Rightwingers Again Supress Free Speech, This Time in Troy, NY

The NYCLU is currently filing a laswuit against the city of Troy, NY, an upstate city and home to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Russell Sage College, because the city's public works commissioner, Robert Mirch, also the majority leader of the Rensselaer County Legislature, did what empowered right wing thugs everywhere tend to do, that is, to abuse their power. And in this case, Mirch abused his power to suppress an idea that he did not like, that is, the idea of critiquing the Iraq war. And that this idea was being led by an Iraqi-born artist, Wafaa Bilal, is particularly egregious. Incidentally, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's College Republicans played a strong hand in this shutdown.

Mirch, essentially, shut down the exhibit using the most bogus rationale, claiming as a city official, in effect, that the exhibit was being organized in a building that violated safety code violations; the building had previously been approved for such use, without incident, prior to this particular exhibit.

This abuse of Mirch's power - an assault on free speech and antiwar activities by an established government - should be vigorously opposed. I urge all who read this to protest this action.

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has more details.

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a claim Thursday against the City of Troy concerning the city’s decision to close an arts and media center on purported code violations in March after a controversial art exhibit opened there.

The notice of claim was filed on behalf of The Sanctuary for Independent Media, whose gallery was ordered closed March 11, a day after the opening of Iraqi-American artist Wafaa Bilal’s art installation, “Virtual Jihadi.” The exhibit was intended to provoke thought about the roots of violence, but it angered some people who objected to its content.

Among those offended by the artwork was Robert Mirch, public works commissioner and majority leader of the Rensselaer County Legislature. Mirch, who oversees code enforcement, publicly denounced the exhibit and led a protest against it outside the Sanctuary. The NYCLU contends that Mirch used his official powers to have the building closed, which violated the Sanctuary’s First Amendment rights to free speech and expression.

“City officials cannot selectively enforce building codes to shut down an art exhibition they find distasteful,” said Melanie Trimble, director of the NYCLU’s Capital Region chapter. “It is troubling that Mr. Mirch would wield his authority to suppress the free speech rights of people he disagrees with.”

Before the controversial exhibit opened, the city had given no indication that it objected to the Sanctuary’s schedule for restoring the 106-year-old building. The Sanctuary had worked closely with the Bureau of Code Enforcement throughout the renovation process. Code enforcement officials inspected the building on April 23 and found no violations.

Here is a statement by Steve Peirce, a spokeman for the The Sanctuary for Independent Media, addressing this incident.

Since 2005, The Sanctuary for Independent Media has struggled to be a good citizen and a good neighbor. We've invested immense creative energy and toil and spent many thousands of hard-earned dollars to refurbish a historic former church in a neglected neighborhood of north Troy, striving to enrich the community through telecommunications production, media arts and education. Our efforts have proved beneficial in that we've succeeded in bringing internationally acclaimed filmmakers, graphic artists, musicians, authors, and other important cultural figures to a deprived area and fostered constructive public dialogue that informs and enlivens our democratic society.
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On March 11, 2008, however, just as the Sanctuary was launching a month-long scheduled program of artistic exhibits, performances and discussions, the City of Troy abruptly closed the facility on codes violation charges -- because somebody didn't like one of our planned art exhibits. This is wrong. We must not allow our public officials to continue to act in such a manner.
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The Capital Region New York Civil Liberties Union and attorney Peter Henner are among those who have stepped forward to assist the Sanctuary in protecting our constitutional rights and the rights of our artists and patrons.
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We do not dispute the need to respect city laws and ordinances. Prior to this incident, the city knew we were operating in good faith to comply with the building codes and we had made and were continuing to make ample improvements to this 108-year-old structure. There wasn't any conflict. Our relations with the city's professional employees had been very positive and everyone recognized we were acting in a responsible manner. We were never warned we might be shut down. In fact, on March 10, the city's own building and fire inspectors gave us the green light to proceed with holding a major public event that night.
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But then the city's public works commissioner, Bob Mirch, who oversees Troy code enforcement and holds a variety of other local political posts, railed on rightwing talk radio and he also physically led a vocal demonstration outside our facility to protest our showing of an exhibit he did not like. The next day, his department shut down the Sanctuary.
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These events have been extremely upsetting and damaging. First, the whole incident has been fueled by wildly irresponsible misrepresentations of Wafaa Bilal and his work, using racial and jingoistic stereotypes that breed fear and misunderstanding. Second, Mr. Mirch has been allowed to abuse his official position to enforce his own political views - to use alleged code violations as a pretext to stifle political dissent. This kind of intimidation is wrong. His behavior has violated the civil rights of Mr. Bilal to express himself through his art, it has violated the civil rights of the Sanctuary to present art, and it has abrogated the civil rights of the public who wanted to view art by denying them that opportunity to make up their own minds. We urge the City of Troy to put an end to this kind of discriminatory action. We want to resume working in good faith with government officials to make sure that the law is upheld and people's rights are respected. This is the United States of America.

Here is a YouTube clip about this controversy.

Here is a link to a GamePolitics.Com article with more details about the artist in question.

Here is a link to a detailed timeline of this incident.