Cyprus-Forum.com

[Piratis]

Maybe you'd change your tune if the government shut down this forum because it is sometimes critical of its positions. How would you feel?

Is the state (tax payers) paying out of their pockets for the maintenance of this forum? If they do, then the government should make sure that this forum serves the interests of the state (the taxpayers), and if it does not they should stop to fund it.

Censorship doesn't have to be direct. Any badly intended move, like with the Manifesta cultural festival, or with this guy's film, smacks of authoritarianism and over-control of the arts.

Not funding somebody = authoritarianism and over-control ?

Big Brother always starts with the artists and intellectuals, so before defending this insidious behaviour, think first how it could affect your right to express yourself freely.

I am freely expressing my views without sucking the money of others (who might even disagree with my views). Should I go and demand that the government should sponsor me to air my views on the radio and tv and if they don't accuse them of being authoritarian?

As I said already I am not taking sides on this issue. There are courts and the case should be taken there. Why do you disagree with justice being served by the courts??

[reportfromcyprus]

"Is the state (tax payers) paying out of their pockets for the maintenance of this forum? If they do, then the government should make sure that this forum serves the interests of the state (the taxpayers), and if it does not they should stop to fund it."

Define the interests of the state. If it means squashing the opinions and expressions of artists, then that's definitely against the interests of taxpayers.

Don't be so literal. What starts with a film could end up with a forum, paid for by taxpayers or not.

Presumably the owners of this forum are taxpayers. And if they were shut down, it would be against their interests, right?

[Piratis]

But nobody is shutting down anything. They just don't want to fund it because according to them the agreement was violated.

By your logic if the government is not funding the forum it means that they are trying to shut it down?

[Bananiot]

You are turning into a right little fascist, Piratis. Is this what papadopouliasis is doing to you?

[sajica58]

Much as it pains me to say it, i have to agree with piretis on this matter
for what my opinion is worth!

by the way, isn't it paranoid to think that someone is logging on with different
nicknames in order to pretend more than one person holds the same view?

maybe they do?

[Piratis]

You are turning into a right little fascist, Piratis. Is this what papadopouliasis is doing to you?

The problem is not with me. The problem is that you suffer from anti-papadopouliasis. If we have our government on one side and X* on the other side, you will always take the side of X without second thought.

*X = some person, some party, turkey ... just anything.

On the other hand I didn't take sides. I simply said that the state is not obligated to give out our money without some control over where our money goes. Thats why they have to make contracts and agreements when they are going to give out money.

In this case there is a claim that the agreement was violated and for this reason the funding was cut. Courts should decide who is right and who is wrong in this case. Not you or me.

Where do you see anything "fascist" in what I say?

[reportfromcyprus]

I'd definitely like a say in what happens to the money I pay as a taxpayer.

Breaking an agreement or claiming that a contract isn't being followed is the easiest thing in the world.

I don't agree with artists being jerked around like that, simple. This is my logic: the taxpayers run the government, not the other way around. If the government claims to be protecting my interests by withdrawing funding at the last possible minute for a film that has potential to be recognised as real quality in one of the top film festivals in the world, then I don't think they are protecting my interests.

The courts are where art goes to die. By the time they get through with the whole mess, unless the director is an extremely resilient person, he'll be ready to throw his hands up in despair.

Another correction on my logic - the point about the forum is that it's a short step from crushing artistic expression to shutting down or blocking other forms of expression, like forums and other media. A film is a shared community experience, like a forum or a tv channel.

The funding issue is symbolic of a block, a hurdle, a slammed door. It doesn't have to be funding, it could be a court case, a word in an influential backer's ear, anything like that. It amounts to censorship.

[cypezokyli]

pure sencorship using legalistic excuses in a society that will accept it.

i hope that panikos hrysanthou will manage to receive the financial support he needs. can you imagine him winning a prize ?
i dont believe so, but i know so many people who would get pissed about it

another question , do you think that any of our cinemas /tv channels will have the guts to show this moovie ?
knowing how things work in cyprus , you know where i put my money.

hopefully i will be able to enjoy the moovie somewhere in europe.... you know, that place where things are kind of different ....

[Piratis]

pure sencorship using legalistic excuses in a society that will accept it.

So not funding somebody equates with "pure censorship"?

you know, that place where things are kind of different

No I don't know. If you know tell me. I would be very glad to go to a place were they would give me money without me being required to honor any kind of agreement.

If you want to do just whatever you feel like then you should use your own money. If you sign some agreement either with a public or private organization in order to be funded by them, then you lose your freedom to do anything you feel like and you are bound by that agreement. Thats how things work EVERYWHERE.

[Sotos]

I think piratis has good point on this. The artists should be supported but this doesn't mean they can get a blank fat check to do anything they like with it.