Mia Farrow Accuses Steven Spielberg of Turning Blind Eye To Genocide
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Steven Spielberg, Politics, War
Actress Mia Farrow is back in the news, accusing a high-profile film director of moral turpitude -- only this time it's not Woody Allen. In the Wednesday Wall Street Journal, Farrow slammed director Steven Spielberg and various corporate sponsors for supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, despite China's reluctance to pressure Sudan over the Darfur issue. Spielberg, of course, is a consultant to the games and Farrow feels that as an artist, he has a responsibility to voice concerns about China's horrendous human rights record. "That so many corporate sponsors want the world to look away from that atrocity is bad enough," she wrote, "but equally disappointing is the decision of artists like director Steven Spielberg -- who quietly visited China this month as he prepares to help stage the Olympic ceremonies -- to sanitize Beijing's image."
Farrow went further, asking the question: "Is Mr. Spielberg, who in 1994 founded the Shoah Foundation, to record the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust, aware that China is bankrolling Darfur's genocide?" And here's the kicker quote: "Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?" The piece was co-signed by Farrow's son, Ronan, but it seems safe to say that the sentiment belongs to Farrow. Is China's human rights record really comparable to Nazi Germany's? That's obviously hyperbole on her part, but Farrow is also obviously correct that China is a monstrous abuser of human rights, and I personally want nothing to do with the inevitable wave of corporate-media hooey we'll be subjected to during the Olympics about how China and its vomit values are the future. I can see the Time Magazine cover already, can't you?
So I say kudos, Mia. It's nice to hear someone actually call Spielberg out on his hypocrisy in supporting the games. This is a director who has repeatedly put his name onto films with a very strong pro-freedom point of view, like Schindler's List, The Color Purple, and Amistad. He clearly wants to be viewed as an artist with a social conscience, and that is contradicted by his support of the games.










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-30-2007 @ 12:40AM
David said...
Well, in addition to more recent atrocities, Mao Zedong was responsible for the starvation of 40+ million Chinese citizens during the Great Leap Forward. He was also the architect of the horrific Cultural Revolution...
Yes, I'd say that China is in many respects on par with Nazi Germany.
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3-29-2007 @ 11:11PM
Corey Atad said...
It would be so much easier if Toronto had won the 2008 olympics over Beijing like it was supposed to.
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3-30-2007 @ 12:17AM
Elrond Hobbert said...
Riiiighht. Because when I think of tyrants screwing up our planet for all future generations to come Spielberg is definitely the first person who comes to my mind. Oh me-o Mia...
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3-29-2007 @ 9:46PM
Garett said...
Regarding Farrow's kicker quotation:
Spielberg WILL NOT "go down as the Leni Riefenstahl" of ANYTHING because he ALREADY IS RECORDED as being one of the GREATEST filmmakers in history, as well as a great supporter of human freedom. Supporting the Olympics is NOT a matter of trashing humanity; the Olympics are supposed to be an event that celebrates and unifies humanity by bringing forth the best. How preposturous to think Spielberg's name will be branded poorly by this, that it will shine him with a bad light... Thpp!!
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3-29-2007 @ 11:25PM
GhaleonQ said...
Hey, as long as she's limiting her criticism to individuals, I fully support it.
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4-02-2007 @ 3:14PM
Albert said...
Yes, just because Spielberg didn't make any movies about the human rights atrocities in China, it doesn't mean they didn't happen. Please open up a history book. In many ways, China "human rights record" is much worse than Nazi Germany.
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3-30-2007 @ 10:52AM
COMFORT said...
Hey don't you all know that the man is a true Humanitarian?
I'm sure his true convictions are just hiding behind those huge piles of Bejing cash...
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4-29-2007 @ 7:41AM
cassandra said...
MMAMA!MIA! WHAT THE HELL'S RATTLED YOUR CAGE AGAIN MIA.
