The incredible world of Gilbert Garcin

La vie est belle - Life is beautiful  2006  [gilbert-garcin.com]


Gilbert Garcin
 

Gilbert Garcin was originally the owner of a lamp manufacturing company in Marseille, France. Following a workshop during the Rencontres Internationales in Arles, under the direction of Pascal Dolemieux, Garcin, at the age of 65, gave up his business and began his photographic career. His work has been exhibited and collected around the globe, which satisfies his goal of sharing his ideas on life and his perspective on the world with the public at large. In his photographs, Garcin poses as an ordinary 'Mr. Everybody,' dressed in an old overcoat. By placing himself, via the character he embodies, in absurd and inextricable situations, he invites us to ponder such philosophical quandaries as time, solitude and the weight of existence.

Stephen Bulger Gallery, CNW

This method is both simple and, indeed, economical: after a spot of rumination on humanist notions or basic universal themes that he might wish to act out, he sets himself the daily task of sketching out emblematically resonant situations and taking the corresponding photographs of himself. He then cuts out his figure, and sometimes that of this wife, and places it (them) in a model built using basic materials (glue, string, scissors, ink, paper, photos, etc.) that will fit on a tabletop. He now holds a mini-photography session lit by two approximate garden spotlights in his grandfather’s tiny shed in La Ciotat. Once he has done all this, the selection process is draconian. Only one image will be chosen, and sometimes none, for as Garcin philosophically acknowledges, sometimes an idea doesn’t work. Still, at the rate of ten to fifteen photographs a year he has, over the last decade, built up quite an impressive corpus of over three hundred pictures. 

Christine Ollier, Gilbert Garcin website

Sauver la nature  2010  [gilbert-garcin.com]

Sortir de l'oubli - To emerge of oblivion  2006  [gilbert-garcin.com]

Changer le monde - Change the world  2001  [gilbert-garcin.com]

ps

Many thanks to Vassiliki for recommending Gilbert Garcin's work.

A blanket prohibition on the right to strike

David Hammons, Caution [A Series of Small Things]

The use of special government measures to thwart a proposed teachers’ strike in Greece violates the country’s international human rights obligations, Amnesty International said.

The national Union of High School Teachers (OLME) has proposed taking industrial action for six days during university entrance exams, which begin on Friday 17 May and come at the end of the academic year.

The strike action – reportedly endorsed by the local teacher’s unions – is in protest at a decision in late April to increase teachers’ working hours. Teachers’ unions claim the change will result in substantial layoffs and a downgrade in the overall quality of education in the country.

In a bid to quash the strike, the Greek authorities are reportedly invoking special legislation to force teachers to keep working. Teachers could face criminal charges and a minimum of three months’ imprisonment if they fail to comply – if charged, they face immediate suspension from their duties and a prospect of losing their jobs.

“A blanket prohibition on teachers’ right to strike, imposed by means of criminal prosecution and the threat of prison sentences, is clearly unnecessary and disproportionate and would violate Greece's international human rights obligations,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“Times of financial hardship don’t absolve governments from their obligations to uphold all human rights, and workers’ rights in particular should not become a casualty to the crisis.”

Under Greek law the government has powers to compulsorily mobilize workers during peacetime in the event of a sudden incident that requires the adoption of urgent measures to deal with the defence needs of the country or an urgent social need – for example, a natural disaster or a public health risk.

When it announced the use of this legal provision against the teachers’ strike, the government argued that the measure was necessary “to prevent a severe disturbance in the social and financial life of the country and to safeguard public order and the health of the prospective university students”.

Under international law, Greece has binding obligations to respect and protect the right to freedom of association, which includes the right to organize – to form and join trade unions – and the right to strike. These obligations are set out in international human rights treaties to which it is a state party. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the European Convention on Human Rights; and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.

These rights can only be limited under very specific circumstances if it is demonstrably necessary and proportionate, and will protect national security, public safety, public health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others.

