The Common Ills: The not-so-soft bigotry of Amy Goodman

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The not-so-soft bigotry of Amy Goodman

I am so sick of Amy Goodman. We know she doesn't give a damn about Iraq. But Human Rights Watch releases a report on the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community and it's news -- it's news especially if you've never covered the topic before. And she hasn't. In fact, Pacifica Radio ignored the targeting when the New York Times, when the BBC, when ABC news and so many other outlets were reporting on this in April. But Amy Goodman didn't have time and you have to ask yourself how damn sick is New York City that they'll let that her 'represent' and refuse to demand that she cover LGBT issues?

This is garbage. And Amy Goodman is a bigot.

Now you'll notice that Human Rights Watch was worthy of a segment on her show yesterday . . . if she could talk Israel and Palestine. Which she does non-stop. Over and over. Is Amy that rooted in the Communism of the last century, where gays and lesbians were forced to hide in the closet in order to become CP party members -- if allowed in and many were not? Is she so rooted in that bigotry and intolerance?

It's past time she was forced to address these issues.

But apparently New York City loves her representing them as homophobic. That's what she does. Day after damn day.

It's past time that she was held accountable for this.

She's always got "full ongoing coverage of this story" -- when it's any story other than an LGBT one. Find one damn story that she's covered, one time when an LGBT person has been targeted in this or any other country. You can't.

Under pressure, she'll do one or two general interest LGBT stories and that's it. And she gets away with that crap. It's shameful. That Pacifica Radio would allow their 'brand' show to traffic in so much homophobia is shameful. But that's what WBAI's been able to pull off for years. That's changing but for now the whole country suffers as the the drain on Pacifica -- the station that Amy and her cronies ran into the ground, nearly bankrupting Pacifica as a result -- gets addressed.

But it's as much the listeners fault as anyone else's because they have made a homophobic bigot a hero. They've allowed her to pull this crap day after damn day and never called her on her homophobia.

The Human Rights Watch report is entitled "'They Want Us Exterminated': Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq." For the 67-page report [PDF format warning] click here. But don't go to Democracy Now! for any information because Goody's not interested. She never is, so she reduces to a buried in the mix headline, pats herself on the back and pretends she 'covered' something. And everyone's supposed to be okay with that? And it's really past time that we also started asking why we're bored with all this 'health' coverage?

Why are they boring us with this crap?

It's not what Barack's proposed. It's not what Congress has proposed -- in either house. Why are we still talking about this crap?

We've never had an honest discussion of the 'plans' on the table. What we get is hopeful 'it might . . .' They never take the time to address what the plans would do (because the proposals do damn little for the people) but we get a lot of fevered panting over what might happen ten, twenty years on down the line as a result.

Single-payer is not being offered. It should be offered. Those who cover health care should be covering that option. But instead we get a lot of smoke and mirrors and it's really disgusting and all of it is nothing but junk news.

Possibly the reason the protest angle took off so is because the plans are so damn embarrassing and pitiful that there's no point in covering them? And that would include the House proposal with its embarrassing 'public option.'

From Liz Sly's "Iraq's gays face rising persecution" (Los Angeles Times):

The Iraqi LGBT, a London-based group that supports lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders in Iraq, says it has documented 87 killings in Iraq so far this year related to anti-gay sentiments, including six in the last two weeks.
And in a report released Monday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch says the number of Iraqis killed in the last few years because they were gay or suspected of being gay could run into "hundreds." It says the government isn't doing enough to protect the rights of gays in Iraq.
"Murders are committed with impunity . . . with corpses dumped in garbage or hung as warnings on the street," the Human Rights Watch report says. "The killers invade the privacy of homes, abducting sons or brothers, leaving their mutilated bodies in the neighborhood the next day."
Among the tortures described to Human Rights Watch researchers by gays and doctors is the practice of injecting glue into men's anuses. Human Rights Watch says that according to the gays its researchers interviewed, the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr, "bears primary responsibility and launched the killing in early 2009."

