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reminder: showing this Thursday, 6/16, at <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://rule19.org/videos/">UPandOUT
film screenings</a>, 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA<br>
------------------Original Message------------------<br>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><font style="font: 32px Times New
Roman;" face="Times New Roman" size="7"><b><i>'The War You Don't
See' </i></b></font><font style="font: 16px Times New
Roman;" face="Times New Roman" size="5"><br>
</font><font style="font: 32px Times New Roman;" face="Times New
Roman" size="7"><b>Pilger Film Banned By Lannan Foundation<br>
</b></font><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;" face="Times
New Roman" size="5"><br>
<b>By John Pilger</b><br>
<i><br>
</i><b><i>June 10 2011 "</i></b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/"><b><i>Information
Clearing House</i></b></a><b><i>" </i></b><i>-- An open
letter to Noam Chomsky and the general public.</i><br>
</font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">Dear Noam</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">I am writing to you and a number
of other friends mostly in the US to alert you to the
extraordinary banning of my film on war and media, 'The War You
Don't See', and the abrupt cancellation of a major event at the
Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in which David Barsamian and I
were to discuss free speech, US foreign policy and censorship in
the media. </font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">Lannan invited me and David over
a year ago and welcomed my proposal that they also host the US
premiere of 'The War You Don't See', in which US and British
broadcasters describe the often hidden part played by the media
in the promotion of war, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
film has been widely acclaimed in the UK and Australia; the
trailer and reviews are on my website <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.johnpilger.com">www.johnpilger.com</a></font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">The banning and cancellation,
which have shocked David and me, are on the personal orders of
Patrick Lannan, whose wealth funds the Lannan Foundation as a
liberal centre of discussion of politics and the arts. Some of
you will have been there and will know the Lannan Foundation as
a valuable supporter of liberal causes. Indeed, I was invited in
2002 to present a Lannan award to the broadcaster Amy Goodman.</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">What is deeply disturbing about
the ban is that it happened so suddenly and inexplicably: 48
hours before David Barsamian and I were both due to depart for
Santa Fe I received a brief email with a 'sorry for the
inconvenience' from a Lannan official who had been telling me
just a few days earlier what a 'great honour' it was to have the
US premiere of my film at Lannan, with myself in attendance.</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">I urge you to visit the Lannan
website <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.lannan.org">www.lannan.org</a>
Good people like Michael Ratner, Jeremy Scahill and Glenn
Greenwald are shown as participants in discussion about freedom
of speech. I am there, too, but my name is the only one with a
line through it and the word, 'Cancelled'.</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">Neither David Barsamian nor I
have been given a word of explanation. All my messages to Lannan
have gone unanswered; my calls calls are not returned; my
flights were cancelled summarily. At the urging of the New
Mexican newspaper, Patrick Lannan has issued a one-sentence
statement offering his regrets to the Lannan-supporting
'community' in Santa Fe. Again, he gives no reason for the ban.
I have spoken to the manager of the Santa Fe cinema where 'The
War You Don't See' was to be screened. He received a late-night
call. Again, no reason for the ban was forthcoming, giving him
barely time to cancel advertising in The New Mexican, which was
forced to drop a major feature.</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">There is a compelling symbol of
our extraordinary times in all of this. A rich and powerful
individual and organisation, espousing freedom of speech, has
moved ruthlessly and unaccountably to crush it.</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">With warm regards</font></div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5"> </font></p>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font: 16px Times New Roman;"
face="Times New Roman" size="5">John Pilger</font></div>
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