Artists denied visas

[Guest guest]

Yes, it sucks. Fairfield, home of the TM people wanted to get 200 pundits there to do yajnas nonstop but they couldn't get visas.

 

 

-

msbauju

 

Friday, July 21, 2006 6:21 PM

Artists denied visas

 

 

Artists with Borders

by Venessa Paech

[Guest guest]

Artists with Borders

by Venessa Paech

http://www.artshub.com.au/ahau1/news/news.asp?Id=98297

Friday, July 21, 2006

Arts Hub Australia

 

Are harsh new visa laws thwarting cultural exchange just when

countries should focus on it?

 

This feature is re-published [in Arts Hub Australia] with the

permission of Arts Hub Australia's sister journal, Arts Hub

Global.

 

After September 11 and the ensuing 'war on terror', the

United States and many of its Western allies went into

lockdown. In the name of national security, the ability to enter

and exit these countries was restricted. Enhanced border

protection and new visa requirements made it tougher for

tourists, workers and aspiring immigrants to get in the front

door, let alone put their feet up for a while.

 

An increasing number of examples reveal artists caught in the

queue - individuals and companies refused seemingly legitimate

entry to a nation, despite their capacity to fuel an economy or

bridge cultural barriers.

 

The phenomenon isn't new. As journalist Jane Chapman

observes: "During the Cold War, immigration law allowed the

government to deny visas to artists and scholars it saw as

representing a danger to national security because of their

political views. Among those denied visas to the United States

during this period: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who later became

Canada's prime minister; British novelist Graham Greene; and

Colombian novelist and Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia

Marquez."

 

Nor was it especially easy for artists to tour pre 9/11; the

process still involved often prohibitive fees, long waits for

paperwork and occasional racial profiling. Internationally

acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi believes he was a

victim of the latter when he passed through New York's JFK

airport in transit, six months prior to the World Trade Center

attacks. Allegedly giving nationality as their rationale, officials

detained Panahi to obtain his fingerprints, then held him

handcuffed for several hours. The director recalled his ordeal in

an impassioned letter to the National Board of Review of

Motion Pictures: "I just wanted to stand up and cry that I'm not

a thief! I'm not a murderer! I'm not a drug dealer! I...I am just

an Iranian, a filmmaker."

 

Artists' long association with voices of dissent makes them an

ideal target for a post 9/11 empowered border patrol, fixed on

rooting out the 'terrorist' element. The result, accomplished

artisans and entertainers are redressed as gypsies for the new

millennium - strangers whose exotic tastes and talents appeal,

but whose wicked ways might corrupt the natives if let loose.

 

In 2002, organisers of the World Festival of Sacred Music in

Los Angeles had a devil of a time getting the show on. A

Syrian ensemble of dancers had their visas delayed, a

Canadian singer of Palestinian descent was denied entry to the

US altogether, as were Cudamani, a 30-member Indonesian

gamelan ensemble. Festival director Judy Mitoma noted the

changes since the inaugural World Festival of Sacred Music in

1999. "We were at that time full of hope," she said. "Now look

at us. The world is different. How hard it is to bear the reality

of that. It's like a loss of innocence."

 

And how about the innocence of UK teenager Bridget

Mbabazi, a poet and survivor of the Rwandan genocide

currently fighting for the right to perform in a US poetry slam

she was invited to attend.

 

The US maintains a terrorism 'watch list' that includes Cuba,

Iran, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Sudan. Artists who

hail from these regions are foremost on the hit-list when it

comes to the politics of touring. Cuba, who has a complicated

history with the US, is a particular target. Over 150 artists have

been denied access to audiences since 2004. The roll-call

includes the Afro-Cuban All Stars (one of Cuba's most famous

musical acts); Cuban-Haitian group Desandan; Cuban jazz

pianist Chucho Valdes; Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social

Club fame; Guillermo Gonzalez Camejo; Carlos Varela; and

Cuban director Humberto Solas. Sylvia Perel, director of a

San Francisco Latino Film Festival had to cancel a

programmed tribute to Solas after he was turned away. "Our

capacity to bring culture to this country has been diminished,"

she told the press.

