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MASKING SAVES LIVES

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

New York Theater Cancels Play About Rachel Corrie

"It makes you wonder. If a young, middle-class,scrupulously fair-minded, and dead, American woman, whosesuperb writing about her job as a mental health worker,ex-boyfriends, troublesome parents, struggle to find outwho she wanted to be, and how she found that by travellingto Gaza and discovering the shocking conditions underwhich the Palestinians live - if a voice like this cannotbe heard on a New York stage, what hope is there foranyone else? The non-American, the non-white, thenon-dead, the oppressed?"

The Guardian newspaper publishes a column by one of the co-authors of a play about Rachel Corrie. It ran in London to rave reviews, but was cancelled by the theater group who was producing it in New York. The author asks if the people of the US will stand for this blatant censorship.

People often say the Israeli press is much more open about the Palestinian occupation than our newspapers here. This is just another example of the power of the Israeli lobby in the US and the cowardice of the media who depend on corporate donors in the face of the slightest pressure. Eli Stephens on Left I on the News blog also has a story about this. One of his readers suggested that he contact Tim Robbins to see if he would be interested in staging the play. Let's hope that happens.

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