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Since 2005, I have filmed a number of conversations with Stuart Hall. Those were shown at various conferences and are kept on a number of university archives, but are hardly accessible, which is why I decided to put them on this website.

The first one was a conversation with Prof. Nira Yuval-Davis, about Cosmopolitanism, which was recorded in May 2005, in lieu of his keynote speech at the BSA 2005, which due to health problems, Stuart could not attend. The following is his entire talk, broken into a number of topics. The whole conversation lasted just under 60 minutes.

Stuart Hall Speaks on Cosmopolitanism 1

Matrix East/SmartLab special event next

On Monday, July 21st, starting at 4.00, Nine artists will be showing their
multimedia work on the unique, cutting-edge multitrack system in Matrix East Research Lab (MERL),
using 24 screens and projectors. If you wish to book at place (and have not already
done so) please send me a mail back, keeping the same Subject address
line (EVA Special Event at MERL), and just saying YES.

For further details, click on the link below:

eva-20082

15 and 16 May 2008, Docklands Campus, UEL

To see video material from this event, please use this link:

• http://www.humanrightstv.com/episode/41

On Nakba Day, 15 May, Palestinians mark events which resulted in mass displacement and exclusion. In 2008 it will be 60 years since a million people were compelled to leave their homes - most never returned.

You are invited to the Docklands Campus of the University of East London to join historians, social scientists and film-makers in discussion on the conflict of 1948, its outcomes and the implications for Palestinians and for Israeli society.

Thursday, May 15th

14:00

Introduction

Welcome messages from PSC and PRC

14:10 Panel: Nakba: From Memory to struggle

Chair: Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky (University of East London)

Omar Barghouti (indeprndent researcher/PACBI)
Ending the Nakba: Ethical De-Colonization of Historic Palestine
Prof. Haim Bresheeth (University of East London and BRICUP)
Two States, too little, too late: The next Stage
Dr. Dina Matar (SOAS)
Memory as Struggle

15:50 Panel: Zionism and Palestinian realities

Chair: Phil Marfleet (University of East London and BRICUP)

Dr. Nur Massalha (SMC, University of Surrey)
The Politics of Denial
Prof. Moshe Machover (Kings Colleg, London)
Zionist Colonization in a Regional Context

17:00 Keynote Address

Chair: Prof. Haim Bresheeth (UEL)

Prof. Joseph Massad (Columbia University, New York)
Resisting the Nakba

18:15 Film Show:

1948 by Mohammad Bakri (Palestine, 1998, 90 Min)

Friday, 16 May

films Introduced by Nizar Hassan (SC) and Eyal Sivan (UEL)

10:00 The Roof by Kamal Aljafari (Palestine, 2006, 61 Min)

11:15 Egteyah by Nizar Hassan (Palestine, 2003, 90 Mins)

13:00 Route 181 (Centre) by Michele Khleifi and Eyal Sivan (2003, France, 4 H 30 Min)

18:00 A State of Danger by Haim Bresheeth and Jenny Morgan (UK, 1989, 30 Min)

18:30 Karm Abu Khalil by Nizar Hassan (Palestine, 2003, 90 Mins)
Organised by: Refugee Research Centre, UEL; Matrix East Research Lab, UEL; and Framing Muslims - an AHRC research programme. Entrance is free: you are strongly encouraged to book a place by contacting Phil Marfleet; p.marfleet@uel.ac.uk; tel 020 8 223 7690.

Docklands Campus is adjacent to Cyprus Station, Docklands Light Railway

By definition, political subjects are both excellent and difficult to photograph, as too many images of political action seem to be similar.