NPR's Mark Memmott covers it here (not an audio link, just text). Click here for Free Speech Radio News' headline on the story. Canada's CBC offers:

The Mahdi Army, a Shia militia run by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, is suspected of spearheading the killings, Tom Porteous, the London director of Human Rights Watch, told CBC News on Monday.
In an interview from London, Porteous said the Mahdi army has for the most part suspended its military resistance to the U.S. presence in Iraq, but has been eager to show it still has influence over the daily lives of Iraqis.
"One theory is in order to maintain relevance and to gain publicity, they are now taking it upon themselves to run a campaign to -- in the words of some preachers and some media commentators -- cleanse the country of depravity, which again is being interpreted as being brought in by the foreign invasion and occupation," he said.

Alsumaria has the guts to include, "Iraq authorities have done nothing to stop the killing, Human Rights Watch said calling on Iraq's government to act urgently to rein in militia abuses, punish the perpetrators, and stop a new resurgence of violence that threatens all Iraqis' safety." Broadcasting in Iraq, Alsumaria includes that and homophobic trash in NYC can't do a damn thing? Dalila Mahdwai (Lebanon's Daily Star) explains, "Although the violence is mainly concentrated in the Iraqi capital, abuse has also been recorded in other the cities of Basra, Kirkuk and Najaf, Moumneh said. “Murders are committed with impunity, admonitory in intent, with corpses dumped in garbage or hung as warnings on the street,” the report said. " Neal Broverman (The Advocate) provides an overview of the report:

HRW released a report on Monday that documented the terror that gay Iraqis have endured since the end of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, including roving militiamen who have hunted and murdered gay men seeking their first taste of freedom.
Based on reports by a United Nations official in Baghdad, hospital officials, and gay Iraqi men, the report states that hundreds of gay men have been killed in Shiite areas of the Muslim nation. Iraqi officials allegedly knew about the murders but have done little to stop future killings. In Monday's Washington Post, Iraq's human rights minister said that the closeted nature of Iraq's gays makes it hard to protect them from the killers.

Now unlike Amy Goodman, I wasn't raised by two semi-closted Communists and encouraged to embrace homophobia because it was politically expedient. But it's the 21st century and her family history is no excuse for Pacifica to allow her homophobia free reign. She's supposedly anchoring "the war and peace report." Gays are being targeted and because of her 'radical' raising she won't call it out. That's shameful and shame on anyone in NYC who listens to WBAI and tolerates that homophobia. Amy Goodman gets five hours a week and can't cover this or any story on the targeting of LGBTs. Quit pretending she's the "Peace & Justice" queen. She's the retro Communist who still can't drag her ass into a time when being gay, lesbian or transsexual is nothing to be ashamed of. Her bigotry is appalling and that she's allowed to repeatedly run with it says a great deal about her fan base.

For any late arrivals, we covered the report at length yesterday and we have repeatedly covered the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community. And we'll cover it again in today's snapshot. The plan was to cover it this morning but I'm so sick of this homophobia on the left and I'm so damn tired of it being flaunted by so-called 'heroes' of the independent media movement. It's sick, it's disgusting and it needs to end but that only happens when it's confronted.

We'll note this from First Run Features:

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kelly Hargraves Phone: 1-323-662-1930 kelly.hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com