AH THATS RIGHT, YOU NOW LIVE IN A PADDED CELL . THEY SAY ," THERES NOTHING WORSE THAN A WOMAN SCORNED"ITS ALL ABOUT WOODY ALLEN AGAIN, YOURE JUST USING SPIELBERG AS ANOTHER PUNCH BAG ,HES ONE OF THE GREATEST DIRECTORS THIS PLANET HAS EVER HAD . I SUPPOSE YOU THINK CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WAS ABOUT SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES AND MARRIAGE BREAK UPS .
MOVE ON MISS FARROW TALK TO THE HAND COZ THE EARS AINT LISTENING . YOU SILLY TART from cazzindle
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3-31-2007 @ 9:02PM
cazz said...
MMAMA!MIA! WHAT THE HELL'S RATTLED YOUR CAGE AGAIN MIA.
AH THATS RIGHT, YOU NOW LIVE IN A PADDED CELL . THEY SAY ," THERES NOTHING WORSE THAN A WOMAN SCORNED"ITS ALL ABOUT WOODY ALLEN AGAIN, YOURE JUST USING SPIELBERG AS ANOTHER PUNCH BAG ,HES ONE OF THE GREATEST DIRECTORS THIS PLANET HAS EVER HAD . I SUPPOSE YOU THINK CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WAS ABOUT SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES AND MARRIAGE BREAK UPS .
MOVE ON MISS FARROW TALK TO THE HAND COZ THE EARS AINT LISTENING . YOU SILLY TART
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3-30-2007 @ 2:23PM
Kevin said...
The thing I find interesting is that this article hurls some pretty startling attacks on the moral character of a man many find above question without giving any other opinion. She clearly has an agenda here, yet instead of presenting any sort of counter argument the author simply says "right on Mia!". I for one agree, China does have a terrible history of human rights violations, certainly on par with those of any civilization in history. However, perhaps Speilberg is supporting the games for the other things they represent, or because the games will help to shed light on the atrocities, or for any number of reasons. To simply call the man a monster, in spite of his history and with not a peep being presented to explain his behavior, seems questionable at best.
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4-04-2007 @ 1:42AM
Andrew said...
Mia Farrow is a hypocrite - she supports the genocide of Melanesians and theft of their gold & copper. She could stop the 40 years of genocide; State will continue a program of genocide while there are people documenting the crime.
Unfortunately genocide often has international supporters who want the profits of genocide, or agree the victims are "primitives" or "sub-human" who should be eliminated for the benefit of others.
All Americans should be keenly aware of their largest mine, a combine gold & copper mine in West Papua designed & built by Bechtel and operated by Freeport McMoRan. The gold & copper was discovered in 1936 by Mobil & Chevron, their geologist called it "Ertsberg" (Mountain of Ore), but it was not until 1959 when the Dutch colony discovered there was gold flowing into the Arafura Sea and began searching for the mountain source, that Rockefeller's Freeport Sulphur suddenly decided it was time to mine West Papua.
Inside the White House, McGeorge Bundy & Robert Komer told Kennedy that the US could only save itself from communism by forcing the Netherlands to sell West Papua to Indonesian control by signing the New York Agreement in 1962. After General Suharto came to power by killing a half million Javanese potential opponents in 1966, Freeport Sulphur in 1967 got its first 30 year license from Indonesia to mine the Pacific nation of West Papua.
In 2004 the Yale University Law School published its report:
(http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/westpapuahrights.pdf)
"Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua:
Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control"
In 2005 the US Congressmen wrote Section 1115 asking questions about West Papua & Indonesia's claim of sovereignty. In late 2005 Bechtel & Freeport & Exxon used their lobby the "US Indonesia Society" to petition the US Senate to remove the entire Section 1115.
Genocide is about denial, the US Congress was not even allowed to ask questions about West Papua. 40 years of genocide (according to Yale Law School) and colonial mining courtesy of the Indonesian military. GW Bush has allowed Indonesia to keep Jihadist training camps OPEN, he also lifted Clinton's bans on the TNI, and even commenced U.S. funding & Aid to the Indonesian military which still works with Laskar Jihad and other al Qaeda networks. Why ? Gold & money ?
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