On this basis, very narrow restrictions of the right to strike can be permissible. This could apply to the armed forces, the police and other public servants who exercise authority in the name of the state. It could also apply to workers in essential services – services which, if interrupted, would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the population.

ILO experts have noted that the education sector does not constitute an essential service in that strict sense of the term and, more generally, that any limitations on strikes must be reasonable and must not place a substantial limitation on trade unions.

Since 2010, Greek workers have staged a number of anti-austerity strikes to protest at severe cuts to salaries and government programmes.

Greece: Emergency action to thwart teachers' strike unnecessary

Amnesty International, 15.05.2013

Same kiss, different century

 

[c7nema.net]

An iconic image, travelling through time: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Melville Shavelson's 1963 film A New Kind of Love. Half a century later, this image has become the focal point of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival poster designed by Bronx. For the record, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward met in 1953 and they were married from 1958 until 2008, when Paul Newman sadly passed away.

[Wikipedia]

Just like Henry James

[magnificentruin.com]

When one is having a bit of a hard time, or maybe more than a bit, it is rather comforting to know that at least they are in such fine company.

Democracy and the eurozone crisis: quotes #14

Photograph: Warrick Page/Stringer, Getty Images [abc.net.au]

[W]hy is the UK government persisting with a[n austerity] policy that is clearly not working? Or, for that matter, why is the same policy pushed through across Europe? A certain dead economist would have said it is because the government is "in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor". Dead right. 

[...]

In case you were wondering, it wasn't Karl Marx who wrote the words that I quoted above. He would have never put it so crudely. His version, delivered with typical panache, was that the "executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie". No, those damning words came from Adam Smith, the supposed patron saint of free-market economics.

To Smith and Marx, the class bias of the state was plain to see. They lived at a time when only the rich had votes (if there were elections at all) and so there were few checks on the extent to which they could dictate government policy.

With the subsequent broadening of suffrage, ultimately to every adult, the class nature of the state has been significantly diluted. The welfare state, regulations on monopoly, consumer protection, and protection of worker rights are all things that have been established only because of this political change. Democracy, despite its limitations, is in the end the only way to ensure that policies do not simply benefit the privileged few.

This is, of course, exactly why free-market economists and others who are on the side of the rich have been so negative about democracy.

[...]

What free-market economists are not telling us is that the politics they want to get rid of are none other than those of democracy itself. When they say we need to insulate economic policies from politics, they are in effect advocating the castration of democracy.

The conflict surrounding austerity policies in Europe is, then, not just about figures on budget, unemployment and growth rate. It is also about the meaning of democracy.

Watch out, John Osborne: Smith, Marx and even the IMF are after you

Ha-Joon Chang, The Guardian, 08.05.2013

 

Stinkfish: the aesthetics and politics of street art

San Andres Island, March 2012  [stinkfish.wordpress]

Stinkfish 

I think that all free and anonymous expressions that are born on the street and take place in it are important in the life of a city and its inhabitants, not only in terms of the aesthetic dimension to which they may belong, but in terms of their social and political weight. Both graffiti and street art are compelling political manifestations, they allow us to see the city in which we live, and the way in which we relate to it. On the one hand, these expressions constitute a counterweight and an alternative to the endless advertising and institutional images that cross our paths and our readings, to the dietary, prefabricated, and consumerist lifestyle  flowing from one corner to another, from one advertisement to another. It is clear that the majority of graffiti and street art does not have a directly anti-consumerist and confrontational content, but it is also clear that these free images do not sell or offer any product, neither do they indicate how you should look, how you should smell, how you should speak or act. On the contrary, these are interventions about people who perceive the street as a place to live in and to share with others, to transgress and opt for another form of communication, in the context of which money and appearances are not the most important elements. [my translation] 

Stinkfish interview, abg blog

Lluvia ninio Quetzal, Medellin, July 2010 [stinkfish.wordpress]

Stinkfish online: wordpress | flickr

See also: fatcap | streetartnews | unurth | ekosystem

Racist violence, impunity, and neo-Nazism

George Grosz, The Pillars of Society, 1926 [my daily art display]

“Democracy in Greece is seriously threatened by the upsurge of hate crime and a weak state response. Sustained and concerted action, notably by the police and the courts, is necessary to protect the rule of law and human rights in the country” said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, publishing a report based on the findings of his visit to Greece from 28 January to 1 February 2013.

