Universal Colours (Finland)
May,2006

THERE IS NO SPACE IN BETWEEN

(“You’re either with us or against us” George Bush’s famous speech after September 11 event.)

Let’s have brief glimpses how the world arrived here and where it is going. This is not a historical account in any way, just personal observations as an artist. To make such observations, you need to be an outsider - not with them or against them. Both sides are caught in an unending war against each other. An outsider who is occupying the space in between, which George Bush, I would rather say, most of the Westerns do not see that it exists.

I remember, in the spring of 1998, I was attending a conference on Artists’ Rights at UNESCO, Paris, when in the evening about fifteen of us, artists; we sat down for drink in a bar nearby. Considering the variety of artists sitting around the table, I wanted to make the most of this unique opportunity to ask a very basic question – ‘who are the artists and what is their role in the society is?’

First answer came from an African artist from Mozambique, “Artists are the creative soul of the society.” This was most poetically put answer I heard that evening. Then came the turn of Scandinavians; since these artists were representatives of Artists’ Union their answers were more a policy statement – “Artists are the persons who have finished their degree/Diploma in Art and have taken on the union membership.”

American artists varied only in the terms, “If he/she have had few exhibitions, only then they will be considered artists.”

Finally attention turned to me, I had to answer my own question. For me, though, there couldn’t be one definition to cover all artists, but couple of statements could set the parameters, on which one could build the definition of an artist.

“Most people dream, some go to the next step to realise their dreams. It is the artist who goes a step further, not only they realise their dreams but also they share this dream with the world, and not necessarily for material benefits.”
Second definition, I had written a while ago in 1989 part of a long article for the Artists’ Newsletter.

“Let us imagine, the whole of humanity is a large caravan travelling with time. In this caravan most people are busy pulling/pushing, carrying their possessions, sweating in a race of material achievements.”

“It is the Artist, who disengages him/herself from this entourage; frees him/herself from this rat-race, runs ahead of the time, and finds a vantage point to see, where the caravan is coming from and where it is heading to. Then he/she expresses this vision by singing a song, playing a piece of music, writing a poem, making a painting/sculpture or using another medium to share it with the world.”

When I wrote this statement in 1989, I assumed that most artists will be able to step out of the caravan and find a vantage point to give the world their vision of the reality. Since then I have realised that most of the artists in the west are too comfortable in their lives and would not dare to step out of the caravan, hence loosing their space. It has to be an artist from the outside to take this role.

Recent example of ‘World Tribunal on Iraq’ where any meaningful statements came from speakers like Arundhati Roy, Cornnie Kumar (Tunisia/India, Li Thi Quy OF Vietnam, Gilberto Guiterrez Valdez and Humberto Miranda from the Institute of Philosophy, Cuba, Susan Pineda from Philippines and others who spoke from their experiences and commitment.

On the other hand, there are always some opportunists who would jump on the bandwagon, as long as it helps in their self promotion. One such participant was, what I would call an exhibitionist, named Eve Ensler (nick named Vagina Woman - author of the play ‘Vagina Monologues’). She used her visit to the conference to write a letter back addressing to her country America. Her statement was obviously written with passion, since she felt the pain directly from the other participants, who had experienced the brunt US/UK invasion of Iraq. At the same time one could say her statement was nothing more than a passing phase. Since her reputation is solely based upon her concern about her vagina, that resulted in writing a play ‘Vagina Monologues’. When she had enough of hearing her name as ‘Vagina Woman’ her attention moved a little up, only about 3-4 inches and on here stomach, how to it keep it flat. All these concern are nothing more than her own promotion.

To understand the world where we stand today, one need to look at early warning signs some thinkers felt it in early 1990s. Pierre De Culler (ex-Secretary General of the UN) was giving the finishing touches to his report, commissioned by UNESCO, on cultural policies for the 21st century. One of the ten recommendations was to establish a second chamber for the Security Council, to avoid a situation where a single powerful country would be deciding the world affairs. At the same time I made the following call to artists to rise to the challenge to take their role in the centre stage of decision makers.

“We all know, with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, it is not only that any alternative views have died a death, but It is as if one morning you woke up and heard the news that the Earth has lost its South pole and left only with one 'the North'. Imagine how much chaos it would create; the planet may lose its orientation and its annual cycle. Today many people are feeling a similar loss, being left with a one party/one opinion world.

