Since when did critising Israel become and act of “anti-Semitism,” or a hate crime? Apparantly since “500 lawmakers, diplomats and academics from over 50 nations met in Jerusalem to consider the threat of “mushrooming” criticism of Israel.”

 

Freedom of speech is quickly becoming a hate crime it would seem - get ready to kiss your civil liberties goodbye :

 

www.rense.com - Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, quoting ADL head Foxman, said much of the world has now “crossed the line” from legitimate criticism of Israel into an epidemic of anti-Semitism. Also speaking for the government of Israel was Diaspora Foreign Minister Yuli Edelstein who warned that global anti-Semitism “has been able to gain endorsement from academics, media outlets, and even political parties.” Edelstein says, “to be ‘anti-Israel’ is to be anti-Semitic. To boycott Israel, Israeli professors and Israeli businesses, these are not political acts, these are acts of hate, acts of anti-Semitism!”

 

“Look at the reality Israelis face when traveling to international athletic, business and academic events. More and more, when they arrive in Sweden, Turkey, England, and even the United States, they must lecture and perform before hostile or even violent crowds, requiring police protection. We must not hesitate to expose this hatred for what it is. It is a strong and vile form of xenophobia [fear of foreigners]. It expresses itself through violence, mockery and exclusion. It is directed toward the outside, toward that which is different, in appearance, speech or prayer.” “It is discrimination against Jews, because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-Semitism.” (Jerusalem Post, December 16, 2009, “Verbatim: Anti-Semites Have Warped Tiny Israel Into Goliath”)

The streets of Lahore have been turned into a battle ground today, as baton wielding riot police begin to shell protestors with tear gas. As I write, GEO News has once again been taken off air (as of 30 seconds ago).

 

Reports confirm that Imran Khan, Shahbaz Sharif and a handfull of others, defying their arrest warrents have made it safely to Rawalpindi. Although police raids have been made on a number of Rawalpindi houses in an effort to find them.

Pakistan’s most widely watched news channel, GEO News , has been taken off the air by the Zardari Government.

 

GEO News has been giving minute by minute updates of the Long March - a march organised to reinstate the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudry. The last time GEO was taken off air was when the previous dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, oredered it to be shut down when he initially deposed Chief Justice Chaudry in 2007.

 

When all else fails why not gag the media? Funny how history just keeps on repeating itself.

My following article was published today on ABC Unleashed, Australia’s largest news, politics, opinion and analysis website:

 

The Truth must not be sanitised

 

With a war that has drawn distinct global lines between “the West and the rest”, journalists are now, more than ever, faced with the ethical dilemma of what to report and how to report it. Writes Reuben Brand

 

 

As I prepare to film a documentary and work as a freelance journalist in the Middle East and South Asia, the ethical questions of what to report and how to report it constantly arise.

 

Our myopic media moguls relentlessly force feed us with the age old “us and them” scenario, “good vs. evil,” the biblical battles of yester year - This archaic style of reportage has reached a crescendo that should not be topped and for myself and other like minded journalists the sanitisation of news and the constant rhetoric that accompanies it has reached a critical mass.

 

Since the US led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 222 journalists and media assistants have been killed, 14 currently remain kidnapped and two are still missing. So why do it? Why put yourself in harms way? Simple - to tell the stories others won’t.

 

Of course these figures pale to insignificants when placed beside the number of innocent civilians brutally murdered by occupying forces. According to ORB, an independent UK based research company, the current death toll in Iraq alone is well over 1.2 million and counting. Not to mention Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan or anywhere else the US or friends thereof seem to be.

 

It’s easy to ignore a number when there are no names or faces attached. But a number or “collateral damage” is someone’s mother, father, sister, brother - this is not collateral damage, this is corporeal damage. Murder.

 

The Middle East and South Asia, I believe, needs to be fully documented. From the thousands of innocent families, displaced and desperate, to those taken into custody on no charge and imprisoned in concentration camps like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, where they are systematically tortured and humiliated.

