Liberate Tate action against BP sponsorship
After Monday night’s mini-spill outside the Tate Britain, enacted by the artist-activist group Liberate Tate, there has been a flow (‘scuse the pun) of press coverage from around the world, opening up the debate around corporate sponsorship of the arts (which is, in my personal opinion, a victory in itself).
Much of the arguments that are critical of the action taken, have followed along these general lines – that we, as activists, should be targeting BP, not the Tate; that we should be targeting all oil companies, not just BP, as other companies such as Shell have a high stake in our cultural institutions too; that oil has been sponsoring the arts for the past 20 years, so why bother protesting about it now; and that the Tate and the arts in general have no choice but to accept corporate sponsorship, especially in the light of further cuts in public spending.
VIDEO: BP, Tate Modern, Balloon Power and Dead Fish
A 5 minute video of a “Liberate Tate” action which is part of an upcoming documentary:
Balloon Power from Sharon salazar on Vimeo.
For more info on this action, read Sunny Hundal’s post on Liberal Conspiracy
Can you do good with bad money?
By Hanna Thomas
A few years ago I was at drama school, waiting to launch myself into the world of showbiz and being prepped for life out in the “industry”. This consisted mainly of being told to lose half my body weight, wear chicken fillets and look either more or less asian (pretty hard for a dual heritage, Anglo-Japanese girl!) but also, more practical tips, like how to audition for advertisements.
Sitting in that particular session, hearing about how advertising corporate brands can end up being the bread and butter of an actor’s life, I asked about principles – how could you appear in an advert for a company like McDonalds, and reconcile that with your principles? I was told that my tutor’s friend had managed to buy a house outright with the money earned from just such an advert – “Principles, schminciples!” I cried, much to the hilarity of my course-mates, and left it at that.
But it’s a question that has stayed with me. For struggling artists, more lucrative jobs such as advertising can end up funding work we might deem more “worthwhile”. Some might argue that this is an unfortunate, but necessary trade-off. That, to do good, sometimes you need “bad” money.
Happy Africa Day From TMP Online
On this day in Addis Ababa, 1963, Kwame Nkrumah‘s dream of Pan-African Unity was partially realised, the Organisation for African Unity was created and 25th May was declared to be “Africa Day”.
Kwame Nkrumah: African Socialist and Founding Father of African Unity
There are very few official celebrations that commemorate this day though the South African Trade Union Congress (COSATU) has released a statement in remembrance.
Gillian Duffy now famous in America
So after all that hullabaloo, Gillian Duffy is now even famous in the USA, thanks to the Daily Show!
Jon Stewart is the best political satirist going at the moment, though Gillian may appear a sweet little old lady, but she does have bigoted though mainstream ideas regarding Eastern Europeans.
Review of Billy Bragg in “Pressure Drop”
By Mark Inger / @BaronBattersea
I’m embarrassed to say that until last week I had never been to The Wellcome Collection, a glorious building on Euston Road housing a museum displaying an unusual mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks. My visit was not to see anything unusual as such, but to see ‘Pressure Drop’, a mix of gig, play and art installation, all held together by the Bard of Barking himself, Billy Bragg.
Written by Mick Gordon, ‘Pressure Drop’ tells the story of a London based white working class family in the run up to the funeral of recently deceased grandfather Ron. The funeral causes the family to take a long hard look at their own lives, in particularly Ron’s son John, laid off from the local ‘plant’ and disenfranchised with England and resentful of immigration to the local area. John’s childhood friend Tony is playing on John’s vulnerability and desperately trying to get him to stand in the local Council elections for a party that we never actually hear the name of, but we can safely assume is a far right outfit based on the BNP.
Fairer Britain? That’s racialist!
Simply brilliant, the scary thing is that I know someone like this:
South Yorkshire: where the left fears to tread
Judith Amanthis reports on how an innovative artist is pioneering methods of engaging working class communities whilst combating the far-right.
Everyone on the UK left knows why some members of the white ex-industrial working class have voted BNP. None that I know of knocks on doors in Doncaster or Dagenham, says “What can we do to help?” and talks to people. That’s what the BNP does.
Is it useful to engage in inside-left (excuse the pun) debate about whether the BNP is a fascist party? Is an elected Hitler likely in multi-racial 21st century UK? When the government’s far right immigration policy is an attempt to stem the haemorrhage of whiteness and Englishness from the UK working class anyway?
Whichever anti-BNP slogan the left chooses, one young woman is acting creatively. Artist Rachel Horne and her friends are trying to drag her South Yorkshire ex-mining community, and especially her generation, away from the BNP, but also from the British army and the drugs barons. An increasingly coercive and privatised social security system doesn’t help.
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Whose to blame for the budget cuts?
From Lefty Cartoons