Martin Sheen, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon Barbra Streisand and other Hollywood stars speak out against the American administration’s war on Iraq
Dear Friends,
March 17, 2003
The fictional president of television’s The West Wing wants the respect of the American people. Martin Sheen wrote in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times Monday that Hollywood celebrities opposed to the potential war with Iraq are not getting enough respect and are merely being taken to task because of their "celebrity status."
"Although my opinion is not any more valuable or relevant merely because I am an actor, that fact does not render it unimportant," Sheen wrote. "Some have suggested otherwise, trying to denigrate the validity of this opinion and those of my colleagues solely due to our celebrity status. This is insulting not only to us but to other people of conscience who love their country enough to risk its wrath by going against the grain of powerful government policy."
Sheen added, "Whether celebrity or diplomat, cabdriver or student, all deserve a turn at the podium."
The veteran actor and frequent protester’s piece ran next to an opinion piece by a woman whose family fled Iraq 11 years ago. She singled out Sheen, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Barbra Streisand as those she says don’t speak for the people of Iraq. Sheen – who formed the activist group Artists United to Win Without War in December – recently claimed that top executives at NBC fear his outspoken opposition to the war will hurt his show, The West Wing.
An NBC spokeswoman, however, responded that network executives have expressed no such concerns. The claim resulted in the Screen Actors Guild recently raising the spectre of the Hollywood Blacklist era of the 1950s, and issued a statement that warned the entertainment industry that it better not punish people who speak out against war with Iraq.
"It is the fundamental right of citizens to express their support or their fears and concerns," the SAG statement read. "While passionate disagreement is to be expected in such a debate, a disturbing trend has arisen in the dialogue."
(http://www.wral.com)
February 6, 2003
Double Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman on Wednes day accused US President George Bush’s administration of "manipulating the grief of the country" post-September 11 to win backing for a possible war with Iraq.
Hoffman, speaking as he picked up the life-time achievement prize at the Empire magazine film awards in central London, added that he believed America’s motives for going to war included power and oil.
He said, "I believe, though I may be wrong because I am no expert, that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil."
Other Hollywood stars who have already attacked President Bush over Iraq include Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda and Susan Sarandon.
But actor Tom Cruise, who starred alongside Hoffman in Rain Man, has come out in support of the US president.
(http://www.channelnewsasia.com)
December 15, 2002
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP): UN inspectors hunted for
weapons of mass destruction at missile plants and nuclear complexes Sunday, while an unusual visitor — Hollywood star Sean Penn — spoke out in Baghdad against a US attack and in support of the Iraqi people caught up in an international crisis. Penn issued his comments at the end of a three-day visit to Iraq which was organised by the Institute for Public Accuracy, a research organisation based in San Francisco, California.
"Simply put, if there is a war or continued sanctions against Iraq, the blood of Americans and Iraqis alike will be on our (American) hands," Penn said at a news conference in the Iraqi capital Sunday.
October 8, 2002
As Washington rattles its sabre at Saddam Hussein,
a constellation of Hollywood megastars has come out to do public battle against President George W Bush’s policy towards Iraq.
In a town with a strong liberal tradition and long history of political activism, there is an increasing rumbling over Iraq coming from some top celebrities — although not all are opposed to war with Baghdad.
However, with their names alone able to generate headlines and huge press coverage, many have chosen to throw their weight into the political debate surrounding a possible US and British led war with Iraq.
Diva Barbra Streisand led the attack on Bush, telling a star-studded audience today that she found his administration "frightening" and slamming its alleged bellicose stance and failure to protect civil rights.
"I find bringing the country to the brink of war unilaterally five weeks before an election questionable — and very, very frightening," the singer and actress told the Democratic party fundraiser in Hollywood.
Streisand is the biggest Tinseltown personality to take aim at Bush’s eagerness to oust Saddam by force, but a growing list of stars is joining the movement.
On Friday, several hundred celebrities and intellectuals published a manifest entitled "Not in our Name" in the Los Angeles Times, a tract which urged Americans to resist their government’s policies.
We "call on the people of the US to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world," they wrote.
Among the signatories were JFK movie director Oliver Stone, Gosford Park filmmaker Robert Altman, British-born Terry Gilliam, actress Jane Fonda, Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon, star of Thelma and Louise.
Oscar-winning Sarandon and long-time partner Tim Robbins went even further during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, publicly voicing their fears about a war with Iraq and saying they were opposed to "military expansion."
"I don’t think that a military expansion of violence is the solution," she said. "No, I don’t think I would want to go to war against Iraq."
Tootsie star Jessica Lange weighed in while in Madrid last week, saying military action on Iraq was "wrong, immoral and basically illegal. "It makes me feel ashamed to come from the United States. It is humiliating."
But while many stars have come out against military action, some have backed it, creating something of an ideological divide in usually superficial Tinseltown.
Superstar Tom Cruise and movie magnate Steven Spielberg backed Bush’s stance during a publicity tour to Italy last month.
"If Bush, as I believe, has reliable information on the fact that Saddam Hussein is making weapons of mass destruction, I cannot not support the policies of his government," Spielberg said, adding that Bush’s policies were "solid and rooted in reality."
Cruise also came down on Washington’s side, saying that he believed "Saddam has committed many crimes against humanity and against his own people."
The sudden re-emergence of the strident brand of "star activism" reminiscent of the Vietnam War era has caused some critics to question the competence of Hollywood movie stars and filmmakers to get involved in politics.
But political science professor Sherry Bebitch Jeffe disagreed, saying they were as entitled as anyone else to express themselves.
"Just because a person is a celebrity, he or she does not have to give up his or her first amendment rights, it’s as simple as that," she said.
"I think that actors have always been activists, there’s more attention paid to them," she said, adding that the tradition went back to the 1950s era of the McCarthy anti-communist "witch-hunts" and World War II.
However, the University of Southern California academic warned that stars’ power to influence policy may be more limited than people like Streisand would like to think.
"Hollywood does not have much influence on public opinion, but (Streisand) raises enough money for the Democratic Party that people have to at least listen to what she has to say." (AFP)
Archived from Communalism Combat, March 2003Year 9 No. 85, Cover Story 8