Coming soon

To a theatre near you! Or maybe not. It opens in New York on 30 March, so it might be a while yet. I can’t see anything about it on the Dendy site.

When I see in the newspaper today how certain immigrants are treated in this country, it makes me realize that in many ways not much has changed since the days of Sacco and Vanzetti. If you're from "somewhere else" and have an accent, or a different skin color, you most likely have to endure discrimination, resentment, and even violence. And when I hear about government policies that cut back on civil liberties in the name of protecting our freedom, I’m reminded of the disastrous “red scare” that set the scene for the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. Peter Miller, Director

From the website:

SACCO AND VANZETTI brings to life the personal, political and legal aspects of the heartbreaking story behind Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story.

The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America, and millions of people in the U.S. around the world protested on their behalf. Nearly eighty years later, the story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties and the rights of immigrants are again under attack.

The powerful prison writings of Sacco and Vanzetti are read by actors John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub. A chorus of passionate commentators propels the narrative, including Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie, Studs Terkel, and a number of older people with personal connections to the story. Artwork, music, poetry, and feature film clips about the case are interwoven within the narrative.

Through the tragic story of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the inspiring images of those who keep their memories alive, audiences will experience a universal – and very timely – tale of official injustice and human resilience.

Peter Miller also directed a short documentary about the Internationale.

Happy birthday, Hazza!

Amy Goodman, Ms ‘Democracy Now!, now has a weekly column on Truthdig. The other day, she commemorated Harry Belafonte’s 80^th birthday. In response to her question about ‘both the Clintons and Obama going to Selma’,

“We are hearing platitudes, not platforms. What do they plan to do for people of color, Mexicans, for people who are imprisoned, black youth? What are their plans for the Katrinas of America?”

And the entertainer provided his take on the trajectory of US politics.

In 1965, Belafonte was on the original Selma march with Dr. King...The stakes were incredibly high. People were shot and killed; people were beaten…Despite all that, Belafonte says that the stakes are higher today.

A gloomy outlook, especially with the left in fragments and so few prepared to take risks needed to confront the perpetual war, anti ‘terrorism’, civil rights shredding juggernaut.

Anyhow, happy birthday, Hazza!

Move to the back

On Friday, Left I on the news reported on an article in Ha’aretz about a woman savagely beaten on the Egged No 2 bus in Jerusalem. According to Wikipedia, it transpires that

Some lines, mainly running in and/or between major Haredi Jewish population centers, are classified as 'Mehadrin' buses. These buses, while identical to others, can be used by anyone whether Haredi or not, but travellers should note that men and women (with the exception of husband and wife, or parents with children) are not supposed to sit next to each other, and women may be expected to sit in the back of the bus, while the men are supposed to sit in front. For women, a modest style of dress would also be recommended (meaning, no miniskirts or bare shoulders). These are guidelines that most of the riders of these specific lines insist on. These rules on these mehadrin buses are not 'law', and anyone can ignore them, but it is seen as disrespecting the local population.

Apparently anyone can ignore them, but at their own peril. I couldn’t find any corroboration on the Egged site, but it says that information on local bus routes is only in Hebrew.

So the days of ‘move to the back of the bus’ are not over yet in Israel, the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’. Even Jews haven’t achieved full civil rights, if they’re women. I wonder if that’s why observant Jewish men thank a supernatural being every morning she lo asani ishah ‘who didn’t make me a woman’?

Meanwhile, Jonathan Cook reports that Israeli security guards both in Israel and at overseas airports are racially profiling Arabs.

"The countries in which these [Israeli security] investigations take place do not supervise them, and prefer to ignore their discriminatory nature and the human rights violations committed on their own soil," the report [by lawyer, Tarek Ibrahim, on behalf of the Arab Association for Human Rights and the Centre Against Racism] states.

Israeli security staff identifies most Arab passengers through clothing, appearance or accent, or through questions about their name or where they live. If there is doubt, passengers are asked to show their Israeli ID card, which is believed to reveal their ethnicity in coding.

Once identified, Arab passengers' luggage and passports are marked with specially colour-coded labels.

And it’s not just their luggage that gets special treatment. The report includes accounts from several victims.

Ibtisam Maranah, a film director who represented Israel at an international film festival in the Netherlands in 2005 along with several Jewish colleagues, reports that Israeli staff took her off alone to an underground section of the Dutch airport, away from the rest of her group and local airport staff, where she was made to undress.

As Jimmy Carter says, ‘Israel is a wonderful democracy with equal treatment of all citizens whether Arab or Jew’, or indeed, woman.