62 replies to this topic

[FirstTimeHomeCrier]

I didn't label "indigenous anything" as doublespeak ... I labeled the phrase "decolonizing of the body" as doublespeak - because that's what it is.

 

There's no such thing as "decolonization of the body", because it's a fabricated term, put forward by an artist as part of an artistic work.

 

I'm also not a "settler" of any kind. I was born in Victoria, and I've spent my life here. Please refrain from putting any sort of label on me, as might suit your personal interpretation of my post.

 

In short, please don't attempt to project your personal agenda in my direction. I didn't ask for it, and it's unwelcome.

Thanks.

 

You were the one who chose to speak about the legitimacy of the "decolonization of the body," which is neither made up nor unique to this piece of art.

[Cassidy]

If you feel the assemblage of words "decolonization of the body" is a real thing simply because somebody applied a fabricated definition to it ...  fill your boots settler!

[Greg]

It's artistic doublespeak - a fabricated "thing" designed by the artist to try and explain their artwork (whatever that artwork might be) in an effort to market it to potential ticket buyers.

It's the same kind of phraseology (only more convoluted) as "white settlers guilt".

 

From the artists own explanation:

“This community-focused initiative honours Indigenous worldviews as they relate to reconciliation and community healing,” said Lindsay Delaronde. “Pendulum brings new life into the context of theatre and decolonizes the art form, which Indigenous peoples are so often left out of.”

 

I'll go out on a limb and note that many who fancy themselves artistically enlightened in the traditional sense probably wouldn't enjoy this ... I know I wouldn't.

As live performances start to move away from traditional forms like dance, musical theatre, opera, and pop concerts - and transition into "new experimental forms" and "new experimental themes", those new forms and themes can often be difficult to enjoy from an entertainment point of view, and are really designed more to send the viewer away aware of, if not now sharing the artists highly political agenda.

 

If I was guessing, I'd guess that Rage Flowers is probably some sort of contemporary performance incorporating dance, with live vocalizations and instrumentation and/or recorded effects, likely designed to imply that the performers are ridding themselves of rage built up over time at (presumably) colonization, and all that goes with that particular subject matter ... but I don't know for sure, and I won't be attending to find out

 

 

If you feel the assemblage of words "decolonization of the body" is a real thing simply because somebody applied a fabricated definition to it ...  fill your boots settler!

 

You do realize your whole argument basically boils down to "people shouldn't be interested in things that I'm not interested in", right?

 

/Classical ballet, modern dance, musical theatre, opera and pop music were all new experimental forms at one time or another. If something is good it sticks, if not it passes away. 

 

//You must love fringe fest.

[Cassidy]

In fact I hate the Fringe Festival (good guess!), as it has proven year in and year out to be (IMO) laden with lacklustre, and low quality theatre perpetrated by questionable actors with equally questionable acting skills.

 

I prefer to pay for undisputed excellence in dance, music, and theatre. I have no time for useless pseudo-artistic wanking perpetrated by self-righteous or self-declared actors, writers, dancers, singers, or directors.

 

But I'll stick by my earlier comment, that 90%+ of the folks that likely read V.V. likely wouldn't enjoy "Rage Flowers" simply because it's not meant to be enjoyed (which was my point).

It's meant to influence your political beliefs ... so if you're interested in having your political beliefs challenged, go see it. If however, you're interested in being entertained ... probably not.

 

Personally, I have no desire to have my body, or watch anybody else's body being "decolonized", nor do I want to be compelled to pay money in order to be assaulted with accusations that I'm a guilty white settler for living and working in Victoria for the last 60 years.

 

However, I did go and see "Chicago" a couple of weeks ago at the Royal Theatre, and it was bloody excellent on every level!

I also have seasons tickets to the Symphony, POV, and Dance Victoria. I see tons of over the top excellent live performances year in and year out ... but I'll be missing "Rage Flowers".

[Victoria Watcher]

KINSELLA: Protesters paid to take part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations

 

 

 

 

This week, this newspaper was alerted to the fact that a Victoria, B.C., organization was distributing thousands of dollars to anti-Israel protestors.  The Plenty Collective, as it calls itself, created what it called a “Solidarity Fund” for Victoria-area “folks or groups” to pay for “costs related to supporting or organizing actions in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian people.”

