The Faces of Activism - Reflection on our visit from Anu Bhagwati - Allie Khori

         As an artist, the issue of funding, and thus ultimate artistic control, is one of great personal importance.  Should I accept funds from corporate sponsors even though I don’t agree with their mission or policies?  Or should I allow my theatre to close due to bankruptcy in order to stay true to my principles?  This is not an exaggerated situation, it happened to the San Francisco Mime Troupe less than five years ago. 

            This same issue is one that is faced by politicians and activists all over the world.  How much will one bend one’s principles in order to get the support (financial or otherwise) one needs to accomplish one’s goals?  This quandary is highlighted when it is a marginalized population attempting to make change, because that group already faces so much pressure to capitulate to the dominant group’s principles. 

Our class noticed that our guest speaker, Anu Bhagwati, seemed to be grappling with this precise quandary.  When she spoke to our class she was very open about her qualms with the Iraq war, and the difficulties service members face.  Yet when she gave her public talk she was much more one-sided and pro-military. 

While I understand how unsettling it can be to see someone act so differently from one situation to the next, I also understand that navigating our current American legal system is an incredibly difficult process that requires many different tactics and a great deal of flexibility.  And as Anu says in her blog posting entitled “Representing Women Soldiers in the Media: Stop Exploiting, Start Empowering” (March 7, 2013), she has a personal commitment to trying to heal veterans trauma.  That is her goal, first and foremost, and she is prepared to do a lot in order to achieve it. 

This issue of flexibility vs. capitulation is one that I expect to face many times in my career as an artist, and I believe that keeping an open, self-reflective, inner dialogue based on the tenets of feminist curiosity will help me navigate it.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/regardingwar/conversations/women-and-war/representing-women-soldiers-in-the-media-stop-exploiting-start-empowering.php