Begin forwarded message:
From: Eli Valley
Date: July 10, 2010 12:00:22 PM EDT
To: Dan Walsh
Subject: Re: I love your work...message from the Palestine Poster Project Archives...
Hi Dan,
I'm sorry for the delayed reply -- I've been traveling for the past two weeks and my access to email has been limited. Thanks so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I haven't printed posters (or even prints) of my comics yet -- it's one of those things I'd like to do but haven't yet had the time to research sufficiently in terms of quality printers, etc. The Forward made prints of my "Jews and Comics" comic for a show I did in New York in November, but they might not qualify as "posters," and that comic was only partly about Israel (only the penultimate panel really, mentioning AIPAC). A couple other comics were enlarged and presented at separate shows in NYC and in Vienna though -- does it count if it's a one-off print for a show?
Also, is your site meant to be a central clearinghouse of materials, or a place of political activism? I assumed the former by the wealth of imagery on your site -- I'm fascinated by the iconography of the Zionist "new Jew" ideology, and it's great to see these early Zionist posters online. But some of the other parts of the site seemed like it was meant to promote BDS -- I just wasn't sure whether that was the aim. I guess I'm a bit ambivalent about the BDS movement, at least when expanded beyond materials produced in the occupied territories. I might be uncomfortable if my art is used to advance all-encompassing boycotts, at least at this point in my "political awareness/advocacy" (my "meme-in-progress" hasn't gotten that far!) -- but again, I can't quite tell if that's the goal of your site.
Thanks, and all the best,
Eli
On Jul 2, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Dan Walsh wrote:
Hello Eli,
I would like to host some of your work at my site:
www.palestineposterproject.org
If you are cool with that ... do you have any of your cartoons in poster format? Even one edition?
I have sent your url out to my network. Your is a unique and courageous voice. And funny. (Is that because sometimes the truth hurts?). I also think your work is the bedrock on which a less neurotic, less brittle conversation about the conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism (the stock-in-trade of professional Zionism) will be built.
In essence, your work is the harbinger of the way the world will use language about Israel/Zionism in the future. Your work is a meme-in-progress. IMHO.
Kudos!
Dan Walsh
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Walsh
Date: July 2, 2010 12:34:56 PM EDT
To: evcomics@gmail.com
Subject: I love your work...message from the Palestine Poster Project Archives...
Hello Eli,
I would like to host some of your work at my site:
www.palestineposterproject.org
If you are cool with that ... do you have any of your cartoons in poster format? Even one edition?
I have sent your url out to my network. Your is a unique and courageous voice. And funny. (Is that because sometimes the truth hurts?). I also think your work is the bedrock on which a less neurotic, less brittle conversation about the conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism (the stock-in-trade of professional Zionism) will be built.
In essence, your work is the harbinger of the way the world will use language about Israel/Zionism in the future. Your work is a meme-in-progress. IMHO.
Kudos!
Dan Walsh
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Walsh
Date: July 10, 2010 3:13:07 PM EDT
To: Eli Valley
Subject: Re: I love your work...message from the Palestine Poster Project Archives...
Hey Eli,
Good to hear from you.
If you ever do want to print up posters many of the artists now use a new online poster printing service called:
http://www.shortrunposters.com/
At 2 bucks a pop for an 18" x 24" color posters its hard to beat.
I am not sure I understand fully/clearly your comment:
"Also, is your site meant to be a central clearinghouse of materials, or a place of political activism?"
In my real life I have been very political and very active, having run Liberation Graphics for 25 years. You can get a good idea of my operating principles and objectives at the "About" icon at the PPPA site. My values are civilian and my processes are secular. I am an archivist. What the world and its people do with the materials I archive is not my call. I built the site following the strictest professional dictates of modern library science. I've even taken graduate level courses at Georgetown University on archival origination and development. I pay very close attention to every single pixel.
I THINK I've carved out an empirically neutral and civic space. That is my goal. Not a space free of bias because that's impossible and unneccessary. Rather a space that accommodates many biases, and in so doing, accommodate many perspectives.
Maybe you were referring to the four hot icons at the site that lead to various poster contests and sites? If so, take another look and you will see that there is one icon for each of the PPPA's four "Wellsprings"...Zionist, Palestinian, Arab/Muslim, International. If the PPPA were organized according to the preferences of any one of these sources, any or all of the other three might be excluded. But not at my site. One of the objectives is to present an arc of history from 1897 to 1948 using posters and that requires incorporating the Palestine posters produced by Zionism during that period (Almost no one else was printing them at that time) So that is why the Zionists posters are in there...cause they are an integral part of the narrative.
"But some of the other parts of the site seemed like it was meant to promote BDS "
Can you give me an example of that? While there are many posters and links related to BDS I am not aware of any "promotion" and it would be really helpful if you could be specific and point me to what you are referring to.
To be sure, there are BDS posters at the site, an entire Special Collection in fact:
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/category/special-collection/boycot...
However, my categorization is not "BDS": it is "Boycott/BDS" which allows for the inclusion of all the boycotting history in the arc of history and time I am focussing on. The Zionists introduced the first boycotts in Palestine with their "Buy Hebrew" and "Buy Only Tznura Products" campaigns during the Yishuv period. Everyone's boycott posters gets included and if tomorrow some Zionist group launched a boycott of some kind and produced posters to promote it I will include the graphics and the url of the organizers if there is one. (Often times with Zionist posters, especially the more recent ones, there is not contact data, artists' name, publishers' logo, etc.)
Is that what you meant about "promotion"?
