New York, NY – The New York Civil Liberties Union has demanded that city officials explain why they ordered a private art school to remove a banner displaying an image of Josef Stalin.
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In a letter to the Department of Buildings, NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman expressed concern that the banner was taken down from The Cooper Union after some residents of the local Ukrainian community complained that it “seemed to promote” the Soviet dictator on the 75th anniversary of a famine he imposed. The famine, called the Holodomor, killed millions of Ukrainians.
The banner was part of an art exhibit, “Stalin by Picasso, or Portrait of Woman with Mustache.” Lene Berg, the artist who created the banner, said it was intended to provoke discussion about the relationship between art and politics.
The 52-foot-by-36-foot banner features a reproduction of a 1953 Pablo Picasso portrait of Stalin. At the time, the image was viewed as a critique of the Soviet leader.
But the Ukrainian community found it offensive, said Tamara Olexy, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
“It’s like hanging a portrait of Hitler in a synagogue or in a Jewish community,” she said.
After receiving several complaints, the Department of Buildings investigated the banner’s legality and determined it violated construction and zoning regulations, the agency said.
“We determined the sign was too high, too large, lacked a permit and blocked the building’s windows,” buildings spokeswoman Kate Lindquist wrote in an e-mail. “The department does not regulate sign content.”
But Lieberman said the NYCLU’s understanding was that the complaints were about the banner’s content, not its size.
“The question remains as to whether the building code was enforced because of objections to the content. If so, that raises questions about censorship,” Lieberman said in a statement.
Buildings officials told the school to remove the banner because it didn’t have a permit, Cooper Union spokeswoman Jolene Travis said Friday. The school immediately took down the banner.
The school abandoned the effort after being told by buildings officials that banners can’t block windows because of fire hazards.
We should always remember how lucky we are to be zoche to live in a medina shel chesed with freedom of speech. Rabosai, as bad as this sounds, we should all remember: once they start censoring the commies, they will R”L eventually get around to us.
As much as we may not like what people have to say, the public forum is a mainstay of a democratic state. Although some of what is promoted in the public forum may be unwanted, it is healthy to be exposed to these views.
I agree with comments 1-3. The ACLU and its local affiliates have been there to defend our ability to practice our religion when nobody else would. Why, just this month, a California affiliate got a county jail to agree to allow women to wear headscarves while in custody. The jail also agreed that the women would never be required to bare their heads while in the presence of male officers.
Such idiots. We shall see how the above comments will look like when some school will hang a picture of hitler how tollerant they will be. And how usefull the ACLU will be for that one.
Sorry, 1-6, but I happen to find a huge poster of Stalin offensive. Surprised to find anything in common with the non-Jewish Ukrainian population–notoriously antisemitic as they are ever since the days of their national hero Chmielnicki ym”s–but there you are.
But I don’t understand–I thought the poster was supposed to be offensive to Stalin, ridiculing him–like if we saw a poster ridculing Hitler or Ahmadinejad?
“‘It’s like hanging a portrait of Hitler in a synagogue or in a Jewish community,’ she said.”
Stalin and Hitler Yimach Shimom Vizichrom Are One And The Same. Impposbley and Extermely Rabid Anti-Semites, Who sought To Destroy Yidishkeit ,Though one Beast Tried To Do it Begashmyus ( Hitler Y”msh ) And One Berychnius (Stalin).
So Basicly , I’d Be More Insulted The Those Russians if Stalin Was Hainging In My Nighboorhod 1. He Fought My Religon 2. he Killed Some of My Ancestores Fo Practicin and Spreading It:
I Hope Both Beasts Can Get Used To Gehinoem , And Make Friends With Saddam and The Other villains.