 

The realities of war should not be sugar coated for western consumption by media corporations with partisan persuasions. War is ugly and vicious, but some coverage, like our friends at FOX News, reports it as sport, or entertainment on a game show. Perish the thought of ruining someone’s dinner by showing a bloodied body on the six o’clock news.  

 

One major problem facing journalists who want to document the truth of these ongoing conflicts is safety. In most conflicts, a journalist who wants to get close to the front line without the threat of being an easy target must first become heavily embedded within the occupying military force.

 

Of course embedding gives journalists access to the tip of the spear, to areas otherwise impossible to reach, but it will no doubt entail censorship in what is reported on. The journalist will go where the military wants them to go and broadcast the stories that paint the invasion or occupation in a good light. As a result, you, the audience, only see what the military wants you to see. Nothing.

According to a report released by Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) the number of journalists killed in the past five years has risen dramatically by 244 per cent. Of the 86 journalists that were killed worldwide in 2007, nearly half of them died in Iraq.

“The Iraqi and US authorities - themselves guilty of serious violence against journalists - must take firm steps to end these attacks. Iraqi journalists are deliberately targeted by armed groups and are not simply the victims of stray bullets. - The government displayed alarming inertia and has not yet found a way to stop the violence, except for allowing journalists to carry arms to defend themselves,” states the report.

 

RSF also said that armed groups target journalists who sympathise with their rivals and those who are connected with foreign media outlets.

“No country has ever seen more journalists killed than Iraq - more than in the Vietnam War, the fighting in ex-Yugoslavia, the massacres in Algeria or the Rwanda genocide,” said RSF.

Similarly, journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories face the constant threat of being shot by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) as well as rival political factions striving for power. One such incident caused the death of Fadel Shanaa, a 25 year old Palestinian cameraman, who, whilst filming an incursion by Israeli tanks near the Al-Barij refugee camp was shelled by the IDF.

 

According to RSF “The behaviour of Mr. Shanaa and his assistant, Wafa Abu Mizyed, should not have caused any confusion. Their car was clearly marked as a press vehicle. Their flak jackets also had the word ‘Press’ written on them.”

 

The Israeli soldiers responsible the Mr Shanaa’s death have not been prosecuted. Five journalists have been killed by the IDF in the past decade, including British independent film maker James Miller in 2003, whose family continues to campaign for justice. Again, the IDF decided not to prosecute the officer responsible for Mr Miller’s death.

 

B’Tselem, the Israeli information centre for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has initiated Shooting Back; a citizen journalist programme. Launched in 2007, Shooting Back is a video advocacy project, in which over 100 video cameras have been distributed to Palestinian families living in high conflict areas.

 

The aim of the project is to capture, on film, the violations of human rights that Palestinian’s endure on a daily basis by the IDF and settlers. In one case an elderly Palestinian couple, whilst herding their goats, were maliciously attacked by a group of Israeli settlers and badly beaten. Before fleeing for help the couple’s daughter in-law caught the attack on one of the cameras supplied by B’Tselem.

 

The footage of this attack and many others like it are now being exposed to the international community in an attempt to redress such incursions on basic human rights.

 

But of course there are those who wait, desperately trying to set up a scenario, get the scoop or take the shot that will springboard them to fame. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his photograph of an emaciated Sudanese child crawling helplessly towards a United Nation’s food camp.

 

The camp was over one kilometre away; a carrion starved vulture sat stalking the child, waiting for it to die. Carter himself waited for around 20 minutes before taking the shot, ensuring the vulture was close enough to get maximum impact. The fate of the child remains unknown as Carter left the scene as soon as the photo was taken; he then sat beneath a nearby tree, smoked a cigarette and wept.

 

The ethical question arises as to why he didn’t help the dying child? It is the journalist’s dilemma, as Carter was well aware of and points out as he describes his own anguish whilst photographing a horrific execution early on in his career.