The other point you raised that I am not sure I understand was:
"I might be uncomfortable if my art is used to advance all-encompassing boycotts, at least at this point in my "political awareness/advocacy"
Am I doing that? Am I promoting BDS with your art?
You may very well have a point so please do let me hear from you on this. As an artist myself I am sensitive to, and respect, our rights to our identities.
fraternally,
Dan Walsh
On Jul 10, 2010, at 12:00 PM, Eli Valley wrote:
Hi Dan,
I'm sorry for the delayed reply -- I've been traveling for the past two weeks and my access to email has been limited. Thanks so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I haven't printed posters (or even prints) of my comics yet -- it's one of those things I'd like to do but haven't yet had the time to research sufficiently in terms of quality printers, etc. The Forward made prints of my "Jews and Comics" comic for a show I did in New York in November, but they might not qualify as "posters," and that comic was only partly about Israel (only the penultimate panel really, mentioning AIPAC). A couple other comics were enlarged and presented at separate shows in NYC and in Vienna though -- does it count if it's a one-off print for a show?
Also, is your site meant to be a central clearinghouse of materials, or a place of political activism? I assumed the former by the wealth of imagery on your site -- I'm fascinated by the iconography of the Zionist "new Jew" ideology, and it's great to see these early Zionist posters online. But some of the other parts of the site seemed like it was meant to promote BDS -- I just wasn't sure whether that was the aim. I guess I'm a bit ambivalent about the BDS movement, at least when expanded beyond materials produced in the occupied territories. I might be uncomfortable if my art is used to advance all-encompassing boycotts, at least at this point in my "political awareness/advocacy" (my "meme-in-progress" hasn't gotten that far!) -- but again, I can't quite tell if that's the goal of your site.
Thanks, and all the best,
Eli
On Jul 2, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Dan Walsh wrote:
Hello Eli,
I would like to host some of your work at my site:
www.palestineposterproject.org
If you are cool with that ... do you have any of your cartoons in poster format? Even one edition?
I have sent your url out to my network. Your is a unique and courageous voice. And funny. (Is that because sometimes the truth hurts?). I also think your work is the bedrock on which a less neurotic, less brittle conversation about the conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism (the stock-in-trade of professional Zionism) will be built.
In essence, your work is the harbinger of the way the world will use language about Israel/Zionism in the future. Your work is a meme-in-progress. IMHO.
Kudos!
Dan Walsh
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Walsh
Date: July 10, 2010 3:58:52 PM EDT
To: Eli Valley
Subject: i put up one of your posters so you can see how it would appear...comments? d
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/photo-stroll
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Walsh
Date: July 15, 2010 11:20:07 PM EDT
To: Eli Valley
Subject: Good to hear from you...
Hi Eli,
No need to apologize...we all live busy lives and we get to what is important anyway/somehow.
I am glad you wrote. You would have no way of knowing it but your most recent email provided a validation of sorts for me.
I have NOTHING to do with the Twitter feed at my site. A colleague of mine handles it (and loves doing so) and I went along with having a Twitter feed because I was told "it is the way young people communicate nowadays". Fine I said but I was so uneasy about the idea of having my site open to just anybody and any idea.
I have had several contretemps with that colleague over words, links, etc. I have seen in the Twitter spot although I confess I never really check it. I went along with it in the end because the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and other major institutions and universities and museums all have Twitter feeds.
So I sent an excerpt from your email to my colleague to demonstrate that what gets written there CAN complicate things for me...but I am glad it did not cause you and I to not forge ahead.
Hallelujah!
About BDS...I try to maintain a strict NPOV - neutral point of view - at the site. In a way, you and I are in similar boats.
I don't care what anyone accuses me of: the more important issue for me is to make sure that I am not actually guilty of ... well, anything. I can't control what others say but I can control what I say and do.
You said you are worried about appearing to be supportive of BDS. If, twenty years from now BDS is a long-forgotten failed campaign and a new effort to isolate/illuminate Zionism were to emerge say one that sought to withhold taxes as a way of not supporting Israel you would have to respond to that similarly. The central point being that Zionism, to my mind, will never be free of needing special considerations and forebearance because, at heart, it is in conflict with the very systems it relies on for sustenance. Maybe you agree? Maybe not?
I also walk a thin line. Consider that there are almost 3,000 Palestinian and Zionist posters at my site and to this day I have not received a single solitary note of criticism from any Zionist or Israeli agency. Not one. And I know that AIPAC, Campus Watch, et. al., know about my work because I have them on my mailing list. Every time I complete another 100 posters I do a press release of sorts, an email actually, to hundreds of interested parties.
The silence from Zionist corners is deafening.
Part of the reason I don't have to be out front on BDS or any of the other issues that incandesce Zionism is that I don't have to. Just telling the TRUTH about Zionism is enough to irritate Zionists. Moreover, since the PPPA is host to the largest archives of online Zionist posters in the world I get to tell that story using Zionism's own words and imagery. One could ask the question why Zionism hadn't done that already? Why does Zionism treat its own poster legacy as radioactive?
BTW..when I say "Zionism" I always mean "political" or "Herzlian" flavor. It is the mother of all Zionisms and the only one worth learning about, IMHO.
Let me say in closing that I have already conceptualized several storyboards that would work in your metier...several about hasbara; aliya (can anyone tell me why the Zionist belief that Jewish people cannot "assimilate" is not an insult to the Constitution, to the history of American support for Israel, to Jewish vitality and adaptability and to the record of Jewish accomplishments in the US? WTF?);Congress; Birthright Israel; "neo-cons"; Christian Zionist...and more!
Good to be in touch with you.
Dan