MIA (மாதங்கி 'மாயா' அருள்பிரகாசம்)'s new video for the BORN FREE song was taken down by youtube because of their "content policy".
Directed by Romain Gavras, it features nudity, graphic violence and a plot where ginger haired people are rounded up by pissed off soldiers into an armour-protected prison bus, driven to the desert and either shot or made to run through a minefield.............
M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.
The soldiers have American flag patches, and one ginger haired person is wearing a keffiyeh (outside of the Middle East and North Africa the keffiyeh first gained popularity among activists supporting the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel)......yet in the video plot there is no particular struggle explicitly addressed.
But by addressing no specific struggle, she addresses all struggles.
It is really common for white/western/rich/privelledged people to have ADJUSTED, NORMALISED and feel DISTANCED and UNAFFECTED by violence, genocide, torture, discrimination and war in non white/non western/non rich communities........we are living in a world where white people assume that violence and oppression inevitably happen to the "other." .. .. . . .
But by showing white red-haired people brutalized for no discernible reason other then being white with red hair, the video has induced "shock and horror".... mostly with people who identify with the white ginger physically or geographically.
SOOOOO by demonstrating white people suffering brutal violence, white viewers cannot automatically "otherize" them and are forced to consider the reality of violence and oppression.
And awareness is the very first step to action. so of course, this video was taken down from youtube. im sure there were ALOT of complaints from disturbed, pissed off white people who cant handle images of systematic oppression.
MIA is a really great artist who puts alot of time and thought into everything she makes, and i think she is really fucking successful at using her fame to affect people and make social/political commentary and change through art....which i think is actually really, really hard to do. So much art fails when it tries to do anything real or say anything beyond ego shit.
here is a quote from MIA:
"The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That's what 'Worldtown' is about, that's what 'Paper Planes' is about. It's what people in the third world live through."
MIA released this statement when the "war on terror" was announced......
"You can't separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil. Terrorism is a method, but America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence, struggles, revolutions, and extremists into one big notion of terrorism."
MIA was born in London. Then her family moved to their native Sri Lanka when she was six months old. While her father worked as a political activist with the Tamil Tigers, she was displaced until the age of eight due to the country's civil war. She moved with her mother and siblings to India to escape the violence, and eventually she and her siblings returned to London as refugees.
As for BORN FREE VIDEO.......
im so glad this got made and i think its hilarious that it got taken down from youtube, what a fucken joke!!! Good on MIA for making it, she is a fucken mastermind goddess....
PS-it was only put on the net on the 26th april (two days ago)
and just then when i searched it, it was 61st most popular search on google in the past hour....... number one was the new season of The Hills. .....ugh
PPS- yes it samples the fuck out of suicide, but her song 'paperplanes' sampled the fuck out of The clash. who cares? the first world "samples" the fuck out of EVERYTHING from every country its exploiting....., the whole fucking system that we live in, and economy is built on theft, genocide, invasion and slavery. MIA sampling is these bands is something we should be thanking her for. its like G rated restorative justice ......we shuld be grateful
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