To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 18:11:49 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppeteer terrorist from Maryland



I'm not sure if this hit the radar of most people here, but during the run up to the RNC in 2000, a large group of puppeteers in Philly were arrested for allegedly preparing terrorist activities.

Their puppets were thrown into a trash compactor and destroyed and people were injured in the "raid" and treated quite badly. The allegation was that the presence of materials like pvc pipe and their anti-republican message suggested that they might be making bombs.

Here's a quote from a participant
"At 2:05 PM, Tuesday, August 1st, over
180 police officers and three helicopters lay siege to a warehouse on
41st and Haverford on Philadelphia's west side. When we looked through
a mail slot to survey the situation, the police sprayed mace at us.
They tried to barge in through a hole in the roof and, failing that,
videotaped, tape recorded, and spit at us through a skylight. All 75 of
us inside the warehouse were detained for over two hours before any
search warrant showed up. We would become known as the "Haverford 70."
  And why? What sort of crime had we committed that was so heinous as to qualify for such an egregious show of force?
  We
were making puppets. They were the props that would bear our messages
of protest to the Republican National Convention (RNC)."
And a full article can be found here,http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020930/shaffer20020917
Demonizing puppeteers who protest is nothing new, although I myself am not sure whether the authorities in question are actually stupid enough to think a threat of violence exists, or if they are acting on their fear of the publicity and visibility such protests create.

B. Shur




> From: creaturiste-AT-primus.ca
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 16:45:29 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppeteer terrorist from Maryland
> 
> Oops, I went a little bit too quick on the send button.
> The info was indeed in the catalogue, which I keep safely in my puppetry 
> bookshelf.
> 
> Here is an instant translation:
> 
> "On Rue d'Aiguillon and sometimes on the Place du Marché (marketplace) in 
> Quebec City, the "Thé=E2tre du P=E8re Marseilles" brought laughters to French 
> Canadians for more than fifty years.
> The puppeteer, assisted by M=E8re Marseilles (Mother Marseilles), was 
> showcasing the celebrities of the time: a narcissistic Louis XV, a long and 
> langorous Mme de Pompadour, an unglier-than-life Voltaire, a democratic 
> Franklin, a Montcalm with "firy eyes". According to Philippe de Gaspé, 
> during the Patriot rebellion of 1837-1838, the theatre was ransacked by the 
> English, who then paraded with the inanimated dolls as a sign of victory."
> 
> Source:
> Le Grand Monde de La Marionnette
> by: Le Musée de la Civilisation (Québec)
> ISBN 2- 551-09994-3
> (made for the exhibition of the same name, in 1988)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org

_________________________________________________________________
Send e-mail faster without improving your typing skills.
http://windowslive.com/Explore/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_speed_122008
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org