The right to protest: Technology turns the camera on surveillance state
In the first of a series of articles on protest and free speech, Guardian reporter Paul Lewis assesses the fallout from the death of Ian Tomlinson
(more…)
The politics of the Pope and Palestine
The visit of a religious dignitary of the stature of Benedict XVI is a delicate matter, fraught with religious and political sensitivities. In particular, Israeli authorities were especially keen not to burden the Holy Father with anything as earthly as political protests, especially protests critical of the hosting state.
Quite apart from the extraordinary reaction to a Palestinian cleric making a few fairly non-controversial remarks, local police have been sparing no effort to depoliticize the visit, or at least not to allow it to be politicized in any way beyond the recognition demanded of the pope for exclusively Jewish suffering.
In one example, two Palestinian citizens of Israel (or “two Arabs”, as most of the media chose to phrase it) were arrested in East Jerusalem on May 9, three days before the pope was due to land, on suspicion of “intending to deal out leaflets calling for a boycott of the Papal visit.” The police did not specify the content of the leaflets and whether they incited to violence of any sort.
Two other men were arrested in Nazareth the following day, also on charges of “intending to hang posters critical of the papal visit.” The local police again refused to comment on the content of the materials, but noted that “we will act decisively against any attempt to interrupt with the visit.” The headline heralding this arrest in one Israeli website was a gem in its own right —- “Two more suspected of opposition to the pope arrested.”
On the day of the visit itself, police proceeded to shut down a Palestinian Authority press briefing organized in an East Jerusalem hotel. The room at the Ambassador hotel was sealed, the attendees politely dispersed and all “documents” found confiscated. The commanding officer remarked the operation went through “without incident.”
Unusually, the arrests were not entirely reserved to Palestinians. A Jewish ultra-Orthodox man was caught throwing paint at a Vatican flag on a lamppost on a Jerusalem street and promptly detained. Police also dispersed the comic relief of the week — several of the most brutal settler activists, including Cahanist MK Moshe Ben Ari demonstrated in front of the presidential palace, demanding the pope “returns stolen sacred artifacts” – namely, the Temple treasures looted by the Romans in 66AD.
However, in marked contrast to the Palestinian protesters arrested through the weeks, prominent Jewish figures — including several rabbis and a left-wing MK — who called to boycott the events around the visiting pontiff were left untroubled by police.
Matthew Taylor on the BBC and Bowen
Matthew Taylor of the RSA has addressed Jonathan Dimbleby’s criticisms of the BBC Trust on indexoncensorship.org. He sees the culture of compliance as a real problem for journalists:
Jonathan has written a powerful attack on the BBC Trust for its censuring of BBC Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen. Now, I am all for media accountability, but having read through the detail of this case the Trust response does seem excessive. An essay by Bowen on the 1967 Sid Day War was criticised by two well-known pro-Israeli activists. The Trust then agreed to a number of small amendments to Bowen’s piece. Supporters of the journalist fear that the damage to his and the BBC’s reputation caused by this apparent censure from the Trust is massively disproportionate.
My many friends in the BBC tell me that the system of editorial compliance now feels out of control. Fear of any criticism of content is creating cumbersome form-filling processes, a burgeoning bureaucracy and posing a threat to freedom and creativity (there is even talk by some programme makers of establishing an anonymous website on which to publish what they see as the more ludicrous compliance decisions). I was reminded of these concerns this morning when I heard that the BBC is again investigating Jonathan Ross, this time as a consequence of four complaints (so far) that a joke he made last weekend was homophobic.
But, he adds, the BBC needs to do more to ensure the support of the public:
We form general impressions of organisations, as we do of people. Those we judge to be modest and generous we are inclined to forgive when they make errors. But when those we deem arrogant and self interested err we enjoy their discomfort (witness the MPs’ expenses saga). Could it be that instead of attempting to avoid all editorial criticism — a project that will either fail or be deeply counter productive –– the BBC should be focussing more on its image as a Corporation?
Read the full post here
Reporter Amira Hass arrested on return from Gaza
Israeli police have arrested journalist Amira Hass upon her return from the Gaza Strip over being in violation of a military ban on Israeli citizens visiting the Palestinian Territories. Read more here