	Keeping the Independent Flame: The Film Society of Lincoln Center Honors 30 YEARS OF FIRST RUN FEATURES 19 Films Celebrating the Trailblazing Indie Film Distributor August 26-September 4 The Film Society of Lincoln Center is celebrating the 30th anniversary of distributor First Run Features and its long-time President, Seymour Wishman, with the series Keeping the Independent Flame: 30 Years of First Run Features, running Wednesday, August 26 through Friday, September 4. The Film Society of Lincoln Center says, “For thirty years First Run Features has been at the forefront of companies that take the risk of distributing previously unreleased films. It takes remarkable courage to distribute cutting-edge and sometimes controversial works that they believe should and must be seen. We salute First Run Features, and we are proud to say that many of the films in their catalogue premiered in Film Society programs.” First Run Features was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers to advance the distribution of independent film. Under the leadership of the late independent film pioneer, Fran Spielman, First Run Features quickly gained a reputation for its controversial catalog of daring independent fiction and non-fiction films. First Run remains one of the largest independent theatrical and home video distributors in the United States. Filmmakers appearing include Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum (A Life Apart); John Scagliotti, Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss (Before Stonewall); Radley Metzger (The Cat and the Canary); Farhad Zamani (Googoosh: Iran’s Daughter); Godfrey Cheshire (Moving Midway), and Manny Kirchheimer (We Were So Beloved). Schedules and tickets available below. First Run Features' landmark films, including Before Stonewall, the Up films, the films of famed documentarian Ross McElwee, French auteur Claude Chabrol, and Czech animator Jan Svankmajer, and First Run’s entire eclectic collection of over 250 films are available at www.firstrunfeatures.com. For interviews and screeners please contact kelly.hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com Keeping the Independent Flame opens on Wednesday, August 26 with Yoav Shamir’s *Defamation. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, it explores the rise of contemporary anti-Semitism through the eyes of Shamir, an Israeli who grew up surrounded by Jews. Shamir’s investigation leads him from Abraham Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League, to his grandmother, Israeli peace activist Uri Avinery, and controversial American professor Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry, each of whom offers his and her own takes on what this trend suggests. An important work on a timely subject, Defamation* is subjective documentary at its best. The extraordinary resurgence of New Wave co-founder Claude Chabrol began with his witty 2000 psychological thriller, *Merci Pour Le Chocolat* (Fri Aug 28). The amazing Isabelle Huppert (two-time winner for Best Actress at Cannes, winner at Berlin, three time winner at Venice including a special lifetime achievement award), headlines Chabrol’s cast as Mika, a Swiss chocolate company exec, who is married to suave concert pianist Andre (Jacques Dutronc). Chabrol weaves a delicate web of intrigue and suspicion until there is simply no way out for any of his protagonists. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post called it “as irresistible as a piece of dark chocolate…Huppert gives such a mesmerizingly deadpan performance.” Ross McElwee’s 1986 docu-masterpiece, *Sherman's March* (Thu Aug 27 & Sat Aug 29), winner of the 1987 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, is the Citizen Kane of the first-person documentary movement. A precursor to Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, the film follows McElwee, a North Carolina native who returns home to explore the lingering effects of Sherman’s march on the contemporary South. He’d also like to get a girlfriend. His wonderful, self-critical sense of humor inspires an equally wonderful portrait of America coming to terms with a lack of certainty and engagement in the future. Another highlight of the series is *The Embalmer* (Fri Sep 4) by Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, 2008 New York Film Festival). A 2003 New Directors/New Films selection, this taut atmospheric thriller unravels the strange and complicated newly found friendship between Valerio (Valerio Manzillo) and taxidermist-embalmer Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux). Roger Ebert described it as “masterful at concealing its true nature and surprising us with the turns of the story.” *49 Up* (Sun Aug 30 & Mon Aug 31), Michael Apted’s 2005 installment