For Immediate Release (3/23/98):
[for background see: NY TIMES METRO SEC Sunday 3/22/98, Pg 1 "War of the Paintbrushes"]
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
In response to questions concerning the filing of a $200 million lawsuit against Mayor Giuliani and the Parks Department on 3/20/98 Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. issued this statement:
Giuliani has become a living caricature of a dictator. He is violating the civil rights of all New Yorkers and we artists will keep on exposing him, even if he keeps having us arrested for doing so.
In times of repression, artists are often the first to be persecuted. For us, freedom of expression is a concrete reality rather than an abstract ideal or a theory. When a Constitutional violator like Giuliani begins eliminating our civil freedom we notice it immediately. A few years ago when I began calling him Rudy "Police State" Giuliani many people said, "Isn't that a little extreme?" Today he's often compared to a dictator and the term Police State routinely appears in articles and letters to the editor about him.
Some people think that we just don't like Giuliani as a personality or that we believe any restrictions at all on artists are unfair. "It's just a $25 permit", they say, "what's so bad about that?" Governments often use licensing requirements as a subtle means of repressing speech. Once a license or permit for speech is required all that's needed to stop someone's speech is to deny or delay the issuance of the license or permit. By requiring a permit the government gets to decide who can speak and when they will be allowed to speak. This is the opposite of freedom of speech. In terms of this specific issue of artists in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Parks Department and the City allowed an unlimited number of artists to sell there without a permit for more than 100 years. Why now, just as we've officially won that right by law, do they decide to force us to get a permit?
On a personal level, after being illegally arrested (27 times so far) on false charges by officers from the Police Department's Intelligence Division or Police Headquarters or by the order of Captains and Lts. it's become obvious that these arrests are part of a extralegal, politically motivated effort to silence me and to stifle this artists' rights movement. My fellow plaintiffs in the suit, Wei Zhang, Knut Masco and Jack Nesbitt, not only want to sell their art without harassment but also feel a strong commitment to standing up to Giuliani on behalf of all New Yorkers.
The Met protest, now in its 27th day, will continue. There have been 13 artist arrests and more than fifty summonses and art confiscations since March 1st. The way ARTIST works is that we never just await our day in court. Based on past experience, even if the court immediately issues an injunction the City will still violate our rights unless we continue the demonstrations and civil disobedience. At this point our civil disobedience is to keep setting up and selling our art without a permit in front of the army of police (anywhere from 15-40 on any given day) assigned full-time to guard, arrest and confiscate art from us.
The protest takes place every day except Monday, when the Museum
is closed. On Sunday, 3/22 the plaintiffs constructed a large
snow sculpture in the form of a tank confronting an artist in
front of the museum and continued to sell their art. Photos of
artist arrests, art confiscations and the protest are available
for publication.
Robert Lederman
For more information or a copy of the legal complaint filed 0n 3/20/98 contact: Andrew Miltenberg (the attorney for the four plaintiffs) (212) 481-4242 or Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111; E-Mail: ARTISTpres@aol.com
To read the 2nd circuit decision go to: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Mayor's Press Office 788-2958; Parks Comm. Henry Stern 360-1305; Thomas Rozinski, legal counsel Parks 360-1314; William Leurs, Pres. Met Museum 570-3900; Museum Press office 570-3951
Also see: NY Times 3/2/98 B1; Newsday 3/2/98 A7; Village Voice 2/24/98 pg 57; Newsday 2/26/98 A8; NY Times 6/3/97 B2; NY Times editorial 3/4/98; Newsday 3/16/98 pg 4. NY TIMES Metro pg 1 3/22/98 "War of the Paintbrushes".