See how the BBC reports the fiasco at the Edinburgh Film Festival. How dumbed down this is, and how casually they recount Ken Loach’s boycotting blackmail,
– (Loach) urged pro Palestinians to “stay away” –
and how little they are making of Ginnie Atkinson’s astonishing U-turn.
The item has been running at Harry’s place since 15th May, and updated on 19th, and today Melanie P has taken it up. The BBC plays it down, and carries on plugging Loach’s film about Eric Cantona regardless.
Agreed. Loach’s disgraceful behaviour deserves a much fuller treatment. Not sure if it’s been picked up by the broadcast side of the bbc. But it ought to be.
Someone needs to challenge these these imbeciles from “the arts community”, get them on TV and force them to explain their logic, their thought process, their experience. Because frankly they couldn’t – they all like to perceive their views as “brave”, “progressive”, “free-thinking” but they’re nothing of the sort. It’s just echo-chamber mindless repetition.
Why on earth does Ken Loach’s, or David Hare’s or Mark Thomas’ or Chris Martin’s politics matter any more than Wayne Rooney’s or Ricky Hatton’s or Naomi Campbell’s – they’re all part of the entertainment industry none brighter than any other.
It’s not even that the former are just more prepared to spew their crap in public. I remember Frank Bruno announcing that he was a Tory because he didn’t see why he should fork out half his purse for getting battered by Tyson in tax. Far from being treated to goggle eyed reverence and mass publicity he got mocked – I don’t see why big Frank’s opinion is any less important than Loach’s, in fact he’s clearly experienced a far wider spectrum of British life and his views are thus more relevant.
Boycott Ken Loach!!!!
I saw The Wind That Shakes the Barley recently. Quite aside from the very dubious politics, it really was turgid as art. and this from the maker of Kes, a work of genius.
I think artists do have important things to say about the human condition, and politics is part of that. But Loach’s behaviour on this is breathtakingly inhumane and warped.
Think of it this way…this play and woman have now got far more attention they either of them ever would have in the first place 🙂
Mailman
Mailman, are you talking about Caryl Churchill and her play, or Ken Loach and the Israeli sponsorship furore?
This is a film festival and an opinionated film maker who has blackmailed the organisers to do what he wants in an ill-informed antisemitic strop.
There are several aspects to this all too common recent phenomenon:
1. ‘Boycott threat’ strategy – solicited at the drop of a hat.
2. Omnipresent ‘luvvies on politics’ – misuse/abuse of celebrityhood.
3. The tragedy of the media-engendered ‘Israel =
war crimes/racist/ apartheid state’ consensus.
4. Whether various bodies that are subjected to threats and blackmail for the above reasons capitulate easily, as in this case, or not, in the case of the BBC’s stance over the DEC/Gaza thing.
(The BBC were subjected to far more pressure to capitulate, but obviously their steadfastness owed more to a fear of being caught red-handed with bias than the moral high-ground position they faked.)
Yes, the pro-Hamas BBC propaganda, subsided by BBC licencepayers continues. E.g. apparently that Scottish, Labour Party supporting, Beeboid, Ms. K. Wark, is happy that BBC 2 ‘Newsnight Review’ tonight publicises her political fellow-travelling Mr. Loach’s film , with no criticism of his politically censoring actions against an Israeli film being shown at Edinburgh Film Festival.
As Melanie Phillips says:
‘Spectator blog’ (21/05) –
[Extract]:
“The film-maker Ken Loach is well known for his extreme hostility to Israel. Tali Shalom Ezer, a graduate of Tel Aviv University, was due to go to the Edinburgh International Film Festival for a screening of her film, Surrogate. Her film has nothing to do with politics. It is a romance set in a sex-therapy clinic. Yet simply because she was Israeli, and had received a grant of £300 from the Israel embassy to enable her to travel to Scotland, Loach said the Festival should be boycotted on account of ‘the massacres and state terrorism in Gaza’.
“This was clearly appalling on several counts. First, there were no massacres or state terrorism by Israel in Gaza. There was a war against terrorism. The terrorism is being perpetrated by Gaza against Israel. Loach does not seek to boycott those who deliberately try to murder Israeli innocents; he supports them and tries to punish their victims instead. Second this film director, whose business should surely be to promote free artistic and cultural expression, was trying to stifle and censor a film. Third, he was attempting to penalise someone who had no responsibility whatever for Israeli policy, simply because she was an Israeli citizen. Lies, suppression and injustice – that’s what Ken Loach has now shown he stands for.”
And the BBC is aiding and abetting him.
GeorgeR 5:33
MP spot on as usual !