 

https://torontosun.c...-demonstrations

[dasmo]

Plenty is currently made up of Wren (she/they) and Jewel (she/her). We are two white, queer settlers currently living on the lands of the Lekwungen peoples.

 

We each came to these lands at different times over the last 2-9 years. Each of us relates to and embodies queerness in a unique way, but all of us believe in the centrality of queerness in community building and future visioning.

 

Together we founded Plenty Collective, and are passionate about building loving communities and creating moments of abundance, while centering accessibility and food security.

 

https://plentycollective.ca/about-us

[Victoria Watcher]

This year Plenty Collective received a $28,000 grant for our operations in 2023 and 2024. These funds allow us to have a budget for community play nights, a mutual aid fair, workshops, and more! We are so grateful to have access to them in our second year of operation! Our grant pertains to queer art creation, and we can't wait to continue offering programming in this area.

 

Each of our team members are paid $300, bi-weekly in compensation for the work we do. These funds come from the grant! This will continue until the $6000 allocated for wages is used up. We publish financial updates monthly to Instagram and our website.

 

Financial contributions from individuals or other organizations allow us to offer programming outside the scope of our grant. All programming outside the scope of this grant is funded and reported seperately. Funds designated to support our organizational operation are independently tracked to ensure financial accountability to granting bodies, donors, and our community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solidarity Fund for Palestine - Application

 

We are currently accepting applications. The next round of e-transfers will be sent on December 21st. If you have completed this form, your application has been received and you do not need to email us.

 

This fund is available to folks or groups based in Lekwungen Territory (aka "Victoria, BC") who are incurring costs related to supporting or organizing actions in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian people.

 

This fund is to help cover costs incurred when organizing or participating in local actions. This can include, but is not limited to, the costs of lost wages, supplies, items for fundraising, paying speakers, etc. 

 

Funds will be sent via e-transfer to the email address provided. If you would like to remain anonymous in receiving these funds, please create a new email address for this purpose. Funds not deposited within 30 days will be added back to the Solidarity Fund.

 

Funds will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, until funds run out. This application does not guarantee that you will receive funds, or the full amount you request. We will base the funds allocated off of the volume of requests and amount left in the fund.

 

 

 

https://plentycollec...Solidarity Fund

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 January 2024 - 04:02 PM.

[dasmo]

Solidarity Fund for Palestine - Application
We are currently accepting applications. The next round of e-transfers will be sent on December 21st. If you have completed this form, your application has been received and you do not need to email us.

This fund is available to folks or groups based in Lekwungen Territory (aka "Victoria, BC") who are incurring costs related to supporting or organizing actions in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian people.

This fund is to help cover costs incurred when organizing or participating in local actions. This can include, but is not limited to, the costs of lost wages, supplies, items for fundraising, paying speakers, etc.

Funds will be sent via e-transfer to the email address provided. If you would like to remain anonymous in receiving these funds, please create a new email address for this purpose. Funds not deposited within 30 days will be added back to the Solidarity Fund. https://plentycollec...Solidarity Fund

[Nparker]

...Each of us relates to and embodies queerness in a unique way, but all of us believe in the centrality of queerness in community building and future visioning...

Can someone please translate this into English?

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

 

 

 

[dasmo]

Can someone please translate this into English?

If you aren't queer it's the gas chamber for you..... 

[Nparker]

The CoV should demand their money back from the "Plenty Collective" for failing to create community connection and wellness.

[Victoria Watcher]

[dasmo]

Clown World Intersectionality edition....

[Nparker]

Post of the day!

[Fox]

screenshot-victoriafoundation.bc.ca-2024.01.10-19_15_32.png

 

So, do I have this correct:

 

The Victoria Foundation gave 28k to the partnership of the belfry and plenty collective.  The belfry was given this money as they are the registered charity.  The plenty collective then has been allegedly spending this money to fund a solidarity fund and pay protesters to protest against the belfry, using money officially given to the belfry?

[Victoria Watcher]

That sounds right.

Perhaps there was no other opposition.