	During this left-wing demo in Piazza Navona, Rome, I have noticed the most incredible range of people partaking, from manual workers to intellectuals, all hobnobbing together. This Stalin clone was too good to miss, as he worked so hard on his mustache
	Just as I tried in vain to frame this approaching demo in Rome, Cartier-Bresson’s spirit introduced this couple into the frame.
	In Zurich, this group of Irainian demonstrators had precious little interest from passing commuters in the chill of winter. They looked lost, dejected and hopeless.
	At the time I took the picture, the election in Switzerland were raking up much racism and anti-foreign, xenophobic sentiment. Billboards were covered in racist propaganda, which seemed to be incredible to us, as this could not (yet…) happen in Britain. This was a campaign poster of the left, which incidentally lost ground in the election.
	In a beautiful park in Bilbao, we happened to see this small anti-globalisation demo, in front of one of the many commercial HQ buildings in this affluent Basque city

	For most Palestinians, this is what they see from their windows - a 100 foot surveiilance tower - you are never far enough from the watchful eye of the foucauldian state… this, together with unmanned drones, satellites, airplanes and army patrol, complete the picture of the occupying power and control.
	The anti-War demos have been getting smaller every year, after that amazing demo with 2 millions in London, which as we know made no difference. Still, millions everywhere continue to oppose this mad war, destructive for Iraq, the region and the world.
	During the 2004 demo, I noticed the huge number of surveillance cameras everywhere, photographing our very move.
	It was a windy day, and bitterly cold, but still hundreds of thousands came out in protest against this disastrous government and its US partners.
	Many of us have been toi this same sqaure in central London hundreds of times on demonstrations, and on the whole, we have little to show for it… Palestine? Iraq? Well, there is also South Africa, and now Ireland. Keep marching!

Objects are evidence; evidence of time, evidence of use, evidence of life and of the elements. They remain here when we are long gone, changing with time. Most images here were shot on film - either on 35mm or 60mm by 60mm, and all are connected to the sea. The sea always ages objects in the most unique way. Click ONCE to see the full image.

	Another picture taken by Benny Bronstein and me on film years ago. This is the Jebalia beach, near Jaffa.
	Norfolk beaches are teaming with objects which were licked by the waves and dried by the merciless north wind - wood especially benefits from this treatment.
	On the sandy Norfolk beach, this mysterious object was irresistible.
	On the Norfolk broads, mornings and evening are magical. The gentle fog kills the faraway sounds, and gives a special depth to images, muting their colour palette.
	A Hammam doorway in Marrakech, with the ever-present weapon of mass-destruction, the scooter.
[	A Swiss barn-door in the Valais, showing all the signs of life and labour, and little different from the doors I photographed in the Third World.
	Another doorway in Marrakech, in the Mellah, the Jewish quarter. The reds of walls and doorways are of the same family of hues which is used to paint walls in Rome, and yet, so different. The colour is gentle, yet persistent and pervasive.
	In an antiquarian shop in the Medina, an old Hanukah lamp, genuine and no doubt looted from the Jewish population of the Mellah. There is an amazing range and variety of Judaica here, which makes you realise how integrated and large this Jewish community was.
	Mysterious bundles of coloured twine abound all around Morrocan cities,especially in Marrakech. to begin with, one is lost when inquiring about. People would rather not tell you, but all around town, young men are weaving their balls of twine. It is a form of practical magic called Schur, designed to dispel the evil spirits or Jinns.
	In the main street of Bern, Large colourful flag-bearing posts are dividing the street into sectors, diverting your gaze. Each is adorned with a different, striking face.
	Certainly one of the largest and most intriguing objects anywhere, Louise Bourgeois’s metal spider towers over the visitors to the riverside Guggenheim Gallery in Bilbao.
	The underside of the spider at Bilbao.

	Could those long poles in a Marrakech street really be holding up the wall?
	A scooter in Marrakech, attracting the voracious and capable denizens of the streets.
	The colossal bust of Rameses, now in the British Museum, has been there over 150 years, ever since it was ‘prospected’ by the great adventurer, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, who has used hundreds of Egyptian peasants in 1815, and recorded this feat of archaeological engineering in a famous coloured drawing.
	One of the largest and most majestic objects of Ancient Egypt, the Sun Barque of the Pharaoh Khufu, was found disassembled, in a special covered trench by his pyramid and took 30 years to put together.
	Walking slowly through the Marrakech Medina, one comes upon mysterious and magnificent views, as if turning in a dream towards a sight known from another life.

