Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation authored a op-ed piece for the latest edition of Make Magazine (which magazine, is, by the way, probably the coolest magazine ever, but I divagate…).
His article argues that it is unconscionable for museum officials to prohibit the photographing of national treasures (such as Michelangelo’s David) all in an effort to make a few bucks selling official prints. Copyright law, he states, does not apply to works that are hundreds of years old. Says Cory, “The point of a museum is to spread culture, not restrict it in order to run a penny-ante picture-postcard racket.” His sentiments struck a chord with me; I completely agree with him.
If you’ve been to many museums lately, you’re entirely familiar with the anti-camera stance. Over the Christmas holiday break, I visited a number of museums in the Museum District of Houston, Texas. At one art museum, they featured ancient African art and artifacts. There too, pictures were prohibited. Not heeding the countless signs, I whipped out my Sony Cyber-shot digital camera and began shooting. A security guard approached me.
“I hope you’re not going to take pictures in here,” she said.
“Why would I do such a thing,” I replied.
She left, I reluctantly put away my camera and instead took out my handy Treo 650 cell phone/PDA and pretended to be engaged in vigorous PDA work, all along, taking still and video shots of the art. Here are a few of the results of my passive insurrection:
If you keep abreast of current local events, you were no doubt aware of Paul Rusesabagina’s recent whirlwind tour throughout Utah. In one week alone, he was featured at Utah State University, Utah Valley State College and University of Utah. I was present at the latter venue.
Paul Rusesabagina is the hero portrayed in the film Hotel Rwanda. In that film (and in real life), Paul helped save more than 1,200 refugees by sheltering them in the Hôtel des Mille Collines, a large hotel in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. The year was 1994 and situation in Rwanda had reached the boiling point; Militant members of the Hutu tribe began committing genocide by the senseless slaughter of those from the Tutsi tribe. (As a historical framework, during French occupation, the Tutsi’s were largely placed in positions of leadership and as a consequence, when the French left, the Hutu profited from the power vacuum to seize control and enact revenge upon their old enemies.) A band of Tutsi rebels formed to resist the Hutu oppression, throwing the country into civil war.
During that perilous time, Paul, a Hutu himself, bribed the Hutu Interahamwe militia with money and beer to keep them from killing the refugees in the hotel. As the conflict raged on, food and water became scarce in the Hotel. As a last resort, the refugees began to use water from the Hotel swimming pool to survive. The civil war eventually ended. The 1,000,000 deaths were largely ignored by the rest of the world. Rwanda, like its neighbor Zaire, continues to struggle to this day.
The four star hotel continues to operate. It has 112 rooms, a bar/café, three conference rooms, a restaurant, and the now-famous swimming pool.