of the famed and groundbreaking series that captures its participants every seven years, is a victorious summation and capstone, as the original group copes with middle age and the meaning of their lives, while challenging their chronicler/tormenter about the price they pay for being put under such public scrutiny. Roger Ebert describes the Up series as “one of the great imaginative leaps in film.” Also included in the series is Suzan Pitt’s World, a gorgeous collection of three outstanding animated shorts from 1979 to 2006 (Sun Aug 30 & Sep 2) by Pitt. With *Asparagus* (USA, 1979; 20m), she burst onto the international scene with playful, erotic imagery for the midnight movie crowd. *Joy Street* (USA, 1995; 24m) is a paean to the delights of spending time in an altered state. Finally, *El doctor* (USA/Mexico, 2006; 23m) is, according to Pitt, a film about “the institution of miracles in Mexico,” as seen in the interaction between a perennially tipsy Mexican doctor and one of his young patients. Complete Schedule: 49 Up Michael Apted, UK, 2005; 135m “Apted’s Up series stands as one of the most significant, noble, textured, sympathetic and complex portraits of human nature to grace the history of cinema. Every seven years, the participants of this amazing documentary project have been…captured on film in the process of simply living. This latest episode is a triumphant summation and capstone, as the original group copes with middle age and the meaning of their lives, while challenging their chronicler/tormenter about the price they pay for being put under such public scrutiny.” - 44th New York Film Festival Sun Aug 30: 8:30pm Mon Aug 31: 3:15pm Alice / Neco z Alenky Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia/Switzerland/UK/West Germany, 1988; 84m “An extraordinary piece of work: brilliantly inventive…a piercing, original vision.” - Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker For years, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have developed some of the world’s most inventive animators. Jan Svankmajer has long been recognized as a master among them. Here, he creates a wondrous if unsettling version of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. Combining live action with stop-motion animation and a host of other techniques, Svankmajer brings Alice’s world to astonishing life, though often taking liberties by re-interpreting people and events. The result is an unforgettable look at the mystery that lies within even the most banal, everyday objects. Sat Aug 29: 1:00pm Wed Sep 2: 9:00pm The Architecture of Doom / Undergangens arkitektur Peter Cohen, Sweden, 1989; 119m Rejected from art school and then inspired to create the Third Reich while watching a performance of Wagner’s Rienzi, Hitler devoted an inordinate amount of his time studying and planning architectural projects, even in the disastrous closing days of the war. British filmmaker Peter Cohen turns these facts into a fascinating new take on the Nazi nightmare, using rarely seen footage and photographs to speculate on Hitler’s regime as a massive art project to rid Germany of decadent artistic influences. Narrated by Bruno Ganz. Fri Aug 28: 4:30pm Sat Aug 29: 6:10pm Ballerina Bertrand Normand, France, 2006; 80m From Pavlova to Makarova, Russian ballerinas have been a source of pride for their country and a revelation to Western audiences. Here, French director Bertrand Normand explores his muse, the St. Petersburg ballerina, through interview and performance footage of Alina Somova, Svetlana Zakharova, Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina, and Evgenia Obraztsova. Each ballerina shares her personal hopes and dreams and, in Lopatkina’s case, considers a career crisis and comeback. An intimate look at six of the Kirov’s rising superstars. Thu Sep 3: 9:00pm Before Stonewall Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg, USA, 1984; 87m Followed by a special anniversary panel discussion! In June 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall, a West Village bar with a large gay clientele, sparking the riot and protests that gave birth to the modern gay and lesbian rights movement. Yet an organized struggle for dignity and gay rights began long before that night 40 years ago. Full of fascinating interviews with men and women who risked their reputations and their lives, *Before Stonewall* is an essential document of the long, hard journey that transformed a closeted culture into an international rallying cry. Mon Aug 31: 8:00pm* A special panel discussion will follow the 8:00 p.m. screening on Monday, August 31. Born in Flames* Lizzie Borden, USA, 1983; 90m Ten years after a peaceful Socialist revolution took control of the United States, long neglected problems fester as emerging