Cafe Oppressed

Powered by Podbean.com

I'm appalled that the Olympics are being held in Beijing in the face of Chinese oppression of Tibetan freedom protesters and the responsibility of the Beijing regime for much of the suffering in the Sudan. I've been sounding off about it on my radio program, and we've interviewed folks on both sides of the issue. I've even designed political protest T-shirts in response, but you'll never see them if the copyright goons at CafePress have their way. (More on that later.)

The above audio streams highlight a couple of my rants and bring you interviews with Elizabeth Hankins, who wrote a novel about the situation in the Sudan called, "The Calling." She feels that we should use the 2008 games to hold Beijing's feet to the fire for their culpability in the ongoing genocide in Darfur. I agree.

On the other side of the table is Jim Trippon, who thinks that we ought to take it easy on the Chinese and let them save face while applying diplomatic pressure behind the scenes. His contention is that there is a lot of money to be made from the booming Chinese economy, that China is a young country experiencing growing pains, and after all, we did the same thing to the Indians when we were a young nation, right?

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

I would hope that we're a little more enlightened in the 21st century than we were in the 18th and 19th centuries. I certainly hope that he isn't seriously trying to justify political oppression, suppression of human rights, and  murder as acceptable because there's money to be made. (Yet, sadly I know he is.) If your credo is "Greed Is Good," You might want to check out his website. I was diplomatic to Jim on-air and even invited him back to discuss China's economy in more general terms. The post-interview analysis was more pointed, I assure you.

That brings us to CafePress... The lesson here is, that if you want to get your shirts produced, NEVER tag them with what they actually are. I was foolish enought to use tags like, "2008 Olympics," and "Beijing Olympic Protest." The censor bots caught those right away and flagged the images as a violation. I asked CafePress to review them, confident that any reasonable person would see them as obvious parody and political commentary. They didn't and sent me a real knee-slapper as a reply. You can read the exchange and see the verboten designs in the post continuation.

I was sure that any idiot who saw these designs would recognize them as political commentary on the Beijing Olympics and Parody of the Olympic logos. You don't have to be a legal scholar to see that the use of the Olympic rings and the Beijing logo are integral to the commentary (that's what makes them parody!)and exactly the kind of speech that the Fair Use provisions were designed to protect.

Here we've got the Olympic Rings machine-gunned against a stone wall. Blood runs down the wall from the bullet holes. In the lower left-hand corner is the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, the Tibetan prayer to the Buddha of Compassion. On the back was to be a similar "Free Tibet," design.

It's a powerful, unambiguous, image if you ask me. I designed T-shirts around it, mugs, caps, posters, decorative tiles, stickers, tile boxes, even baby jumpers and dog sweaters.

I designed a version with the bloody rings by themselves against a white (or black) shirt, so the design would stand out even more.

Another design featured the Olympic Rings depicted as interlocking nooses. The back would have sported a Chinese flag with the caption, "Save Darfur."

My favorite design was a poke at the logo of the Beijing Games themselves. The official logo, no doubt based on the Chinese pictogram for "Flee In Terror," is intended to portray a runner flinging his arms up in victory as he crosses the finish line. I think it more accurately depicts a protester trying to escape the overwhelming force of the People's Army.  The reverse would have shown the flag of the PRC above the words, "Proudly Suppressing Dissent Since 1949."

Could there be a better symbol for the 2008 games than a Chinese soldier bayoneting the Olympic Spirit through the back?

None of these designs passed muster with the legal eagles at CafePress. I asked them to review their decision based on the Fair Use provisions of copyright law.

Please Review Conent Marked As Questionable

From:
Tie-dyed Tehuti    

Sent:

Wed 4/16/08 11:07 PM

To:

[email protected]

Several images I recently uploaded to CafePress have been flagged as possible violation of the content usage policy. Would you please review them as to whether they fall under the doctrine of Fair Use? All the flagged images are political protest parodies of the Beijing Olympic symbols in light of the harsh crackdown of the Chinese government on Tibetan protesters and the complete lack of response to the genocide in Darfur, which is financed in large measure by PRC funds. I contend that each image is fair criticism and commentary that is transformative rather than derivative and that the use of both the Olympic Rings symbol and the Beijing logo are essential elements of that criticism.