 

Varela, a singer-songwriter, accuses the US of inventing new

excuses to legislate for old fears. "They want to look for ghosts

where they don't exist," he said. "Cuban and American

musicians can accomplish what politicians have failed to do

over many years."

 

While racial typing appears to be an factor, the problem isn't

confined to regions on the US 'watch list'. In March this year,

Manchester's Halle Orchestra (the UK's oldest symphony) had

to ditch plans for its US tour because of visa demands that

included 45,000 [pounds] in fees and a trip to the US embassy in

London (185 miles away) where each traveler would be

interviewed and fingerprinted. The Berlin-based Artemis

Quartet had to cancel its U.S. tour after authorities learned its

cellist had stolen a pair of tweezers in his youth. And the list

goes on.

 

In April 2006, celebrated cellist and arts ambassador Yo-Yo

Ma joined representatives from the education and business

sectors to testify at a hearing on the impact of new visa

regulations. "While very few Americans have the opportunity to

travel to rural India, and even fewer to rural Kyrgyzstan, the

arts allow everyone to catch a glimpse into these other worlds

through their music, their dance and their art," Ma told

lawmakers. "Encouraging artists and institutions to foster these

artistic exchanges -- bringing foreign musicians to this country

and sending our performers to visit them -- is crucial. But the

high financial cost and the lengthy timeline make these

programs difficult to execute and to maintain."

 

Scott Southard, president of International Music Network,

agrees with Ma, and says long term ramifications are

unavoidable: "The impact of this crisis will show up two to

three years from now. This crisis will have a long-term impact

on the music world and cultural exchange marketplace."

 

In an effort to cut through the red tape, two US organizations -

the American Symphony Orchestra League and the

Association of Performing Arts Presenters - teamed up to

create www.artistsfromabroad.org, an online guide for foreign

artists, companies and their promoters.

 

"Art is cultural diplomacy," says APAP President Sandra

Gibson. "And it's just as important as it was during the cold

war. It's as important as when [pianist] Van Cliburn went to

the Soviet Union to perform and changed Khrushchev's mind

about the United States."

 

Arguably the biggest losers are American audiences and artists.

The former ends up with a narrower choice of cultural fare,

and the latter is denied meaningful contact with their peers -

both outcomes seemingly at odds with a world hell bent on

globalization, and America's own goal to increase U.S. cultural

exchange opportunities around the world.

 

Says Opera America's Scorca: "These procedures are leading

to diminished exposure of American audiences to great artists

and making it harder for US artists to get work abroad."

 

Gibson believes art in America is in trouble as a result of the

crackdown: "This is about the intersection of culture and

commerce and the critical need for access and exchange. The

vagaries of the visa process place our industry in jeopardy -

facing unpredictable economic losses associated with delays

and in worst-case scenarios complete cancellations of

performances and tours."

 

Democratic Representative Henry Waxman, whose California

Congressional District includes Hollywood, echoes the

concerns of many when he posits that the whole country could

suffer: "In the long run, our security is enhanced, not

diminished, by this kind of exchange."

 

This feature was first published on Arts Hub Global - the

comprehensive website of the moment for arts and cultural

administrators, professionals, educators and researchers,

monitoring currents, exchanges and trades across the world.

[Guest guest]

I guess getting U.S. visas for Hindu religious workers is a long-

standing problem, or at least it has been a problem.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week237/feature.html

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1992/04/1992-04-05.shtml

 

Both of the above stories are old, so I don't know if things have

changed.

 

, "Llundrub" <llundrub wrote:

>

> Yes, it sucks. Fairfield, home of the TM people wanted to get 200

pundits there to do yajnas nonstop but they couldn't get visas.

>

>