 

“I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures, [and] I felt that maybe my actions hadn’t been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn’t necessarily such a bad thing to do,” said Carter.

 

“His job as a journalist to show the plight of the Sudanese had been completed, exceeded, in fact. The bottom line was that Lifeline Sudan had not flown in Kevin and João to pick up or feed children - they were flown in to show the worst of the famine and generate publicity”, said Greg Marinovich, colleague and close friend of Carters.

Consequently three months later Kevin Carter committed suicide due to acute depression. 

 

“I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain, of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners… I have gone to join Ken [colleague and friend of Carters] if I am that lucky”, said Carter in his suicide note.

 

So what ethical boundaries are journalists justifiably allowed to cross in order to pursue a story when the loss of civilian life reaches such morbid heights? In the case of the documenter and the documented, should a journalist put aside their notepad and camera in order to help someone in direct need? Or should they continue to document what they see? In this situation, does the end justify the means? - whereby the incident, once broadcast or printed, is used to help a far greater number of people by educating and showing a reality that would otherwise go unnoticed by the international community.

 

The questions of ethical judgement are all subjective and only answerable by the individual, but if the people of the world are kept blindfolded and evidence of continual human rights abuses and violations are not documented, then those responsible, the individuals, administrations and regimes held accountable, can never be bought to justice.

12 dead, 201 cases of repoted abuse, 41 cases of assault, 74 journalits sustained injuries, 118 cases of intimidation and threats.

Intermedia, an independant NGO operating in Pakistan, has released a report on the state of the Pakistani media in 2008.

The report highlights the dangers journalists face on a daily basis whilst doing their jobs and details the mounting abuse journalists face who currently work in Pakistan.

Intermedia are advocates for freedom of speech and information within the Pakistani media. They also keep a close eye on any violations to media freedoms and any forms of abuse endured by journalists working in Pakistan.

The report (below) was also written up in The Frontier Post, a daily newspaper published in Peshawar and Quetta:

“ISLAMABAD: Attacks against media in Pakistan in 2008 reflected the general
trend of violence in the country with 12 journalists killed and over 201 cases of
abuses recorded against the media in the year, a new annual report on the
state of media reveals.

Three journalists each were killed in violence in Punjab and North West Frontier
Province, two each in Balochistan and Sindh and one each in Islamabad and
the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the research report produced by
Intermedia, a Pakistani media research and development non-governmental
organization, and released here Sunday, reveals.

A separate case was recorded of a journalist based in Punjab who committed
suicide because of financial problems.

The research report, available along with other annual media research reports
on www.intermedia.org.pk, also recorded 13 cases of arrest or abduction in
which a total of 40 journalists were victims during the year. Of these, five
incidents were recorded in Sindh in which five journalists were arrested by law
enforcement agencies or abducted by unknown persons.

Similarly, 27 journalists were arrested or abducted in FATA in three incidents, five
journalists in two cases in Balochistan and one journalist each in single cases in
NWFP and Islamabad.

The research also recorded at least 41 cases of assault or injury in 2008 in which
at least 74 journalists sustained serious or minor injuries. Of these there were 27
victim journalists in 16 cases in Punjab, 12 journalists in five cases in Balochistan
and 12 journalists in eight cases in NWFP, five cases in Sindh and four cases in
Islamabad.

At least 118 cases during 2008 were also recorded of intimidation and threats
reported by journalists. Of these 39 journalists belong to Punjab, 34 to Islamabad,
22 to Sindh, 10 to NWFP, nine to FATA and four to Balochistan.
The report also recorded four cases of attacks on media property, one each in
Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh and FATA.

A total of 20 cases were also recorded on ban on publications or gag orders by
the government authorities of which 10 were in Islamabad, four in Sindh, three in
Punjab and one each in NWFP, Balochistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
The Intermedia research report reveals that at least 208 cases of violations
against media in Pakistan occurred during 2008 and the most dangerous place
to practice journalism was Punjab with a total of 64 cases of violations against
media recorded in the province.

