April 12, 2005
THIN LINE BETWEEN ART & TERROR
why is this man smiling: gaddafi with bodacious bodyguard
Scottish-Asian playwright Shah Khan is hard at work on the libretto for Gaddafi: the Opera. Music will be composed by Asian Dub Foundation, the show will be directed by Antonia Bird, & a film version will be helmed by Mike Figgis. Here's a sample of Khan's moral clarity:
"Gaddafi is a nutter, we know that, but so was Reagan. So is Bush, so is Blair. Gaddafi is a nutter because he blows people up. Do you not think they blow people up?"
The opera will center on Reagan's bombing of Tripoli in 1986, altho no word if Khan will mention this was in retaliation for Libya's terror-bombing of a Berlin nightclub. Even better: Khan admits he still hasn't written the Lockerbie bombing into the story, for which Libya has paid $1.4 billion in compensation, & says he doesn't know what to believe about it.
For enlightenment, Khan went straight to the horse's mouth: Gaddafi's son Seif, who said 'All world leaders are terrorists.' On Lockerbie, Seif says flatly 'We did not do this.' On the 1984 murder of London policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, which Libya also accepted responsibility for, Seif chokes up: 'I am ashamed.'
Seif, aka the Sensitive One,
d an exhibition of 40 of his paintings in Tokyo. Titled The
Desert is Not Silent (official
website here), the show includes a collection of Libyan
archeological artifacts, & will also hit Korea, Australia & the US later
this year.
PR blurb:
"Seif Gaddafi allows the immediacy of his raw materials to speak for him, to tell intimate stories of life in the desert, & the powerful emotions that it evokes in him. He melds the ancient & historic artistic traditions of Libya with an intense feeling for contemporary issues. He is a son of the endless deserts of Libya."
Uncharitable review from the Globe & Mail:
"Ever since Nero, there has been a depressing connection between bad art & megalomaniac regimes. As a painter he is not even a gifted amateur; his sentimentality is only exceeded by his technical incapacity. All those yellow suns, red roses & white horses don't even succeed in being eccentric or intense, just incredibly undistinguished."
The art critic for the Times said the paintings "might be more at home on park railings."
In Japan,
Seif met with the Japanese PM ("We are in real need of Japanese
help") & spoke out about North Korea,
saying the Stalinist state needs to be given incentives & rewards
to give up its nuclear program, an idea that's
never occurred to anyone before.
Slam Sports reports the status of Saadi Gaddafi's career as a soccer star is still a mystery. Saadi rumored to have made $300 million bid for Liverpool FC to add to his collection.
In Tripoli, work began on a $100 million Center for Infectious Disease Control in Africa, part of Gaddafi's plan to put Libya on the cutting edge of science & technology. Potential problems with this plan: Gaddafi's unorthodox views on disease (said malarial mosquitoes & tsetse flies were God's angels protecting Africa from Westerners) & the 5 Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death by firing squad for allegedly infecting Libyan children with AIDS on orders of the Mossad.
John Bohannon quizzed Khaled Deeb, Libya's unctuous Al Jazeera correspondent on the nurses' charges they were tortured. Deeb: "They are lying! I know they are lying because I know 110% that they are guilty. Why would my government use torture to make them say things if they are already guilty?"
Colonel Gaddafi condemned a UN vote to refer Sudanese accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court as a violation of Sudan's independence: "That decision aims at fanning the conflict in Darfur. It is an affront to all Sudanese & a blatant violation of Sudan's independence."
Posted by Jeff at April 12, 2005 06:20 AM
Comments
"In Japan, Seif met with the Japanese PM ('We are in real need of Japanese help') & spoke out about North Korea, saying the Stalinist state needs to be given incentives & rewards to give up its nuclear program, an idea that's never occurred to anyone before."
Incentives such as not offering to buy their nuclear technology would be a start for Libya.
Posted by: Martin at Blogbat at April 12, 2005 09:16 AM
I dunno.. the artwork is no worse than one sees in NYC's SoHo galleries. In some cases, its better.
Maybe it's contracted out?
Posted by: Pappy at April 12, 2005 09:46 AM
Jeff,
Thanks for the always incredibly educational posts regarding our friend Qaddafi. He is my personal favorite of the despots, and it seems we share in the wonderement.
Posted by: Gene at April 13, 2005 10:29 AM
Hi-
Just wanted to point out that the $100 million medical facility they're building isn't US-sponsored at all.
Thanks for your interest in the plight of the foreign medics condemned to be executed. Please spread the word.
-John
Posted by: John Bohannon at April 17, 2005 02:16 PM