Today, in many parts of the world, recent political and social changes have left people with a loss of direction. It is time for the creative people of the world to get together and share their views and vision of the future.”
Dated 12.09.1996, introduction to a proposal for a World Symposium.

What a coincidence, that statement was written exactly 5 years before the September 11 event. I know the creative people/ artists of the West, where I challenged the artists to take the centre stage to act as Second Pole to the single pole world that was going wobbly for more than a decade.

In this single opinion world, it will be a mistake to expect any meaningful lead from artists like Damien Hurt or Tracey Emin. Rather as I have suggested it must come from the artists in the margins/the space-in-between.
Let’s remember a say from the I-Ching, Book of changes.

“Wheel of time brings changes,
Change is constant,
An enduring force,
State of development,
at a certain time
whosoever understands change
truly know the situation.”

Avtarjeet Dhanjal

WTI Wold Tribunal on Iraq –
World Court of Women on US War Crimes
World Social Forum Mumbai, India

As Corinne Kumar, the International Coordinator said in the opening session when sharing the vision that informs the Court "The Courts of Women are an unfolding of a space, an imaginary: a horizon that invites us to think, to feel, to challenge to connect, to dance, to dream. It is an attempt to define a new space for women, and to infuse this space with a new vision, a new politics. It is a gathering of voices and visions of the global south, locating itself in a discourse of dissent: it is in itself a dislocating practice, challenging the new world order of globalisation, crossing lines, breaking new ground: listening to the voices and movements in the margins"

This Court was held in the context of the many genocidal wars initiated, instigated and ignited by the USA, in its insatiable greed for global hegemony and control.. Wars, whose violent memories it seeks to sanitise and erase through recasting them as crusades for civilising and bringing in freedom, democracy and justice to 'brutal' and 'authoritarian societies'.

Corinne Kumar is a feminist and activist from Bangalore, India. She has been the coordinator of Asian Women's Human Rights Council (AWHRC) since 1995. AWHRC has in collabor-ation with local women's groups and organizations in Asia arranged a series of public tribunals called "Crimes Against Women" on violations of Women's Human Rights. AWHRC demonstrates very clearly the relation between environmental damage and violation of women's human rights in their work. AWHRC has played a central advocacy role in relation to the recent UN conferences.

“Tuning in:” Musings of a Conscious Artist
The Satya Interview with Saul Williams

Saul Williams is a poet and spoken word artist who is not new to the performing arts scene, but has garnered a wider audience since becoming involved with the Not In Our Name project.

“I often encounter people who say, “Thank you for putting in words something I’ve been trying to say or have wanted to hear expressed.” People relate to the sounds that they’ve been yearning to relate to, and the people who are able to articulate them through whatever artistic instrument they use—that’s their duty.”

“Right now it’s like we are unable to imagine world peace. Why? Because our imaginations have been stolen from us. We can imagine World War III because we’ve seen it in every movie, every TV show, etc. We cannot imagine world peace because we’ve never seen it before. We have to start seeing and imagining for ourselves.”

ARUNDHATI ROY
(India)
Renowned author and activist Arundhati Roy received the Booker Prize for literature in 1997. Presently, one of the most eloquent voices for the global justice and anti-war movement, she was also awarded, among many others, the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004, and the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize in 2002.
Opening Speech

Arundhati Roy
OPENING STATEMENT OF ARUNDHATI ROY ON BEHALF OF THE JURY OF CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD TRIBUNAL OF IRAQ ISTANBUL, TURKEY 24 June 2005

This is the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq. It is of particular significance that it is being held here in Turkey where the United States used Turkish air bases to launch numerous bombing missions to degrade Iraq’s defenses before the March 2003 invasion and has sought and continues to seek political support from the Turkish government, which it regards as an ally. All this was done in the face of enormous popular opposition by the Turkish people. As a spokesperson for the jury of conscience, it would make me uneasy if I did not mention that the government of India is also, like the government of Turkey, positioning itself as a “ally” of the United States in its economic policies and the so-called War on Terror.

The testimonies at the previous sessions of the World Tribunal on Iraq in Brussels and New York have demonstrated that even those of us who have tried to follow the war in Iraq closely are not aware of a fraction of the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq.