Places mean more than their image gives away - they hide but also reveal - so one can see how people lived in them, loved them, or were frightened of them. Click ONCE to see the full image.

	This hill in Tuscany has taken my fancy and I have spent some days on editing the picture into this hybrid.
	The beach of my childhood, and one of my very first pictures, taken on an ancient Kodak Retina II, which always leaked light at a certain angle to the sun…
	Jerusalem at sunset, some days after the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada, as if the landscape knew. There again, Jerusalem looks like this quite often. It must be all the blood in its history. I did not have to use filters here.
	A photograph of my mother, My uncle and a dear friend of the family, Dr. Braver, as well as three-year old me. This is on the beach, some 50 yards from our flat in Jebaliia (Jaffa), and in full view of one of the Palestinian boats which were left by the many who have fled away from the Israeli army as it entered Jaffa in 1948, during what is termed the Nakba (the great catastrophe). Many of them died at sea, trying to reach Gaza or Lebanon. The boats stayed on the beach for years after 1948, until destroyed by the winter storms.
	A bridge in Norfolk. This is the kind of green you never see in the Mediterranean, and I did not even know it existed before coming to England.

	A night in Rome, as one turns the corner, one is always surprised there.
	The pastels of the house fronts in Salcombe are musical to the eye.
	The Post Office of Salcombe, one of many pictures I took of Post Offices all around Britain.
	Those trees on the Pacific coast in California bear witness to the power of the wind which shaped them.
	One of the few surviving cinema buildings, though not active, in Marrakech. This is actually in the French part of the city, Gueliz, but seems to have closed some decades ago.

	This cinema in the Medina in Marrakech was working, and showing many Bollywood films, of course.
	This hotel balcony in Basle has a historical resonance. The hotel, the Three Kings, is the one Theodor Herzl stayed in during the first Zionist congress in 1896, and on the same balcony was taken his famous portrait. The congress took part across the road, in the municipal casino…

People are the most difficult, but also the most rewarding subject to photograph. The few examples here show thus clearly, I hope. Click ONCE to see the full image.

I saw this baby on his own, seemingly abandoned, sleeping very peacefully, the kind of sleep which only babies seem capable of.

	On the beach in Dubrovnik, early evening is the time of the chess players. Every move is discussed and dissected by all present.
	In a piazza in San Diego, we saw this father and his daughter asleep, on a very hot day, totally oblivious to all and sundry.
	On a summer’s day, in a Queens Wood cafe, I saw this young boy, Harry Potter-like and photographed him before I looked around. It was amazing to find out, immediately afterwards, that he is the son of an academic colleague, Prof. Rosie Thomas.
	In a small town in Montenegro, this man crosses our path, carrying his large radio, playing to himself in the empty street. What is he listening to? Where is he going like this? Does he always carry his radio with him, like Radio Rahim in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing?
	In an East Jerusalem busy road, while the soldiers drive people to clear the road, for some unknown reason, this man is not giving up on finding a bargain.

	In a park cafe in mid-summer, this man sat and looked miserable, totally alone in the middle of the hubbub, and after some time he could stand it no more, and started crying.
	This picture was taken many years ago, by me and Benny Bronstein in Tel Aviv. The man looked at me while I pressed the shutter with a gaze which was empty of life.
	A woman walking past me in East Jerusalem, when both Israelis and Palestinians had a reason to hope for some future together.
	A street scene in Marrakech - two women, two donkeys, and a lot of affection.

	Night in the Medina in Marrakech, and the stall holders, all women, are still there, waiting in vain for one last customer… while waiting, they never rest, knitting more of their wooly hats
	In a cafe near the Saadian tombs, East meets West
	Mysterious bundles of coloured twine abound all around Morrocan cities,especially in Marrakech. to begin with, one is lost when inquiring about. People would rather not tell you.
	This is one of the mysterious weavers of coloured twine balls, in action in small but perfect garden in the Medina. He refused to tell me what he was doing - a form of practical magic called Schur, which is designed to dispel the evil spirits or Jinns. All around town, young men are weaving their balls of twine.