The next most dangerous place was Islamabad with a total of 51 cases of
violations against media based in the federal capital, 39 in Sindh, 22 in NWFP, 16
in FATA, 14 in Balochistan and one each in AJK and Northern Areas.

The statistics also reveal that during 2008, on an average every month one
journalist died, more than three were arrested or abducted, six were injured in
assaults, about 10 were threatened or intimidated, nearly two media
organizations were issued gag orders and overall more than 17 cases of
violations against the media occurred each month.”

The following article was re-published in the FONAS Fine Arts Magazine - Summer Edition, 2008:

Freedom of speech: Australia remains silent

By Reuben Brand

In the wake of the Bill Henson fiasco that divided the nation, robust discussion on Australia’s censorship laws and freedom of speech have taken centre stage.

In late May, more than 20 photographs of naked minors were seized by police from the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.

The photographer, Bill Henson, was threatened with child pornography charges and galleries around the country took his images off their walls. But the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the case and Australians began to debate the most fundamental right of any democratic society. Freedom of speech.

David Marr, journalist, commentator and author of The Henson Case, documented the scenes of one of the most contentious events of 2008.

The Henson Case explores the censorship debate and contains interviews with Bill Henson, members of the NSW police force, child abuse campaigners and leading figures in the arts community including Cate Blanchett.

Speaking at the Seymour Centre on October 13, Mr Marr addressed the controversies surrounding the censorship of Henson’s exhibition.

He gave a detailed account of how a collection of photographs shaped the artistic and cultural discourse in Australia and how it has affected our international reputation.

When the controversy first erupted, an Arts Censorship Forum was convened at the MCA.
Tamara Winikoff, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, said the forum had raised important issues.

“There are a lot of existing laws which limit freedom of expression, but what is evident is that they do not sufficiently protect the use of children in advertising and the sexualisation of children in the media,” she said.

“I think the Henson case has raised very important issues. In Australia we need to protect our freedom of expression. We should not be so hasty in giving up these rights, or our intellectual and moral territories.”

Irene Moss, former NSW Independent Commissioner against Corruption (ICAC) boss and state Ombudsman, now chairs the Right to Know campaign which conducted an independent assessment into the state of free speech in Australia.

The Moss report, released in October 2007, found that freedom of speech in Australia was being ‘whittled away by gradual and almost imperceptible degrees’ within a culture of secrecy.

The report concludes there is “mounting evidence that the lure of political advantage increasingly trumps principles of democratic transparency”.

“The audit indicates that many of the mechanisms that are vital to a well-functioning democracy are beginning to wear thin - their functioning in many areas is flawed and not well-maintained,” said Ms Moss.

“We believe it is time for legislative reform, but also for clear leadership in government and the courts to bring about change to improve openness, transparency and accountability for decisions that affect all Australians.”

Reporters Sans Frontiers ranked Australia at 28, alongside Ghana and after Lithuania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, in their latest global Press Freedom Index.

The following article was published in the Sydney City Hub Newspaper on October 13, 2008:

Art, Australia and censorship

By Reuben Brand

In the wake of the Bill Henson fiasco that divided the nation, robust discussion on Australia’s censorship laws and freedom of speech have taken centre stage.

In late May, more than 20 photographs of naked minors were seized by police from the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.

The photographer, Bill Henson, was threatened with child pornography charges and galleries around the country took his images off their walls. But the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the case and Australians began to debate the most fundamental right of any democratic society. Freedom of speech.

David Marr, journalist, commentator and author of The Henson Case, documented the scenes of one of the most contentious events of 2008.

The Henson Case explores the censorship debate and contains interviews with Bill Henson, members of the NSW police force, child abuse campaigners and leading figures in the arts community including Cate Blanchett.

Speaking at the Seymour Centre on October 13, Mr Marr addressed the controversies surrounding the censorship of Henson’s exhibition.