The steep increase in hate crimes in Greece, primarily targeting migrants, is an issue of grave concern. “A number of the attacks have been linked to members or supporters, including parliamentarians, of the neo-Nazi political party “Golden Dawn”. Furthermore, rhetoric stigmatising migrants is widely used in Greek politics. The authorities must firmly condemn all instances of hate speech and hate crime and lead by example in public, migration-related debates.”

All available means must be used to effectively sanction individuals and organisations which incite or promote intolerance and hate. “Domestic and international anti-racism law has been used inadequately, or not at all, to this end. This is particularly true with regard to hate-crime related activities of political organisations, including parties like “Golden Dawn”, on which it is possible to impose effective penalties, and even prohibition if necessary. The authorities must give effect to binding international standards and domestic anti-racism law and accelerate the adoption of the bill concerning racism and xenophobia through criminal law, pending since 2011. Systematic, on-going training for the police, coast guard, prosecutors and judges is also needed.”

Commissioner Muižnieks further stresses that it is necessary to urgently address the chronic shortcomings of Greece’s justice system concerning in particular excessively lengthy proceedings, lack of an effective remedy and costly court fees. “Human and material resources available to prosecutors and judges should be enhanced. Victims of hate crimes should be exempt from criminal complaint fees and should receive adequate legal aid and assistance.”

Another issue of deep concern is the persistent reports of ill-treatment, including torture, committed by law enforcement officials notably against migrants and Roma. “The Greek police’s disregard for binding human rights standards has received international criticism. The authorities must eliminate the institutional culture of impunity and address effectively all suspicions of collusion of a part of the police with “Golden Dawn”, which have dealt an extremely damaging blow to public confidence not only in the police, but in the Greek state as a whole. An independent, effective police complaints mechanism is long overdue.”

The Commissioner recommends that the 70 newly established anti-racist police units be adequately resourced and their staff trained in human rights and anti-discrimination. Moreover, the authorities are called on to expand the mandate of these units in order to include all forms of hate crime.

While welcoming the steps taken by the authorities aimed at rebuilding the national asylum system, the Commissioner urges Greece to remedy certain serious, long-standing gaps which adversely affect the human rights of migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, and make them easy targets of racist violence. “Greece has to build a humane and efficient asylum system, address scarce reception capacity, the particularly dysfunctional system for lodging asylum applications in the Athens aliens police directorate, and the policy of systematic and prolonged detention of irregular migrants, often in substandard conditions. Law and practice concerning unaccompanied migrant minors also need to be urgently overhauled and substantially reinforced.” 

Greece must curb hate crime and combat impunity

Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights 

Abuse of power comes as no surprise

[aseriesofsmallthings.com]

 Jenny Holzer

Abuse of Power Comes As No Surprise, 1984

Museum of Modern Art   Spencer Museum of Art

Protect Protect, 2009
Whitney Museum of Modern Art

Photograph: Ozier Muhammad [nytimes.com]

Racism, violence, and the exploitation of migrants

Painting by Lia Melia  [butdoesitfloat.com]

The victims of a recent shooting at a strawberry farm in southern Greece still fear for their livelihoods and safety, Amnesty International said after a visit to the farm.

A group of 33 Bangladeshi workers at the farm in Manolada were shot on 17 April by farm supervisors when they joined other workers protesting because they had not been paid for seven months. Eight of them were seriously injured.