[Benezet]

So, do I have this correct:

The Victoria Foundation gave 28k to the partnership of the belfry and plenty collective. The belfry was given this money as they are the registered charity. The plenty collective then has been allegedly spending this money to fund a solidarity fund and pay protesters to protest against the belfry, using money officially given to the belfry?

Don’t shoot the messenger, but according to the Plenty Collective website, the allegation is not correct.

Here is what they say about their Palestinian Solidarity Fund.

“This fund is entirely supported by community donations. It is tracked and maintained separately from all our organizational finances. If you would like to donate to or run a fundraiser to contribute to this fund, please contact us.”

https://plentycollective.ca/Finances

[AllseeingEye]

Can someone please translate this into English?

 

Not sure that's possible and I've read it 3 times and I'm still unsure of the meaning. That said I have a couple of degrees and have been told I'm a decent writer so let me have a crack at this. Being verbose after all is an art-form. I can play the "intersectionality game" too in either of two ways namely churning out equally nonsensical sentences, thus:

 

1. The little bear sat in the loodlemoud.
2. What are you going to spiggledock in the cake?
3. In the morning they shaveydibbed down the hill to the shops.
4. The jibblymave man laughed at the clowns.
5. In the woods the girls looked for a treezlepib to take home.
6. She lost the key, so she twikledeepoked on the door.
7. The teacher said ‘It’s too popply in this classroom.’
8. The clekelty car bumped into the wall and stopped.
9. All of the flajels came out from behind the clouds.
10.The man looked down the dark hole and saw a great big dobado....

 

Alternatively I can even expand on that and produce an entire paragraph which surely is as "Grant Worthy" as anything conjured up by this so-called 'collective':

 

.....When cooking bildeyhoffs, first you need to sieve some volpeyhind and add a pinch of gracklenubb. Crack a robble-tobble in a bowl and lecklemunch with a fork. Add to the tindeymipe, stirring all the fampo. Next measure a droogle of milk and trissleyclunk into the mixture. Leave to premp for about thirty clintoes.

 

That was my first attempt after a single gummy edible, and this was my follow up after a second edible:

 

....A long time ago, denkoes did not have stoobles so they went everywhere on tabblings. The streets were rempled but it took too much jawbydosh to get to pralinkot. If it rained, the children would put on their craxozob and deshel-peshel through the puddles. At night, everyone would flishlinkle and nardogunt until it was dark.

 

See I can "Intersectionality" with the best of them.

[Victoria Watcher]

Vancouver festival cancels Israel-set play pulled by Belfry Theatre

 

Vancouver’s PuSh Festival was set to show The Runner as well as Dear Laila by Palestinian playwright Basel Zaraa, who did not want the two plays shown together

 

https://www.timescol...theatre-8098753

 

 

 

 

In a joint statement with the festival and Morris, Zaraa said he couldn’t agree with showing Dear Laila alongside The Runner while Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues, calling the production “a play which reinforces dehumanizing narratives about Palestinians.”

 

“Palestinians appear in The Runner almost exclusively as perpetrators of violence. While the Israeli characters are vividly portrayed, the Palestinian characters don’t even have names, and barely speak. The fundamental context of Israel’s occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people is not given,” Zaraa said.

 

Zaraa said he created Dear Laila for his young daughter, to tell his family’s story, starting with a 1948 massacre in their village, Tantura.

 

Festival organizers said they chose to respect the wishes of Zaraa, whose work reflects lived experience, and cancel The Runner, which is based on years of research by Morris, who has no religious or cultural ties to the region.

 

“We believe it is a necessary choice to prioritize the work of an artist whose work is grossly underrepresented in Canadian theatre and performance culture,” organizers said. “We believe that in the context of a daily bombardment of Gaza by the state of Israel that has, as of January 9, killed over 23,000 Palestinians – a majority women and children – and displaced 85% of Gaza’s two million residents, this is the right choice to make.”

 

The statement also recognized the “immense and real suffering” of the roughly 1,450 Israeli families whose loved ones were massacred and kidnapped in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

 

Morris said it’s “unsettling” when Canadian theatres cannot be a space for the public to engage in an exchange of ideas, but he sympathized with the PuSh Festival’s distress when Zaraa said he would withdraw his production if The Runner remained.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 January 2024 - 12:59 AM.