the Pageant in Vermont and Michael Dennison stretching for a run in the Street, 2004
Reflecting on the present French government’s bran new ban on public demonstrations of support for the Palestinian people, and given Bread and Puppet Theater's many marches in that vein, I thought it best to show some photographs of people I would fear losing in this moment of rampant destruction, rather than news photos of children (or their grieving parents) whose bodies were ripped apart by Israeli bombs and mortar shells, as they have been widely seen to the point where the violence they depict is made banal through repetition. These images are not intended as substitutes for documentation of atrocities, or to imply that there is a better way to protest state sponsored terrorism than through angry confrontation with those who oppose ones beliefs. They are meant to be seen as depictions of necessary preparation and allied action. I choose to show Michael specifically because he is someone who has participated in demonstrations, much like those that have been made illegal in France, almost since birth (and I have seen the photos of his mother marching with him in a sling at her breast.) The performance here recorded (in which he and I participated,) though it took place far from the scenes of conflict it presents, doesn't pretend to represent the specifics of Israeli and American atrocities committed in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but more the enervating and annihilating spirit of this neocolonialist enterprise.
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