“They hit us and said, ‘We will kill you.’ Three of them were shooting at us while the others beat us with sticks. The shooting went on for more than 20 minutes,” one of the workers told an Amnesty International delegation that visited the camp over the last few days.

While there, the organization observed horrendous conditions where workers – some in their early teens – live in crowded sheds without access to clean water and sanitation.

“The living conditions we’ve witnessed in Manolada are a shocking glimpse into an appalling underworld endured by thousands of migrant workers across the area,” said Kondylia Gogou, Greece researcher at Amnesty International.

Greece: Despair pervades camps after 33 migrant workers shot in Manolada

Amnesty International 

"Our visit to Manolada confirmed the very real sense of fear and ongoing danger for the strawberry pickers, who are still reeling from last week's violent attack and their despair over not being paid and the inability to support their families," said Lia Gogou, our Greece researcher. "The sad reality is that many of them feel trapped and that they have no other choice but to carry on working there."

The shooting was just the latest incident highlighting the vulnerability of migrants in Greece. Racist attacks are on the rise with far-right parties like Golden Dawn rapidly gaining public support as the country struggles with a crippling economic crisis. In some cases the police refuse to help, in others victims with no papers fear arrest if they speak out.

Police harassment is common, with migrants frequently stopped by police in sweep operations, ironically code-named Xenios Zeus after the Greek god of hospitality and protector of strangers. If they don't have legal papers they can be hauled off to one of the country's squalid detention centres that wouldn't have been out of place in medieval times, and where reports of ill-treatment by police are common.

Many remain without papers not through choice, but because Greece's chaotic immigration system can be impossible to access. This leaves them vulnerable not only to arrest, but also to the kind of exploitation the strawberry pickers and so many like them face on a daily basis.

The situation is so bad that even people fleeing the conflict in Syria say they would rather go back there than stay in the country they thought would offer them some respite.

"One hundred per cent I will die in Syria, but one hundred per cent I die here too" one man told Amnesty researchers. He had just been released from three months behind bars in a grim detention facility despite having committed no crime.

Greece's asylum and immigration system clearly needs urgent reform and the government must take swift action to address the major, long-term problem of labour exploitation. Racist attacks must be properly investigated and those responsible must be brought to justice. However, this relies on decisive action from a government that reportedly denies racism is a serious problem. In the meantime, human despair mounts.

The EU can also act to relieve the pressure on Greece as one of the main entry points to the EU for undocumented migrants. It must redraft the Dublin II regulations to share responsibility for asylum seekers more equally between member states, taking into account asylum seekers' individual needs.

There are many in Greece today who are horrified at the treatment migrants receive from the authorities, the rise in racism and xenophobia and the image this gives to the rest of the world. For them the flame of the ancient Greek concept of xenia - kindness to strangers - still burns. But across the country, it's rapidly turning into a little more than a flicker. 

Racism, exploitation, violence: the reality of migrants' lives in Greece

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, The Huffington Post

Dear capitalism

Photograph by Eric Parker, Occupy Toronto protest and march, 15.10.2011   [flickr]

Through the clouds

[ignant.de]

Eduardo Coimbra

Projecto Nuvem

[ignant.de]

Pictures by Leandro Bugni
 

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot

Photograph by Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle  [sfgate.com]

Whether or not things are going to get better remains to be seen. But what is certain is that many of us do care; and apparently this is the case with the May Day protest this year, as it was the previous year, and as it hopefully will be next year as well. And most importantly, many people are beginning to care on both the big days and the little days; on days bearing immense symbolic value, like May Day does, as well as on those humble little days, the fragmented, low key, and often overlooked segments of our lives and our collective experience, which, nonetheless, gradually build up the big days and make them what they are. And when it comes to reflecting upon the latter, I think hope is a very good word.

Photograph by Latino activists participating in Occupy Oakland [occupyoakland.org] 

Both pictures are from the Occupy Oakland May Day General Strike 2012