Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Bonni Benrubi Gallery - Current, past and future exhibitions at artnet.com

Paolo Pellegrin: Witness to History
Red Room: Jehad Nga Jun 5 - Jul 19, 2008

Hindu Kush, Afghanistan, May 2006
Paolo Pellegrin

Paolo Pellegrin: Witness to History and in the Red Room: Jehad Nga
June 5th through July 19th, 2008

Pellegrin, a Magnum photographer with five first place World Press Photo prizes under his belt turned his eye to photography while studying architecture as a young adult in Rome. He has since photographed historical conflicts across the globe from Kosovo to Darfur. Shooting in black and white like his predecessors, Pellegrin chooses this reduced palate to express the timelessness of the events he documents and to convey the universality of the emotional content wrapped up in the turbulence of the moment he has seized.

Pellegrin is drawn to extreme situations, they are his canvas, it is where he finds the irony of life: the bittersweet intermingling of chaos and destruction with man’s innate desire to live. Despite the magnitude of what he sees, Pellegrin doesn’t turn away, he acts as our medium, showing us our darker selves, but at the same time what we can be and the depth of capability of the human soul.

In the Red Room: Bonni Benrubi Gallery is pleased to present color photographs by thirty-year-old artist Jehad Nga, Arresting and poetic, Nga’s photographs of Sudanese and Kenyan café patrons offer a rare and personal look at those ravaged by years of drought and poverty. Using only a single ray of sun beaming through the café doorway, Nga’s photographs highlight the individuals themselves by naturally removing them from their surroundings. The profound simplicity of this arrangement speaks volumes about what is left when everything surrounding a life has been taken, and how photojournalism communicates this to the Western World. Nga’s work conveys timelessness not because of what he sees at large, but what is not seen.

Turkish ruling party put on trial, BBC, July 1, 2008

Turkey’s chief prosecutor has appeared before the country’s Constitutional Court calling for the governing party to be closed down.

Founded by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Justice and Development Party, the AKP, won a landslide victory in the last election.

But its critics say it is trying to impose Sharia law on the secular state.

The party’s attempt to ease a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf is expected to be central to the evidence.

Prosecutor Abdurraham Yalcinkaya, who has argued that the party has become the focal point of anti-secular activities in Turkey, is appearing before judges in a closed-door session.

“This risk has been increasing every day” reads the 162-page petition submitted to the Constitutional Court by Mr Yalcinkaya.

Israel denies it mistreated Gaza journalist at Jordan crossing - Haaretz/Reuters, July 1, 2008

Israel denied on Tuesday allegations by a Palestinian journalist that he was abused and injured by Israeli security personnel while on his way home to the Gaza Strip after receiving a journalism award in Britain.

Mohammed Omer said from his hospital bed on Monday that he was detained for nearly four hours at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge when he crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank, en route to the Gaza Strip, on June 26.

Omer said he was forced to strip to his underwear by an Israeli officer who then “snatched it down off me”. He said two officers dragged him by his legs, his head sweeping the floor, in front of other passengers, and that he vomited and fainted.

An Israeli security official said a body search and an examination of Omer’s belongings were carried out “because of the suspicion that he had been in contact with hostile elements and had been asked by them to smuggle something in”.

The official said Omer received “fair treatment and no irregular action was taken towards him” during the search.

“At the end of the search, he lost his balance and fell, for some reason unknown to us. A team of medics, an ambulance and a paramedic were summoned and he was transferred for treatment to Jericho,” the official said.

Shin Bet Offers Palestinian Journalist ‘Gitmo Treatment’ | Tikun Olam-תקון עולם, June 30, 2008

If you’re an award-winning Gaza journalist, the Shin Bet has a message for you: get out and don’t come back. Inter-Press Service photographer Mohammed Omer just won the distinguished Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London. He traveled to Jordan on his way home and stopped to coordinate his return with Israeli authorities. Once he was given proper approvals he went to the Allenby Bridge to cross into the Occupied Territory. Here is what happened:

Accompanied by Dutch diplomats, Omer passed through the Jordanian side of the border without incident. However, after arrival on the Israeli side, trouble began. He informed a female soldier that he was returning home to Gaza. He was repeatedly asked where Gaza was, and told that he had neither a permit nor any coordination to cross.

Omer explained that he did indeed have permission and coordination but was nevertheless taken to a room by Israel’s domestic intelligence agency the Shin Bet, where he was isolated for an hour and a half without explanation.

“Eventually I was asked whether I had a knife or gun on me even though I had already passed through the x-ray machine, had my luggage searched, and was in the company of Dutch diplomats,” Omer said.

His luggage was again searched, and security then proceeded to go through every document and paper he had on him, taking down the names and numbers of the European parliamentary officials he had met.

The Shin Bet officials then started to make fun of the European parliamentarians, and mocked Omer for being “the prize-winning journalist”.

The Gazan journalist was repeatedly asked why he was returning to “the hell of Gaza after we allowed you to leave.” To this he responded that he wanted to be a voice for the voiceless. He was told he was a “trouble-maker”.

The security men also demanded he show all the money he had on him, and particular attention was paid to the British pounds he was carrying. His Gellhorn prize money had been awarded in British pounds but he was not carrying the entire sum on him bodily, something the investigators refused to believe.

After being unable to produce the prize money, he was ordered to strip naked.

“At first I refused but then I had an M16 (gun) pointed in my face and my clothes were forcibly removed, even my underwear,” Omer said.

At this point Omer broke down and pleaded for an end to such treatment. He said he was told, “you haven’t seen anything yet.” Every cavity of his body was searched as one of the investigators pinned him down on the floor, placing his boot on Omer’s neck. Omer began vomiting, and fainted.