Category: issues

“Dozens of Israeli women stripped off their clothes Saturday in a show of solidarity with the 20-year-old Egyptian blogger who caused a stir in the Arab world last week when she posted a naked photo of herself in protest against the limits on free expression in her country.”

Says one student and activist, “Elmahdy’s nude photography was the most daring conflicting act I’ve seen for a long time, but … [does] nothing but stir a debate and allow the conservatives to have one more reason to call for an Islamic state and blame liberals and seculars for this.”

“In the current American context, the turkey pardon is a distasteful parody of the strange power vested in politicians to decide the earthly fates of death-row prisoners.”

“The strong black-and-white style used against coloured backgrounds by Occupy the Streets with its striding woman, Occupy Philly with its Liberty Bell, and Occupy Portland with its face of a young woman representing the 99%, all share the aesthetics of comic book artists such as Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns.”

“Despite the assiduously cultivated notion that Ireland is a country where culture and politics enjoy a symbiotic relationship, our artistic and political worlds largely exist in a state of mutual misapprehension.”

To protest prohibitions against women in public spaces, Jersualem’s last professional dance company opens back up. “No one has the right to exclude us in this way,” says the director of the company’s school. But some dancers are scared.

The East Coast criticizes the new Crystal Bridges Museum for taking art away from New York — but local protesters see the “Wal-Mart gallery” as an example of robber baron excess at the expense of workers.

“Ireland’s state-funded arts organisations and practitioners generated turnover equivalent to more than twice what they received in grant-in-aid from the Arts Council and supported more than 2,600 jobs in 2010.”

“In the United States, leaking a nude self-portrait is an embarrassing rite of passage for celebrities. In Egypt, it’s an act of political defiance. Aliaa Magda Elmahdy received praise and condemnation for posting a nude self-portrait and other nude photos on her blog as an act of personal expression.”

“I love ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice,’ it’s a moving song, but it was written in 1900 and chosen by the NAACP to be the Negro National Anthem in 1919, and there may be another song that expresses who we are now a little more sharply.” (He suggests on old Marvin Gaye tune.)