Let me address some of the issues that have emerged from the responses to Jafar Panahi's letter -- responses which, personally, I find problematic. Anthony Rocha writes: >I am not excusing people who don't treat people with respect but the >immigration at LAX is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed? It's their job. It is as if I were to say that I am overwhelmed because this year I am teaching seven courses without TAs. It's my job. Should I keep some out of the classroom because I am overwhelmed? Really. >It is normal to have people try to get into the country illegally. Which was not Panahi's case, on either count. Unless you are claiming that the suspicion of illegality warrants such treatment. Actually, you could make that claim in this country. To cite a personal example, I have had encounters with the US Consul in Milano, Italy (my home country) where he could act on any kind of second guessing he saw fit. Specifically, in 1997, on behalf of my university, I requested an extension of my student visa to complete my doctoral work. Since the school had granted me a one year extension, I thought that the INS would simply put a stamp and a signature to Yale's request. On the other hand, the Consul himself addressed me (from behind a bulletproof window) and said that "Since I spent half my life in the US on a student visa, this couldn't go on anymore." I told him that I had been attending US universities half my life and I had always been living in the US legally. I found myself defending my position without any need for it -- the Consul knew my entire history very well, it was all in the computer. I felt intimidated by his arrogance. He then asked me how much longer I need to finish and I, again, restated the obvious: one year (as my paperwork indicated). He impatiently replied that he was gonna give me one year and that was it. That was it? I have not returned to my home country since and have been doing all my paperwork from inside the US over the last four years. Here's something that US citizens might not be aware of. A visa granted to a foreign national by the INS *in this country* does not carry any weight once they leave the US. They have to go to the US consulate in their home country and reapply for a visa that has already been granted. As I mentioned above, the Consul has complete discretion and authority over this matter, therefore, if he feels that something is not to his liking, he can deny a visa that has already been approved. And his judgment is final. Therefore, I am locked inside the US because I cannot let a petty little bureaucrat who lives in my hometown jeopardize my life and my work in this country. >This happens to many American citizens as well Would you care to elaborate on this mistreatment of US citizens abroad, please? Darryl Wiggers writes: >The INS are not obligated, or trained, to be caregivers and wet nurses. If you want to organize a protest, all you can really fight for is baby treatment for all. Good luck. Besides, Panahi is demonstrating supreme arrogance to suggest he should be exempt from the laws. If they had let him through I highly doubt he would have stuck around to fight for the freedom of the little crying boy. I think he would have have placed a little more importance on a movie premiere, and left the kid to fend for himself. How did you get on this discussion list of enlightened academics? Moreover, did you really read his letter? What laws is Panahi claiming he wants to be exempt from? Shari L. Rosenblum writes: >Appreciate though I may the films of Jafar Panahi, I would not stoop to call cinematic gifts a substitute for legal papers or legal comportment. When did Panahi ever claim this? He states: "Further to my requests, the staff of all the said Festivals had already checked if a transit visa is required and they assured me there is no need for such visa and moreover, the airliner issued me the ticket visa NY." Shari L. Rosenblum continues: >Every nation has the right to determine whom it will admit into its borders and under what circumstances. Visas are one of the ways in which each nation (or each concerned nation) controls and accounts for its visitors. Requiring a visa is not refusing entry -- it is a means of permitting it. Panahi never intended to enter the US. He was just transiting -- which means that he would *not* leave JFK. He certainly did not expect that a "democratic" country like the US would want to photograph and fingerprint him for spending two hours inside the airport. Are these the US "laws and standards" to which Panahi proves to be "clearly" antagonistic? Perhaps not everyone would agree that he seems to have knowingly and deliberately played the system to manipulate a behavior from the officers and then to provoke a certain response from among us against that behavior. Blame the victim...great strategy. Robert Stam and Louise Spence eloquently explain this approach in reference to a definition of racism that emphasizes the uses of racism in their article, "Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction." Movies and Methods. Vol. II. Ed. Bill Nichols. Berkeley: U of California P, 1985. 632-649. Blacks were slandered as lazy because they were being exploited as slaves. Amerindians were called "beasts" & "cannibals" because white Europeans were slaughtering them and expropriating their lands. Mexicans were caricatured as greasers and bandidos because the United States had seized half their territories." Mike Frank congratulates: >brava!!!! . . . [Shari L. Rosenblum] wonderfully well said . . . i don't know if immigration officials treat those they process humanely or not . . . Of course you don't. You carry a US passport. This is my reply to Anthony Rocha's allegations of mistreatment of US travellers abroad. I am quite disturbed by the xenophobic attitudes of these replies. Gloria Monti ______________________________ gloria monti, ph.d. lecturer program in film studies 223 humanities instructional building university of california, irvine irvine, CA 92697-2435 phone: 949-824-6576 e-mail: [log in to unmask] 5/6/2001: Happy 74th b-day, Mario Dad! 5/6/2001: Happy 40th b-day, George Clooney! 5/6/1915: Happy b-day, Orson Welles! 5/6/1895: Happy b-day, Valentino! ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html