He gave a detailed account of how a collection of photographs shaped the artistic and cultural discourse in Australia and how it has affected our international reputation.

When the controversy first erupted, an Arts Censorship Forum was convened at the MCA.
Tamara Winikoff, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, said the forum had raised important issues.

“There are a lot of existing laws which limit freedom of expression, but what is evident is that they do not sufficiently protect the use of children in advertising and the sexualisation of children in the media,” she said.

“I think the Henson case has raised very important issues. In Australia we need to protect our freedom of expression. We should not be so hasty in giving up these rights, or our intellectual and moral territories.”

Irene Moss, former NSW Independent Commissioner against Corruption (ICAC) boss and state Ombudsman, now chairs the Right to Know campaign which conducted an independent assessment into the state of free speech in Australia.

The Moss report, released in October 2007, found that freedom of speech in Australia was being ‘whittled away by gradual and almost imperceptible degrees’ within a culture of secrecy.

The report concludes there is “mounting evidence that the lure of political advantage increasingly trumps principles of democratic transparency”.

“The audit indicates that many of the mechanisms that are vital to a well-functioning democracy are beginning to wear thin - their functioning in many areas is flawed and not well-maintained,” said Ms Moss.

“We believe it is time for legislative reform, but also for clear leadership in government and the courts to bring about change to improve openness, transparency and accountability for decisions that affect all Australians.”

Reporters Sans Frontiers ranked Australia at 28, alongside Ghana and after Lithuania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, in their latest global Press Freedom Index.

The following article was published in Wed Diary on October 08, 2008:

Art, Australia and censorship

By Reuben Brand

In the wake of the Bill Henson fiasco Australians have become divided in the debate over art vs. pornography and censorship vs. freedom of expression.

Australia’s censorship laws came under tight scrutiny at an Arts Censorship Forum convened after the recent furore surrounding artist Bill Henson’s latest exhibition.

Hetty Johnston, executive director of child protection agency Bravehearts, called for an arts tribunal to be set up that artists must first approach before working with children.

“The arts industry does nothing in terms of meeting its obligation and responsibility to protect children,” she said at the forum.

Tamara Winikoff, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, said that although she didn’t agree with Ms Johnston’s ideas, she thought the forum raised some very important issues.

“Hetty Johnston’s proposal of artists having to go to a tribunal to get permission to use children in their work is really not a good idea, and I don’t support what she is saying. Hetty’s continued targeting of artists is a misdirection of her energy; what she needs to be concerned about are the genuine threats to child safety,” she said.

Cameron Murphy, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said there was nothing wrong with a photograph of a naked minor and that the censorship of such an exhibition was uncalled for.

“In my view this is clearly the exhibition of an internationally recognised artist. It is appalling to see police raiding galleries and removing works of art. The position of the Child Protection Agency was extreme and irrational –such a reaction makes Australia look ridiculous,” said Mr Murphy.

Prominent Sydney-based photographer Ella Dreyfus is head of public programs at the National Art School. She said today’s problem was that children’s bodies are over sexualised and Mr Henson should take more responsibility for the sexual connotations in his work.

Ms Dreyfus is no stranger to controversy in her career as an artist. In an exhibition titled Under Twelves she photographed 14 young boys from the chest up, her son included. The difference between Mr Henson’s work and her own, says Ms Dreyfus, is that her models are not naked or sexually suggestive.

“As a mother and a concerned adult it does worry me. The pressure on children to perform, to look like sexual beings, when emotionally and mentally they are just light-years away from it.”

Ms Dreyfus does not support censorship and believes that sending the police in was definitely overkill, but she is glad that the debate about Henson’s work is out in the open.

“I feel that with Bill Henson it’s been a case of the emperor’s news clothes. Like the king’s walking down the street naked and no one’s saying anything because the king doesn’t believe he’s doing anything wrong,” said Ms Dreyfus.