Roots to Resistance project shares stories of courage
by Michael Lithgow on April 30, 2012
Natalia Estemirova
Twelve women. Twelve stories of political courage. Twelve portraits. The Roots to Resistance project is spreading word about the groundbreaking work of twelve women who have dedicated their lives to fighting for social justice.
Denise Beaudet is the artist behind the portraits. Postcards of these images and small posters are available free for the asking and are being sent around the world. The goal of the project is to inspire by sharing these women’s heroic struggles against corruption, exploitation and oppression.
The portraits include Aung San Suu Kyi, Wangari Maathai, Vandana Shiva, Rebecca Gomperts, Natalia Estemirova, Malalai Joya, Chouchou Namegabe, Zapatista Women, Maria Gunnoe, Yvonne Margarula, Dita Indah Sari, Marina Silva.
The Roots projects is raising money through Kickstarter for the next phase of the project. The fundraising campaign runs to May 5th.
I caught up with Beaudet to ask her a few questions about her work and about the project … Click to continue »
Killing Saskatchewan's film tax credit is economic nonsense
by Craig Silliphant on April 10, 2012
The cast from InSecurity. The TV show will no longer be produced in Saskatchewan.
With the announcement of the axing of the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit, we are effectively telling the rest of the film-producing world that Saskatchewan is closed for business. It’s a commonly known fact that film productions will not so much as consider a location that doesn’t have a tax credit program in place. In fact, even the ubiquitous Hollywood movie The Hunger Games, which made $155 million in its opening weekend, utilized a tax credit from North Carolina.
Being a movie lover, and writer / broadcaster in the province who is often identified with film, this makes me want to vomit with rage. I’d probably be working at 7-11 if not for the Saskatchewan film industry, which gave me my start and taught me how both the art and the business of how films work. This, in turn, helped my writing appear in places like The National Post.
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Artists winks at Chinese authorities with a Big Brother flourish
by Michael Lithgow on April 4, 2012
Artist Ai Wei Wei has installed live webcams in his home so that authorities – and worried supporters – can keep track of his day-to-day whereabouts and welfare. Feeling hemmed in by increasingly invasive state surveillance – being followed day-to-day, round-the-clock surveillance on his home, searches of his studio, phone taps, opening his mail — Wei Wei decided to go the extra step and demonstrate that he has no secrets, despite the Chinese government’s persistent paranoia.
Wei Wei was detained last April for 81 days amid Chinese fears of political dissidence in the wake of Arab Spring uprisings. He was charged with tax evasion, a charge supporters say was politically motivated. His fines were paid by friends and supporters. Perhaps most controversially, he questioned the government’s role in poor construction standards after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed more than 5,000 schoolchildren because buildings collapsed. In November last year, officials demolished his studio in Shanghai.
Thanks to The Guardian for the original coverage.
Mother Jones’ illustrator Zina Saunders takes on the GOP’s oppressive and backwards stance on women in her illustrated political cartoon this week, in which you are invited to step right up and watch the greatest circus on earth – the 2012 Republican presidential campaign. Watch it over at Mother Jones’.
Film screening cancelled amid unsubstantiated copyright fears
by Art Threat on April 3, 2012
A bricolage of (some of) last weeks news stories
by Michael Lithgow on April 2, 2012
Nairobi graffiti by artists Uhuru B, Swift, Smokilah and Bankslave
Kenyan graffiti artists are painting the walls of Nairobi with reminders of government corruption. Executions are up in the Middle East – in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen – as governments there continue their efforts to quell political turmoil. Malaysia is introducing a minimum wage for the first time, and experts warn that the fight against antibiotic resistant strains of tuberculosis has been lost.
Thousands of indigenous farmers marched in Guatemala City demanding land reform. Cambodian filmmaker Thet Sambath is being harassed and intimidated for claims made in his latest documentary that the Killing Fields were a result of Khmer Rouge party infighting. The Spanish Government has announced large-scale oil drilling near the Canary Islands. The costs of the London 2012 Olympics are now estimated at 450% higher than when the bid was won (including security costs to exceed $1 billion).
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Artist-run centres across Québec support the student movement
by Kevin Lo on March 21, 2012
Over the last month and a half, students across Québec have been mobilising against the dramatic tuition hikes being imposed by the Charest government and education minister Line Beauchamp. Emerging out of the 2005 student movement that successfully (if controversially) challenged the Liberal government’s proposed cuts to the loans and bursaries program, an estimated 270,000 students are currently on strike, performing creative direct actions, organising mass rallies and protests, holding community teach-ins, and occupying physical and media space. The iconic red square is visible everywhere in Montreal, appearing on the backpacks and lapels of students and their many supporters, adorning public monuments, and now thanks to a creative solidarity initative by Artung, in over 300 advertising columns across Montréal (facebook gallery here).
Québec artist-run centres have also rallied around the student struggle, recognising the links between the commodification and privatisation of education and that of art and culture. Artist run-centres occupy a unique space within Canadian culture, existing parallel to the larger public institutions and commercial galleries, they provide artists (often emerging artists) with an alternative and independent framework within which to conduct their research and present their work. Stephen Harper’s infamous “ordinary people don’t care about arts funding” election statement has resulted in severe cuts to the funding bodies for these organisations, and created pressure to commercialise their practices, seriously threatening their long-term viability as alternative spaces.
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Fundraising drive for the voice of New Orleans cultural renaissance
by Michael Lithgow on March 14, 2012
Tune in, turn on and give a few bucks to one the most fabulous radio stations anywhere. WWOZ New Orleans community radio is having their annual membership fundraising drive, and now is the time to support this treasure in the midst of New Orlean’s cultural renaissance.
WWOZ is home to the New Orleans sound, old and new, including New Orleans jazz, Second Lines, Mardis Gras Indians, Pleasure Clubs, brass bands, gospel, dixieland, blues, calliope and more more more. All from the humble efforts of community volunteers, local musicians and donations from listeners.
WWOZ is a bright light in this beleaguered city, and the sounds they share warm hearts and souls all over the world.
Check it out (you can stream live here), and if you like what you hear, support local independent radio.
A fantastic Q interview with filmmaker Alex Cox
by Ezra Winton on March 13, 2012
Yesterday’s Q show on CBC Radio One had a great interview with the director of REPO MAN and SID AND NANCY, Alex Cox. An outspoken critic of the studio system and of government and corporate efforts to crackdown on “illegal” downloading, Cox argues that the corporate studio system continues to make billions while artists get ripped off, so when someone downloads SID AND NANCY—a film he has not seen a residual dime from—the copyright holder “loses,” not the creator, who is already losing out to the copyright holder.
Cox doesn’t pull any punches, and is a refreshing voice in the debate, adding a dose of good Brit humour with a dose of sharp criticism against a rapacious system that doesn’t care about independent artists, only increasing profits. Hit play on the audio file below (after the jump), and after the intro from guest host Brent Brambury (who has his own interesting take on the Doonsbury comic controversy and Limbaugh the goon), Cox is first up.
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3rd gathering in Montreal set for March 17
by Michael Lithgow on March 12, 2012
Bryant Park, Manhattan. Photo by Eric Walton
Montreal artists are invited to join the growing collaboration of the Occupy Arts Committee, a gathering of artists from all disciplines who want to support
Occupy Montreal with creative practice.
According to organizers, this meeting will be a creation workshop to start imagining, painting & drawing … Artists are encouraged to bring material, art supplies, paint & brushes, etc…. and to think YELLOW.
March 17, 2012 Café l’Artère, 7000 ave. Du Parc (métro Parc). 14h / 2pm
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Yesterday’s 