radical groups meet with increasing repression and violence. Described by one critic as “a bizarre Trotskyite radical-feminist science-fiction allegory,” *Born in Flames* is an American independent film from an era when that term still had meaning. It is also funny, challenging, and completely irreverent, with an inspired soundtrack featuring The Bloods, The Red Crayolas and Ibis. Wed Aug 26: 4:00pm Fri Aug 28: 9:00pm A Boy and His Dog L.Q. Jones, USA, 1975; 91m This cult favorite based on a Harlan Ellison novella stars Don Johnson, pre-*Miami Vice, as Vic, a rare surface survivor of a nuclear holocaust who communicates telepathically with his only companion, his dog Blood. Vic’s safety and youthful sexual appetite are assured when he meets Quilla (Susanne Benton) and discovers a seemingly thriving underground society. But then he discovers the sinister role he has been led there to play. Combining apocalyptic thriller with an odd, coming-of-age parody, A Boy and His Dog* is an virtual catalogue of the era’s ideas about both impending doom and the endless promise of youth. Wed Aug 26: 9:00pm Bright Leaves Ross McElwee, USA/UK, 2003; 107m “In *Bright Leaves, the celebrated non-fiction director Ross McElwee…returns to his North Carolina birthplace to root out the story of his family's agricultural downfall: were the McElwees swindled out of their rightful share of America's tobacco bounty by their rivals, the unscrupulous Duke family?...Locating the universal through the highly personal has always been McElwee's modus operandi—see such films as Sherman's March* and *Time Indefinite. And his technique is further distilled in this funny, leisurely, ironic trip into one man's obscure family history, and the smoky haze of a one-crop culture.” ~41st New York Film Festival Tue Sep 1: 4:15 and 8:45pm* The Cat and the Canary Radley Metzger, UK, 1978; 98m The subject of multiple film adaptations, John Willard’s classic 1922 stage play has become a template for thriller plots. A group of relatives gather in an old house to hear the reading of a will. Gradually, the assembled guests are bumped off, until the few survivors discover a homicidal maniac lurking in the shadows. Radley Metzger, more known for his work in erotic cinema, has great fun in this inventive update, aided by a fine cast including Wendy Hiller, Edward Fox, and Olivia Hussey (Juliet in Zefferelli’s *Romeo and Juliet). Fri Sep 4: 2:15pm and 6:30pm Q&A w/ director, 6:30pm screening only. Defamation / Hashmatsa* Yoav Shamir, Israel, 2009; 91m Winner of a Special Jury Prize at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, *Defamation* explores the rise of contemporary anti-Semitism through the eyes of award-winning filmmaker Yoav Shamir, an Israeli who grew up surrounded by Jews. Shamir’s investigation leads him from Abraham Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League, to his grandmother, Israeli peace activist Uri Avinery, and controversial American professor Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry, each of whom offers his and her own takes on what this trend suggests. An important work on a timely subject, *Defamation* is subjective documentary at its best. Wed Aug 26: 6:30pm The Embalmer / L'imbalsamatore Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2002; 101m “Working as a waiter, Valerio slides through life comfortably but with few prospects for the future. Then he meets Peppino, a very short, very gregarious man with a quick smile and infectious laugh. A taxidermist and embalmer, he invites Valerio to learn the trade. Valerio soon discovers that working with Peppino requires more commitment than he imagined. A taut atmospheric thriller with strains of black comedy, Matteo Garrone's fourth film, a box office smash in Italy, captures its characters' quiet desperation and intense emotional longing as their world becomes increasingly macabre.” ~ND/NF 2003 Fri Sep 4: 4:20pm and 9:00pm Googoosh: Iran’s Daughter Farhad Zamani, USA, 2000; 158m Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, iconic Iranian singer Googoosh was silenced and forbidden to grant interviews. Farhad Zamani’s revealing portrait of the artist and the woman charts her meteoric rise to fame in Iran, as well as her “banishment” from public view, via clips of her performances, footage from her movie roles, and the reminiscences of friends and family members. Zamani’s film is a reminder of why, 30 years after she stopped recording, Googoosh remains a star. Sat Aug 29: 2:45pm* Introduction by director A Life Apart: Hasidism in America* Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum, USA, 1997; 96m Those who adhere to and those who stray from the life offered by Hasidic Orthodoxy share their stories in this provocative account of Jewish religious life. In "observing the observant," directors Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum offer a rare exploration of the complexities of Hasidic arrival and survival in the United States, opening a window into a particularly insular world rarely seen by outsiders. