew in prayer. Next to the sculpture was displayed a machine gun with a Menorah shooting out of its barrel.

Merino denied that the sculpture was provocative, and said it reflected "the idea of coexistence between the three religions, all of which are trying to reach God."

The work, which used human hair and silicone to give it a real look, was sold immediately to a European art collector for 50,000 Euros.

The artist says that "Stairway to Heaven", is not anti-Semitic, but reflects the alliance of civilizations.

The Israeli Embassy in Madrid sent a statement stressing its rejection of works by the Catalan artist Eugenio Merino presented in the gallery's booth at the fair in Madrid 2010. The Israeli embassy believes that the work by Merino have "items offensive to Jews, Israelis, and probably others."

In the same vein, he explained that religion is always "problem" and said he has tried to be as "respectful as possible". "I accept their criticism, but they must accept my work," said the artist, who considers that his piece is not "aggressive" because it has an "air of true religiosity." "You always have an opinion or interpretation that can not control. What others think depends on many elements I can not control, such as where you lived.

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:32:15 +0000

In the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, in between 168 indexed countries, our beloved Arab countries makes sure to be among the worst.

Here is the list in order from "best" to "worst":

Kuwait - 73
United Arab Emirates - 77
Mauritania - 77
Qatar - 80
Morocco - 97
Lebanon - 107
Jordan - 109
Bahrain - 111
Algeria - 126
Egypt - 133
Palestine - 134
Sudan - 139
Tunisia - 148
Yemen - 149
Libya - 152
Iraq -154
Syria - 153
Saudi Arabia - 161
Oman - ?

Yemen (149th) slipped four places, mainly because of the arrest of several journalists and closure of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons. Journalists were harassed for the same reason in Algeria (126th), Jordan (109th), Indonesia (103rd) and India (105th).

But except for Yemen and Saudi Arabia (161st), all the Arab peninsula countries considerably improved their rank. Kuwait (73rd) kept its place at the top of the group, just ahead of the United Arab Emirates (77th) and Qatar (80th).

[...]

Lebanon has fallen from 56th to 107th place in five years, as the country’s media continues to suffer from the region’s poisonous political atmosphere, with a series of bomb attacks in 2005 and Israeli military attacks this year. The Lebanese media - some of the freest and most experienced in the Arab world - desperately need peace and guarantees of security. The inability of the Palestinian Authority (134th) to maintain stability in its territories and the behaviour of Israel (135th) outside its borders seriously threaten freedom of expression in the Middle East.

Reporters Without Borders compiled the Index by asking the 14 freedom of expression organisations that are its partners worldwide, its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The Index covers 168 nations. Others were not included for lack of data about them.

- Questionnaire for compiling a 2006 world press freedom index
- How the index was compiled

Evaluation of Middle East can be found here (and Middle East Index - PDF).

Draft Jordanian Press Law Raises Concerns

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 09:42:55 +0000

ARTICLE 19 recently released an analysis of the 2004 draft Jordanian Press and Publications Law(PDF File) which highlights a number of areas where the draft law violates international law, beside shedding some light on the positive side of the draft PPL. The existing Press and Publications Law2 is even more problematical and needs to be significantly reworked if the Kingdom is to deliver its stated goals of modernisation and democratisation.

Yezzi – Fock: Tunisian online protest (now blocked)

Haitham Sabbah — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 20:40:20 +0000

Via: Global Voices Online
Rebecca MacKinnon

As Tunisia prepares to host the controversial World Summit on the Information Society in November, Tunisian opposition activist Neila Charchour Hachicha informs Global Voices that the online freedom of speech protest site launched by Tunisians on Monday, www.yezzi.org has already been blocked by the Tunisian authorities.

The online protest, called “Freedom of Expression in Mourning,” is organized by The Tunisian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Cyberspace (Association Tunisienne pour la Promotion et la Dï¿½fense du Cyberespace). Here is how they describe the protest and its motivations:

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will be held in Tunisia from 16th to 18th November 2005.

However:

* A World Summit on the Information Society cannot have any concrete impact on the world community, if the main concern of such a Summit, which should be the human being, remains relegated to a simple accessory.
* Experience showed that concerning information issues, top level international meetings have never led to positive measures to make public’s rights effective to get free access to information.
* Dictatorships similar to that of the Tunisian General Ben Ali, use the information’s restrictions as a strategic pillar conscious that without restrictions their tyrannies would fail.
* Continuous impunity of tyrants, who violate on a daily basis the right of their people to freedom of expression, shows that apart NGO, it is illusory to count on “democratic” governments to support the right of free access to independent information.
* Finally, if there’s a stake in the World Summit on the Information Society, it should not only be about reducing the “digital gap “, but it should be about reducing the evil that corrode peace in the world which is the “democratic gap”.

Therefore throughout the WSIS and in order to get the attention of the Tunisian and the International public opinion to the cruel absence of freedom of expression and information in Tunisia, and the obvious incoherence between the principles of this world summit and its hosting by the violent and repressive Tunisian regime, a working group has been gathered under the sponsorship of the Tunisian Association for the promotion and defense of the Cyberspace (TAPD - Cyberspace) in order to launch the campaign:

“Freedom of Expression in Mourning!”

This campaign starts today, October 3, 2005, and will end with the closure of the World Summit on the Information Society. Within the framework of this campaign, we will immediately start an initiative defined by the following actions:

* Since we are physically unable to demonstrate within Tunisian public spaces, we will use the internet to organize permanent virtual demonstrations in order to express our total disapproval with the Tunisian dictatorial regime.

Visit their website to view the online protest and contribute materials. The site is trilingual: French, Arabic and English. (Scroll down to the bottom for the English.) You are also invited to download a badge and link it to their site in support of the cause.

UPDATE: Activist Neila Charchour Hachicha has written a long post on her blog about the situation. An excerpt:

Allthough most protesters are anonymous the regime censored the website in Tunisia the same day it was launched. If it proves something, it does prove that the regime is much more frightened then the 100 virtual protesters.

So finally, who is more powerfull? Is it anonymous but free citizens claiming their right to be discontent or is it a frightened regime supposed to hold a strong legitimacy?

In reality it is only when a regime totally lacks democratic legitimacy that it badly needs to be authotitarian and violent. But when people really want freedom and democracy, sooner or later they just get it!

Dear readers, you are all invited to support us in this initiative since freedom of expression and democracy are no more local causes but universal causes in which any one can engage regardless of his nationality or his religious belonging. All human beings deserve dignity. All human beings deserve freedom and democracy. It is the only and unique way to avoid terrorism and violence whether they are legally justified or not.

She encourages people everywhere to participate in the online protest.

So, what are we waiting for? Don't we have the same problem in each and every Middle East country? Let's take a step. Let's say "Yes to Freedom of Expression", "No to Censorship", "Yes to Freely Reaching Independent Information." Join the online protest now...

Update: Neila Charchour Hachicha says that CNN Arabic published the info about Yezzi.org, here: http://arabic.cnn.com/2005/entertainment/10/6/tunis.internet/index.html