]]> http://www.haimbresheeth.com/2008/03/11/people/feed http://www.haimbresheeth.com/2008/03/10/tippus-tiger http://www.haimbresheeth.com/2008/03/10/tippus-tiger#comments Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:59:37 +0000 Haim Bresheeth http://www.haimbresheeth.com/2008/03/10/tippus-tiger/

In the Indian galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum resides that finest of oddities - Tippu’s Tiger. The garishly painted life-sized feline crouches over its prey, a white gentleman lying prostrate on his back with his hat still on his head.

On a small plaque, the wooden tiger is described as a “musical toy”, owned by the Sultan Tippu of Mysore, “an inveterate enemy of the British”, which “came into possession of the East India Company, following his death in 1799 at the battle of Seringapatam”.

It is remarkable how little that note tells of the context that brought the “toy” from India to London. There is no indication that the might of the British Empire had been ranged against the sultan’s capital, or that 60,000 of his citizens are said to have died in one of the empire’s most murderous and barbaric victories. Nor is there mention of the way the loot, including Tippu’s Tiger, had been divided up by the conquering army after it had sacked the Indian city.

In some senses, archaeological colonialism is certainly over. Museums everywhere now accept that artefacts have to be purchased according to the strict guidelines issued by Unesco. Nevertheless, it seems old habits die hard. The archaeological loot in Britain’s great museums continues to draw millions of tourists, including many from the countries from which those artefacts were taken. But decades after the decline and fall of the British Empire, Britain refuses to return those artefacts to their original locations and displays them in a historically and culturally opaque fashion. The history of their acquisition is virtually denied.

Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, has recently done much to placate sensitivities in different countries, especially those whose artefacts his museum does not possess. But it would not do to acknowledge fully the acquisition narratives of those objects. While most Egyptians do not expect the wealth of the British Museum to be sent back to Cairo, they have demanded the return of the Rosetta Stone, the tablet that enabled the mysterious language of ancient Egypt to be deciphered.

The tale of encryption is explained in some detail on the display, but the complex history of the stone’s acquisition is less clear - how it was a trophy of the British victory over Napoleon in 1801 in the battle of Alexandria, after it was found by French soldiers.

And there is less - next to nothing, in fact - said about other treasures in the museum, such as the beautifully carved reliefs that hang in the spacious Assyrian halls. How will a visitor come to learn the painful story of their “acquisition” - how those stone panels came to be ripped from the remains of an ancient palace in Iraq and transported to London, many such treasures being lost in the waters of the Tigris, Euphrates or the high seas en route to Britain.

It is telling that in the V&A, Tippu is described as an “enemy” of the British, rather than the other way around, as if the sultan had sent his troops to conquer Cornwall. The museum’s story is one of the British Empire. Unlike the East India Company, Tippu’s interests were not commercial, but lay in defending his country from a rapacious invader that had already overrun the rest of the sub-continent. The V&A does not mention the sultan’s efforts to seek the protection of post-revolutionary France, or that it was for this “crime” that he and his people had to pay dearly to serve as a warning for any other Indian ruler considering resisting the British. It does not label the tiger as booty from an imperialistic battle for control of India. That Tippu’s Tiger cannot be described accurately today, more than two centuries after the events, is evidence of the change that is still to come.

The V&A and the British Museum are not alone. It is today unthinkable to imagine any great European museum without its archaeological loot. This opulence plays a crucial role in the development of the arts, science and the humanities in those Western centres of learning, attracting students and academics from their countries of origin, completing the cycle of continuing domination.

But one wonders whether it might be the right time to tell visitors to every British museum about the provenance of the many thousands of artefacts, so many tainted with the barbarities of past conquests. Or is the start of the third millennium too soon to give a fuller account of the historical facts of the artefacts acquired by the British Empire?

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