 

I feel that the actions of the People's Republic of China are the complete antithesis of the Olympic Ideals and that there is no way to express that notion without directly referencing the symbolism of the Olympic symbols themselves. In the case of the Beijing Olympic logo, the running figure image intended to express the spirit of the summer games is transformed into a protester fleeing in terror from a soldier bayoneting the Olympic Spirit through the back. While the Beijing government wishes to put the best face possible before the world and portray the games as a harmonious exercise in sportsmanship and fair play, the reality of the suppression of dissent and the "re-education" of  Tibetan people is impossible to escape. There is no other way that I can address what I see as a hypocritical and un-Olympian attitude of the communist regime without directly referencing the symbols they themselves chose to represent their games.

 

Also, it is doubtful that these works could possibly affect the market for, or value of, official Olympic merchandise, nor will they be likely to be mistaken for such merchandise, an important criteria for establishing Fair Use. In fact, those who would purchase these products are highly unlikely to purchase merchandise supporting the Beijing games, and vice-versa.

 

I believe that the types of protest images I've created are the very heart and soul of fair use and in the best tradition of protected political free speech. Thank you for taking time to review them, and I hope that I will soon be able to share them with others who share my sense of moral outrage.

 

My shop url is: http://www.cafepress.com/tdbr

 

My shop ID is tdbr

 

The images in question are in my image basket in a folder called, "Beijing Olympic Protest."

 

Sincerely,

 

Mike Cope

Here's the response I got back:

RE: Please Review Conent Marked As Questionable

From:
  Cafepress.com Content Usage Team ([email protected])    

 

Sent:

Thu 4/17/08 12:12 AM

To:

Tie-dyed Tehuti

Dear Tie-dyed Tehuti,

Thank you for contacting CafePress.com!

Unfortunately your images do not express clear message of protest and are too close to the original protected mark. The negative viewpoint needs to be more aggressive and it needs to dominate the overall picture in order for it to be considered Fair Use.

Your ticket code is .............. Please use this code in any further communication.

Best Regards,

Margene H.
Content Usage Associate
www.cafepress.com

I couldn't believe it. Don't express a clear message of protest? You've got to be kidding. Too close to the original? Well, DUH! That's what makes them PARODY. Needs to be more negative and aggressive...  really?

I shot back a reply:

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Please Review Conent Marked As Questionable
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:41:48 +0000

Thank you for your response. I was surprised to read that my images of bloody Olympic Rings machine-gunned against a wall, a Chinese soldier bayoneting the running figure of the Olympic logo through the back, and the Olympic Rings depicted as hangman's nooses "do not express clear message of protest," and that "The negative viewpoint needs to be more aggressive and it needs to dominate the overall picture." I find it hard to imagine how much clearer a message of protest I can make without depicting a Tibetan swinging from one of the nooses, or how they could be more aggressive without having actual blood squirting out of the bullet holes. I've also searched CafePress for other "Free Tibet" images that depict the Olympic symbols in a much more ambiguous way, such as a series of interlocking handcuffs. These images were not tagged with the words "Olympic," however, so probably escaped notice.

While I wholeheartedly disagree with your position, I am very satisfied with my CafePress shopkeeper experience. I also want to abide by the rules. Would it be possible for me to put the images in a hidden folder, untagged, not offered for sale, and to produce a single shirt of each design for my own use?

Thanks for the quick response,

Mike Cope

The long and short of it was that I could not even print one shirt for my own use. What a crock. I want to make, wear and share these designs. I think I have the right to do so. I'm sending up a non-copyrighted bat-like signal to anyone who knows where I might get these designs produced. Please leave me a comment or drop me an email at [email protected] if you can help. Thanks.

   

 

Download olympic_radio_rant.mp3

Download mike_jr_rant_about_the_olympics_cafepress.mp3

Download elizebeth_hankins_china_and_the_sudan.mp3

Download jim_trippon_we_shouldnt_boycott_the_olympics.mp3

Comments

[Joe]

Excellent point on your radio show you brought up. We're willing to send 1000's of our young men and women over to countries and impose our ideals with their blood, but we're unwilling to boycott a "track & field" event that would send a very powerful message without 1 life being lost.

I've heard spectators at the Olympics will have a certain clothing standards to be met as well (ie no China bashing shirts, etc...) NICE.

http://tshirtpimpz.com/olympicstshirt has an Olympic Chinese message shirt too. I wish people would wear more stuff like this to raise awareness!