PRESS RELEASE: BOYCOTT THE HUMAN ZOO - ONE MILLION RISING

BLACK ACTIVISTS RISING AGAINST CUTS (BARAC) UK

PRESS RELEASE

17 September 2014

Boycott the Human Zoo; 1 Million Rising

From Tuesday 23^rd of September to Saturday 27^th of September a picket will take place each day, between the hours of 5.30pm to 10pm at The Vaults, to coincide with showings of Exhibit B, Third World Bun Fight, by Brett Bailey, which is hosted by The Barbican.  Protestors will assemble at the main entrance to Waterloo Rail Station, SE1 8SW.

BARAC UK is one of several organisations forming the campaign boycotting the exhibition and BARAC representatives and members will be participating in the protests at The Vaults.

Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair BARAC UK said;

“You don’t tackle the legacy of racism or current racism by re-enacting racist atrocities. Contrary to the claim by The Barbican that Exhibit B is empowering and educational, it is impossible for the descendants of racism created through colonial rule, Empire and enslavement to be empowered by seeing black people caged, chained, blacked up, tortured and murdered.  As a visual artist and curator, I create and exhibit art that both challenges racism and promotes equality. This exhibition does neither. Those of us who have a lived experience of racism do not need educating on racism. It is an absolute disgrace in our Capital city that this exhibition was agreed without consulting black communities on how it would be received and with complete disregard for the pain and anger it is causing. It is indicative of the deepening institutional racism we experience.”

Lee Jasper, National Co-Chair BARAC UK said;

“Here in London, a city that is 40% non- white, we have a strong and powerful tradition of black self- organisation and anti- racism. Brett Bailey or the Barbican could have at any time, spoken to a wide range of organisations, prior to putting on the show, in an effort to seek their views; they choose not to do so and to add insult to injury. We believe this Human Zoo to be racist in conceptualisation and presentation. It is an exercise in white privilege and power which should have been challenged when it was suggested it be hosted in London, rather than being supported by The Barbican and The City of London Corporation.  Failure to withdraw will lead not only to a boycott of Exhibit B but of The Barbican as an organisation”

Background

From 23 to 27 September, The Barbican will host Exhibit B, by Brett Bailey, at The Vaults in Waterloo.

Exhibit B is a re-enactment of the Victoria human zoo, using black people to act as exhibits subjected to racist torture and murder.  The exhibits include black ‘actors’; a woman in shackles, waiting to be raped, a man in an iron mask, people in cages, ‘blacked up’ and in plane seats being murdered. The exhibition objectifies black people in an offensive and degrading way. The Exhibition is racist and hurtful and has been met with outrage by black communities and the wider public.  A coalition of organisations including  BARAC UK, representing over 1 million members in addition to the 21,000 plus people who have signed the online petition are calling for the exhibition to be withdrawn by The Barbican who are hosting it.

An open letter to the City of London Corporation, by BARAC UK, led to a meeting with members of The Barbican Board and management on 11^th September, who refused to withdraw from hosting.  A lobby of the City of London Council took place on the same day and a March and rally outside The Barbican with speakers and performers took place on 13 September. At the meeting on the 11^th the Campaign requested a senior member to receive the petition on the 13^th which was acknowledged.  Despite at least one Board member being present at the Barbican on the day of the rally, only security staff  were made available to accept the petition.  As a result of this another protest took place on 16^th September and the petition was handed in to a Board member.  

ENDS

Contact:  Zita Holbourne,  National Co-Chair BARAC UK,                    Campaign Press Officer.                                                                                 

Email: barac.info@gmail.com         

www.blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com

http://boycotthumanzoouk.com

@baracuk  @boycotthumanzoo

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boycotthumanzoo

CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE BARBICAN'S RACIST HUMAN ZOO - I AM SOMEBODY -1 MILLION RISING

Protestors outside Guildhall

    Last week two significant protests took place in London, in opposition to the racist, offensive and horrific Human Zoo exhibition to be hosted by The Barbican. Probably for the first time ever, the City of London Corporation, owners of The Barbican, was lobbied by black community campaigners. Organisations and individuals, including BARAC UK demonstrated outside Guildhall as members of the Corporation entered to attend their regular Council meeting.  

Image by Zita Holbourne

As a result of the open letter that BARAC UK sent to the Chief Executive of the Corporation, a meeting was facilitated between campaigners and members of The Barbican Board and Management. At this meeting we informed The Barbican that we would be handing in the petition of over 20,000 signatures that Saturday and requested that a senior officer received it. This was acknowledged. 

