by Gavan Titley
It is a pity that so much of the attention generated by David Černý’s Entropa sculpture in the European Commission has been generated by the depiction of Bulgaria as a ‘Turkish toilet’. What is far more interesting is how the ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ has been ambiguously incorporated into the installation.
From The Guardian:
“The government is considering plans that would lead to thousands more British Muslims being branded as extremists, the Guardian has learned. The proposals are in a counterterrorism strategy which ministers and security officials are drawing up that is due to be unveiled next month.
Some say the plans would see views held by most Muslims in Britain being classed by the government as extreme.
According to a draft of the strategy, Contest 2 as it is known in Whitehall, people would be considered as extremists if:
• They advocate a caliphate, a pan-Islamic state encompassing many countries. (More …)
Definitely agree about Massad but the Out of Place collection is coming from a very different place – it looks at the intersections between queer and raciality…
Certainly such liberal ‘Western’ deployment (cynical or otherwise) of gay identities/politics demands critique. However, I would suggest that the “gay imperialist” critique, at least as it has been articulated by, say, Massad et al., is itself in need of critique. I’ve not yet seen the Out of Place collection, but many of the arguments I have seen strike me as theoretically wrong and politically dangerous.
Jin Haritaworn et al. have a really good reading of this in their article ‘Gay Imperialism’ in which they critique the crusading politics of Peter Tatchell, of the gay rights organisation Outrage.They call for an alliance of anti-racist politics rather than the status quo in which there is mistrust between them. Their article is part of the Out of Place collection. See: http://www.rawnervebooks.co.uk/outofplace.html
Seamus Milne had a good analysis of this today within the wider context of securitarianism:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/19/terrorism-policy-labour-stella-rimington
This is another instance of the tactic of instrumentalising gay identities and politics as a mode of performing ‘our inherent liberal values’. I have to check the references and place them here, but the Danish People’s Party has used this as a campaign, and it has similarly appeared in The Netherlands. It goes without saying, of course, that the political parties and agencies which have lit on this are far from consistent in their approaches to gay rights and sexual politics in general. It also parallels the mainstream appropriation of feminist politics as an indicator of essential Muslim ‘disintegratedness’
Other Asias Group Art Exhibition
Group art exhibition curated by Hamja Ahsan and Steph Newell
London, 20th February – 14th March
A diverse range of artists were invited to interpret the statement “A Cup of Tea Solves Everything” in this exciting multi-media exhibition. Tea as time, tea as etiquette, tea as mathematics, tea as war, tea as peace, tea as Empire and more…
What is my exhibition doing on here? I am grateful. But What? why?
Kanak TV is a film project that was invented by the members of Kanak Attak in Cologne, Germany, in response to the media image of “migrants”. The Kanak TV short films and documentaries are available on their website and are often shown to young students, at festivals and exhibitions. Their aim is to intervene in the current discussion about migration in Germany.
Read more about Kanak TV here.
Geert Wilders
by Alana Lentin
Amid the reporting of the British government’s decision not to allow Geert Wilders, the far-right anti-Islam Dutch politician into the UK one phrase struck me in particular. Wilders was invited to the UK to screen his film, Fitna, which criticises the Qur’an as a ‘fascist book’. Wilders describes himself as a ‘freedom fighter’ and denounced the British government as ‘cowardly’ for its refusal to let him travel to the country.
The phrase I was most concerned with was from Lord Pearson, who had initially invited Wilders to screen his film at the House of Lords tonight, February 12 2009. (More …)
dralanalentin are discussing. 
kb, and 
Gavan are discussing. 
This is what the text describing the Netherlands section of Entropa says:
“If only the Netherlands were in hell! At least it is warm and generally dry there. I would like to survive; I’d like at least something from this country to survive. Salt water will noiselessly
inundate fields, towns and villages. Fish will swim through our squares and seaweed will cling to our towers. Perhaps a few lucky individuals will be
rescued in small boats.”
On the one hand it could be a comment on global warming, on the other it could be a plea for a return to some pre-immigration status, especially in the comment “I’d like at least something from this country to survive.” The use of the first-person here is interesting. Who is speaking? And who/what is s/he representing? The Dutch culture, environment…?