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker. Tue Sep 1: 6:30pm* Q&A w/ director Moving Midway* Godfrey Cheshire, USA, 2008; 95m “Godfrey Cheshire’s richly observed documentary film about his colonial roots in the American South begins with the impending move of Midway, the old family plantation in Raleigh, to a new location to make room for a shopping mall. This coincides with the news that Godfrey and his cousins are kin to the Hintons, an African-American branch of the family. What starts as an investigation of heritage and change develops into an eye-opening family drama…[and a] thoroughly entertaining, informative, and stimulating film about the Southern plantation as both a symbol and a fading reality.” ~ND/NF 2008 Wed Sep 2: 4:20pm* Thu Sep 3: 6:30pm** Q&A w/ director. Q&A w/ director & Robert Hinton, Associate Director of Africana Studies at New York University. Merci pour le chocolat* Claude Chabrol, France/Switzerland, 2000; 99m The extraordinary resurgence of New Wave co-founder Claude Chabrol began with this witty psychological thriller about Mika (Isabelle Huppert), a Swiss chocolate company exec, who is married to suave concert pianist Andre (Jacques Dutronc). Though their son Guillaume seems to have inherited none of his father’s talent, Andre’s student Jeanne shares his birthday and, Mika suspects, something else. Chabrol weaves a delicate web of intrigues and suspicions until there is simply no way out for any of his protagonists. Fri Aug 28: 2:30pm and 7:00pm Sherman's March A Mediation to the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Ross McElwee, USA, 1986; 155m Before there were Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, there was Ross McElwee, whose masterpiece *Sherman’s March* is the *Citizen Kane* of the first-person documentary movement. In the film, the North Carolina native returns home to explore the lingering effects of Sherman’s march on the contemporary South. He’d also like to get a girlfriend. His wonderful, self-critical sense of humor inspires an equally wonderful portrait of America coming to terms with the lack of certainly and engagement in the future. Thu Aug 27: 4:00pm Sat Aug 29: 8:30pm Suzann Pitt's World 1979-2006; 67m This gorgeous collection of three outstanding animated shorts charts the boundaries of the marvelous world of Suzan Pitt. With *Asparagus* (USA, 1979; 20m), she burst onto the international scene with playful, erotic imagery for the midnight movie crowd. *Joy Street* (USA, 1995; 24m) is a paean to the delights of spending time in an altered state. Finally, *El doctor* (USA/Mexico, 2006; 23m) is, according to Pitt, a film about “the institution of miracles in Mexico,” as seen in the interaction between a perennially tipsy Mexican doctor and one of his young patients. Strap in and expect a joyfully bumpy ride! Sun Aug 30: 1:00pm Wed Sep 2: 2:50pm The Watermelon Woman Cheryl Dunye, USA, 1996; 85m Debut director Cheryl Dunye stars in *The Watermelon Woman* as Cheryl, a black lesbian trying to make her first movie. But will Cheryl’s growing obsession with the enigmatic ’30s “mammy” actress Fae Richards stop her from noticing Diana (Guinevere Turner), the cute customer who comes into her video shop with increasing frequency? *The Watermelon Woman* is a satisfying exploration of race, gender, and history wrapped up as a sophisticated urban comedy. It even caused an uproar in Congress when conservative legislators discovered that its backers included the NEA. Mon Aug 31: 6:00pm Thu Sep 3: 4:30pm We Were So Beloved Manfred Kirchheimer, USA, 1985; 145m “A fine, poignant documentary…Though *We Were So Beloved* is mostly about those who escaped the immediate effects of the Holocaust, it is a no less harrowing examination of conscience than Shoah and Marcel Ophuls's Sorrow and the Pity. In the limited, quite commonplace landscape of Washington Heights, Mr. Kirchheimer finds ghosts not always visible to the naked eye.” ~Vincent Canby, The New York Times In this deeply felt portrait of a community, Manny Kirchheimer turns his camera on what was for decades New York’s major German-Jewish enclave, interviewing community luminaries including writer Max Frankel and political scientist Louis Kampf, and his own, remarkable father. Sun Aug 30: 2:30pm ~ Single Screening Tickets: $7 members/students/child - $8 senior - $11 public ~ Series Pass ($40 public/$30 member): admits one person to five titles in the series; only available for purchase at the box office.