Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We’re now in week four of Israel’s massive military assault against the people of Gaza and the West Bank, which began in response to Hamas’s brutal attacks in Southern Israel on Oct. 7th, which killed 1,400 people and resulted in more than 200 people being taken hostage.
Israel contends the military bombardments are justified as self-defense. But others, such as Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, insist that although the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 were “appalling,” Israel’s “collective punishment” of civilians cannot be justified under humanitarian laws.
Worse, according to the global charity Save the Children, in the past three weeks, more children have been killed in Gaza than in all of the world’s conflicts combined in each of the past three years. Defense for Children International-Palestine reported that 40% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza are children, and that as of October 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 3,450 kids, and over 1,000 more are missing.
On October 18, 2023, the Center for Constitutional Rights (also known as CCR) published an emergency legal briefing called, Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide. The 44-page document provides a sobering legal and historical analysis of the current situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
We are so grateful to have with us two members of CCR’s legal team working on the legal analysis of genocide.
Guest – Astha Sharma Pokharel, CCR staff attorney who specializes in international humans rights and in challenging racial and environmental injustice, and has represented individuals targeted for their Palestine solidarity advocacy.
Guest – Sadaf Doost, an attorney and Bertha Justice Fellow at CCR. Sadaf focuses on human rights in the context of Afghanistan and Palestine, and challenges unlawful detentions at Guantánamo Bay and environmental racism in Cancer Alley.
—-
Class Action Anti-Trust Case Against Metropolitan Museum of Art
George Grosz was a German artist whose work very effectively satirized the new Nazi regime in Germany for the thugs and buffoons that they were. As a consequence, he was forced to flee to New York City, where he taught for many years at the prestigious Art Student League. Our guest today, Bob Cenedella, was his student and later a teacher at the league. Like his mentor, Bob Cenedella is a political person and a fine artist. His work has not been acquired by any museum. Nor does he have representation by a gallery.
Five years ago Cenedella brought a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and others in New York City. The basis of his lawsuit brought on behalf of himself and others, was that the museums, along with the galleries and auction houses control the art market and made it almost impossible for artists who expressed political sensibilities to be recognized or adequately compensated.
In his lawsuit, Cenedella says that “ I, firmly believe it has become my duty and responsibility to expose, what I believe to be, the corporate museum cartel for the role they play in the manipulation of the overall art market. The system today – put in place by galleries, auction houses, and art critics– has nothing to do with talent, development of skill, or maturation of the art world. I am taking extreme, legal measures – suing the museums – not just for myself, but for the innumerable other deserving artist as well.” Contemporary art has become a “Con”and “temporary .“
Guest – Robert Cenedella has been a member of the New York City contemporary art scene for more than four decades. He studied with George Grosz at the Art Students League of New York where he taught for many years. Cenedella‘s art work, as M.K. Flavell writes in her biography of Georg Grosz. “Chronicles the every day life and the change in rituals and mythologies of sex, sports, art, politics, money, making in contemporary America, with a combination of imaginative, vitality, precision, and humor.“ His lawsuit was dismissed by a federal court in New York City. Contact : artmutt (at) aol (dot) com
Hosted by attorneys Michael Smith and Maria Hall
————————————–