Lobbying the City of London Corporation (with representatives of Unite the Union, BARAC UK & BEMA)

On Saturday 12th of September protesters marched to The Barbican for a rally outside before the planned petition hand in.  The organisations represented not only on the day but who have signed up to the campaign represent over a million in addition to the 20,000 plus who have signed the petition. Speeches and performers were accompanied by drummers. Children and adults carried banners with the words ' I am somebody' and 'I am not an object on them'. 

March to The Barbican

 Tafadwa ShakaRa Mbandaka  performed the opening libations, the proceedings were compered by Paul Lawrence. There were poetry performances by Akala, Zita Holbourne (Co-Chair BARAC UK) & Anthony Anaxagorou and speeches by  Sara Myers (Petition author),  Zita Holbourne, PCS & TUC Race Relations Committee, Donna Guthrie (Unite), Lee Jasper, Co-Chair BARAC UK, Kehinde Andrews, OBU, Austin Harney, CRAIC, Paul Richards, UpRise and Hilary Mohammed, Nation of Islam. People were drawn out of the Barbican and surrounding businesses by the presence and sound of the protest.

A video of the rally can be viewed here.

Lee Jasper, co-chair of BARAC speaks

 Disgracefully when it came to the point of handing in the petition, The Barbican failed to provide a senior representative to receive it, despite the discussions with them on Thursday about this and despite the fact that a senior Board member had been visible during the protest, viewing proceedings from a balcony.  Instead they sent as their representative, the Head of Security who acted with hostility. As a result, it was agreed that the petition would not be handed in that day and a subsequent event would be organised for the hand in.

Zita Holbourne, Co-Chair of BARAC performs poetry

Donna Guthrie, Unite member & BARAC Women's Officer

Brett Bailey's Human Zoo is neither art nor empowering. Yet this is what The Barbican have tried to tell us, that if we were to attend it, we would be empowered and educated.  Quite clearly those of us that have a lived experience of racism do not need educating about racism and we are certainly not going to feel empowered by a re-enactment of historic or current racism. Last week I wrote for The Voice Newspaper on this; Read here. 

image by Zita Holbourne

In fact, when we met with the  predominantly  white (just one black member) Barbican Board and Management and asked them how many of them had seen the exhibition, only one had, so it's laughable that they should try to 'educate' anti racist and black community organisations about racism through this horrendous exhibition.

The campaign continues and we will continue to call for the only positive solution to this horrific display of racism, masquerading as a creative artistic expression, a boycott on not just Exhibit B, which will be shown at The Vaults but on The Barbican itself.  Critics of our opposition have claimed that we are calling for censorship of art.  A boycott is not censorship.  The successful Boycott Campaign against apartheid in South Africa included artists, musicians and sports people amongst others.

 


Sign the petition here

OPEN LETTER TO THE TOWN CLERK, CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION: HUMAN ZOO EXHIBITION AT THE BARBICAN

OPEN LETTER TO: 

JOHN BARRADELL, TOWN CLERK & CHIEF EXECUTIVE,

ALDERMEN,SHERIFFS, COMMON COUNCILLORS, CITY OF LONDON

Dear Mr Barradell

I am writing to you  with concerns about an exhibition being held this month at The Barbican, Brett Bailey's Exhibit B.  

Our organisation BARAC UK is part of a coalition of organisations and campaigners  who are supporting the campaign opposing the exhibition. We have written to The Barbican setting out our concerns about this horrendous, offensive and racist exhibition which objectifies black people displaying actors in shackles and cages, recreating  the Victorian human zoo. We received a standard response from Toni Racklin to our complaint which suggested the exhibition was educational and empowering  which we found astonishing. 

Black communities do not need to be objectified to understand  history and we fail to see how an exhibition which reenacts the horrors of colonialism, enslavement and apartheid empowers anybody. The exhibition does nothing to address the legacy of  historical racism or to challenge the deepening institutional racism that black people are facing in the present time here in the UK and globally. 

We wrote back to Toni Racklin on the 23rd of August but we have not even been afforded the courtesy of an acknowledgement let alone a response to the points raised. 

We are requesting that The Barbican and City of London Corporation withdraw from hosting this exhibition in response to the serious concerns raised about the exhibition. In a short period of a fortnight over 14000 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling on The Barbican to withdraw the exhibition.

