Lacoste Lining up with Oppression

French fashion brand Lacoste demands the removal of Bethlehem artist Larissa Sansour from major photographic prize.

It's all because of the Tree

The prestigious €25,000 Lacoste Elysée Prize is awarded yearly by the Swiss Musée de l’Elysée with sponsorship from Lacoste.

Larissa Sansour was among the eight artists shortlisted for the 2011 prize. In December 2011, Lacoste demanded that her nomination be revoked. Lacoste stated their refusal to support Sansour’s work, labeling it ‘too pro-Palestinian’. A special jury will convene in January 2012 to select the winner.

As a nominee, Sansour was awarded a bursary of €4,000 and given carte blanche to produce a portfolio of images for the final judging. In November 2011, three photos for Sansour’s Nation Estate project were accepted, and she was congratulated by the prize administrators on her work and professionalism. Sansour’s name was included on all the literature relating to the prize and on the website as an official nominee. Her name has since been removed, just as her project has been withdrawn from an upcoming issue of contemporary art magazine ArtReview introducing the nominated artists.

In an attempt to mask the reasons for her dismissal, Sansour was asked to approve a statement saying that she withdrew from her nomination ‘in order to pursue other opportunities’. Sansour has refused.

Sansour says: “I am very sad and shocked by this development. This year Palestine was officially admitted to UNESCO, yet we are still being silenced. As a politically involved artist I am no stranger to opposition, but never before have I been censored by the very same people who nominated me in the first place. Lacoste’s prejudice and censorship puts a major dent in the idea of corporate involvement in the arts. It is deeply worrying.”

Sansour’s shortlisted work, Nation Estate, is conceived in the wake of the Palestinian bid for UN membership. Nation Estate depicts a science fiction-style Palestinian state in the form of a single skyscraper housing the entire Palestinian population. Inside this new Nation Estate, the residents have recreated their lost cities on separate floors: Jerusalem on 3, Ramallah on 4, Sansour’s own hometown of Bethlehem on 5, etc.

The artist explains: “Last week the director of the museum calls me and says that unfortunately a high ranking someone at Lacoste (nobody knows his name) demanded that I be taken off the list of nominees. The strange thing is that Lacoste was in on the selection process from the very beginning, so they were fully aware of my work when they nominated me. What seems to have struck them is the content of this new work which is inspired by the Palestinian bid for official status at the United Nations. That appears to have been too controversial for Lacoste.”

Regretting Lacoste’s decision to censor Sansour’s work, Musée de l’Elysée has offered to exhibit the Nation Estate project outside of the confines of the Lacoste sponsorship. Musée de l’Elysée is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Lacoste Elysée Prize 2011 is the award’s second edition.

Søren Lind, Sansour’s assistant, declared today that Lacoste  had yet to give any public response on the matter.  Spokespersons for the Musée de l’Elysée were contacted, but no statement was forthcoming.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign has also denounced the decision by the Lacoste Elysée Prize to exclude Larissa Sansour from the final shortlist on grounds that her work is too ‘pro-Palestinian’in a public statement.

For further information: Larissa Sansour or assistant Soren Lind on +44 784 9011 977 and info@larissasansour.com

Close Range

An old picture I found while going through my old files. 

The picture is for an Israeli Army officer arguing with a Palestinian resident in the village of Bilin, during the soldiers search for Palestinian stone thrower. 

Peaceful Resistance

The Confrontation with the Israeli army in Naksa day at Qalandia in Sunday, and  after the Israeli took over the streets in no time with their tear gas, concussion grenade, and rubber bullets. the Palestinian protesters were forced back to the same old position, the same one as May 15, Nakba clashes.
Well, I have nothing to say about it, The pictures below will tell more,

But the protest took a different direction, a group of protesters gathered around the soldiers, the Protesters were chanting and holding signs, and every time the soldiers throw tear gas, they would gather again as soon as the gas fade away, at this moment boarder police went down to confront the protesters, pushing "usually with their bodies, never saw a soldier use his hands." the protesters back -who had their hands behind their back-. the police used the means they know the best, they used tear gas at least twice, they stopped after they gassed themselves"somehow the commander who throw the gas canister, just miss calculated the wind, so he teargassed his men, rather than the protesters, I have some respect for this commander, as he returned to his men, although the gas was everywhere, to check on them.!"

After the second gassing, the police called the Skunk water Canon (it is chemical blue/greenish liquid that smell like sewage water. it stick on clothes and skin, not easy to remove). as soon as it's arrived the protesters rushed to confront it, as soon they stood in front of it, the canon opened fire!! "to be more accurate, open water" refreshing them in the very hot sunny day! I got some of this refreshing liquid as well, a week later I still smell it.

The protesters stood against the truck for a while, they were pushed, and pepper sprayed before the police finally push them aside letting the trucks enter, to wash the street of Qalandia refuge camp.

The protester stood doing almost nothing for a while before a military jeep showed up, 2 protesters tried to block it's way, the soldiers at this point responded violently they stormed the 2 protesters, they arrested one, dragged him and forced him inside the jeep. The protester who escaped the arrest said "we shall not let this Jeep leave as long as this guy inside", the protester tried to block the path, but the soldiers were aware this time and forced everyone away.

One of the protesters tried to b lack the way, but not for long, he was chased and brought to the ground for a while, protesters and medics argued the Israeli police to let him go in an ambulance eventually, claiming he was badly injured.


Seeing all this made me think-for the first time- about the power of peaceful resistance in Palestine, the soldiers most of the time stood there a bit confused as for the first time, they are dealing with Palestinian protesters with no stones in their hands, they wanted to use the same old means, I could see the urge in the border police face to shot, yet he couldn't, their was no excuse to use such power, over an obviously unarmed civilian.

The soldier, and border police are used to deal the stones throwers, young men who can be easily listed under combatant, that can cause harms to the soldiers(the list of people who can be considered as a threat on the soldiers life is wide). In other hand Israeli police is more capable to suppress peaceful protest, but they don't operate in the west bank,....... maybe they will sometimes soon.

Yet, you can easily note, how noneffective the peaceful protest was(so the stone throwing), the soldiers could easily arrest them all in minutes, their were only 20 protester.. "maybe less" they were scared, or at least not welling to be arrested. after the water canon stand, there was no more action only 2 people were left to meet their fate, with the Jeep stand.
Those activist failed to understand, peaceful resistance is just like the armed one, need planing, need attacks plans as much as it need defiance mechanism, it's not enough to walk down the street with your hand behind your back, this can be stopped in a tear canister.
The people who adopt the peaceful resistance must maintain the same qualities an armed fighter poses, they must be willing to be arrested, beaten, and even shot dead to achieve their purposes. those qualities I didn't see among most of the activist who stood there.

In the end as someone believe in armed resistance, I think those peaceful resistance advocate have something to offer, we must give them the chance.. in the end, it can't get worse.

Final note, you can't throw stone and do/claim peaceful protest at the same time... those 2 don't work very well together.

Best
A

PS: The Palestinian as people still maintain their right to use any mean necessary to achieve their purposes of Independent state on their righteous land, and the return of the refugees.  

Arrested At Qalandia

An Israeli Police officer Hold down a Palestinian protester in attempt to Arrest him, after he stood in front of an Israeli army jeep, to prevent it from driving away with another protester arrested earlier. The protester in this picture was taken away with ambulance later! He is fine now.