The Jury of Conscience at this tribunal is not here to deliver a simple verdict of guilty or not guilty against the United States and its allies. We are here to examine a vast spectrum of evidence about the motivations and consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation, evidence that has been deliberately marginalized or suppressed. Every aspect of the war will be examined - its legality, the role of international institutions and major corporations in the occupation, the role of the media, the impact of weapons such as depleted uranium munitions, napalm, and cluster bombs, the use of and legitimation of torture, the ecological impacts of the war, the responsibility of Arab governments, the impact of Iraq’s occupation on Palestine, and the history of U.S. and British military interventions in Iraq. This tribunal is an attempt to correct the record. To document the history of the war not from the point of view of the victors but of the temporarily - and I repeat the word temporarily - vanquished.

Before the testimonies begin, I would like to briefly address as straightforwardly as I can a few questions that have been raised about this tribunal.

The first is that this tribunal is a Kangaroo Court. That it represents only one point of view. That it is a prosecution without a defense. That the verdict is a foregone conclusion.

Now this view seems to suggest a touching concern that in this harsh world, the views of the U.S. government and the so-called Coalition of the Willing headed by President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have somehow gone unrepresented. That the World Tribunal on Iraq isn’t aware of the arguments in support of the war and is unwilling to consider the point of view of the invaders. If in the era of the multinational corporate media and embedded journalism anybody can seriously hold this view, then we truly do live in the Age of Irony, in an age when satire has become meaningless because real life is more satirical than satire can ever be.

Let me say categorically that this tribunal is the defense. It is an act of resistance in itself. It is a defense mounted against one of the most cowardly wars ever fought in history, a war in which international institutions were used to force a country to disarm and then stood by while it was attacked with a greater array of weapons than has ever been used in the history of war.
Second, this tribunal is not in any way a defense of Saddam Hussein. His crimes against Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians, Kuwaitis, and others cannot be written off in the process of bringing to light Iraq’s more recent and still unfolding tragedy. However, we must not forget that when Saddam Hussein was committing his worst crimes, the U.S. government was supporting him politically and materially. When he was gassing Kurdish people, the U.S. government financed him, armed him, and stood by silently.

Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who supported him - and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and absolve themselves completely? And what about other friends of the United States in the region that have suppressed Kurdish people’s and other people’s rights, including the government of Turkey?

There are remarkable people gathered here who in the face of this relentless and brutal aggression and propaganda have doggedly worked to compile a comprehensive spectrum of evidence and information that should serve as a weapon in the hands of those who wish to participate in the resistance against the occupation of Iraq. It should become a weapon in the hands of soldiers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, and elsewhere who do not wish to fight, who do not wish to lay down their lives - or to take the lives of others - for a pack of lies. It should become a weapon in the hands of journalists, writers, poets, singers, teachers, plumbers, taxi drivers, car mechanics, painters, lawyers - anybody who wishes to participate in the resistance.

The evidence collated in this tribunal should, for instance, be used by the International Criminal Court (whose jurisdiction the United States does not recognize) to try as war criminals George Bush, Tony Blair, John Howard, Silvio Berlusconi, and all those government officials, army generals, and corporate CEOs who participated in this war and now profit from it.

The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our intelligence, and our future.
We recognize that the judgment of the World Tribunal on Iraq is not binding in international law. However, our ambitions far surpass that. The World Tribunal on Iraq places its faith in the consciences of millions of people across the world who do not wish to stand by and watch while the people of Iraq are being slaughtered, subjugated, and humiliated.

CORRINE KUMAR
(India/Tunisia)
Story teller, weaver, dreamer and also sociologist/political philosopher. She is also sociologist/political philosopher and is with El Taller International, an NGO based in Tunisia focusing on the global south. She is also with the Asian Women? Human Rights Council and in partnership with networks and women?s human rights organizations prepares and holds the Courts of Women creating public spaces with new political visions. She is the International Coordinator of the Courts of Women. Her writings challenge the dominant discourses particularly on human rights, drawing the contours of a new political imaginary often titled a South wind.

“Wheel of time brings changes,
Change is constant,
An enduring force,
State of development,
at a certain time
whosoever understands change
truly know the situation.”

I-Ching, Book of changes.

Avtarjeet Dhanjal