Failure to take our concerns seriously sends a message that the voices of black communities in London are not significant. The following link to the petition will provide you with more information explaining why the decision by The Barbican  to host this exhibition has been met with outrage and why we consider the exhibition to be racist and offensive:

Click to view the petition

We are requesting an invitation for a delegation from the campaign coalition to attend the Court of Common Council Meeting taking place on 11th of September so that we can present our concerns to those representatives of the City of London Corporation this letter is addressed to.

I would be grateful if you were to acknowledge receipt of this letter  and to provide a copy to the City of London representatives listed above.

Yours Sincerely

Zita Holbourne
 National Co-Chair, BARAC UK
 

 

SUPPORT GROWS TO STOP THE HUMAN ZOO - WHITE PRIVILEGE IS NOT ART

The campaign to stop the racist human zoo exhibition, Exhibit B due to take place at the Barbican 23 to 27 September, has gained almost nine thousand signatures in just over a week and received national news coverage. Along with the petition's author, activist and journalist Sara Myers and BARAC UK, the campaign is supported by a broad range of community campaigners & organisations, including Operation Black Vote (OBV) as well as Unite the Union who have members working at The Barbican.

BARAC and others have been in dialogue with The Barbican but so far they have refused to withdraw as hosts of the exhibition disregarding our concerns and claiming that the exhibition is a lesson in history. In fact they could not even be bothered to respond to the second communication BARAC sent them.  

The exhibition has been met with anger in other countries on its tour and it is clear from reports that the exhibition which is curated by Brett Bailey, a white South African, is for white audiences. This just makes it even worse that he has decided to exhibit the abuse, torture and murder of black people for a white audience. 

It is insulting that the exhibition objectifies black people and uses actors and actresses, many of them semi naked women, to enact the atrocities and abuses that black people have experienced through history, it includes black people placed in cages, an enslaved  woman shackled to a bed waiting to be raped, and an extradited man on an plane seat who died from suffocation. 

These are not scenes that black people need to see to understand the history of abuse and racism our ancestors experienced, we are still living with the legacy of racism every day, we are experiencing deepening racism in the UK and globally. In the UK austerity is amplying racism, institutional racism is deepening with the criminalisation of black communities yet the exhibition offers no solutions to the legacy of racism and the racism we face today.  White people visiting the exhibition who hold racist views are not likely to change them because of it, in fact we believe the exhibition will attract people who feel a sense of enjoyment in seeing black people on display in this way and will simply fuel racism. 

This insulting, racist exhibition cannot be excused by labelling it art any more than inciting racial hatred can be justified by claiming freedom of speech. Brett Bailey cannot use white privilege to claim an understanding of the black experience on the receiving end of racism.

Protests and activities are planned outside the Barbican and you will receive updates on these if you sign the petition or join the facebook page and event.

You can support the campaign by signing and sharing the petition: SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Sharing this email with your networks together with the petition and facebook event page below.

Joining the facebook event : FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

and page:  FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN PAGE

Writing to The Barbican and Patrons of the Barbican to complain.

Providing us with a statement of support for the campaign from you / your organisation.

OPPOSE THE RACIST HUMAN ZOO EXHIBITION AT THE BARBICAN CENTRE

 HUMAN ZOO IN LONDON THIS SEPTEMBER

The Barbican Centre in London are hosting a horrific  exhibition by  Brett Bailey, Third World, Bun Fight, Exhibit B in September. The exhibition is a human zoo, mimicking the Victorian style human zoo  displaying black people, using actors, as they were oppressed and subjected to racism and abuse in history. It is  highly offensive, insulting and racist.  To our knowledge The Barbican did nothing to engage with black communities in the UK and ask how they felt about the exhibition before agreeing to host it and the exhibition does nothing to promote race equality. 

 

BARAC UK is supporting the campaign opposing the exhibition and has written to The Barbican calling on them to cancel the exhibition, in their response The Barbican states:

'It provokes audiences to reflect on the historical roots of today's prejudices and policies and how these have been shaped over centuries.'

Yet it does nothing to challenge the racism that we experience today or to consider the impact on black communities of hosting the exhibition.

We don't believe that in order to remind people of the horrors of racism, enslavement, apartheid and colonial rule it is necessary to place black people in cages and put them on display in an exhibition and that this exhibition does nothing to promote race equality.  This is not art as is claimed by the curator of the exhibiton Brett Bailey.

Please sign the petition and send complaints to The Barbican.

https://www.change.org/p/barbican-withdraw-the-racist-exhibition-exhibit-b-the-human-zoo-from-showing-at-the-barbican-from-23rd-27th-september