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‘We need to remove all the posters from the system’ — Boston censors the Palestinian narrative (Updated: The ads are going back up)

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This just in. Ads in the Boston transit system depicting the loss of Palestinian lands to Israel are being taken down, days after they were put up, because the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority “fielded numerous complaints.”

Here’s the email that Henry Clifford of Connecticut, who arranged the “substantial” ad buy in subway stations and commuter platforms, received from Titan, the outdoor advertising agency that has the Boston metro contract:

Hi Henry – just wanted to give you the heads up, your campaign posted on Monday and within hours the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] fielded numerous complaints.  They have informed us that we need to remove all of the posters from the system, so I’m letting you know that everything will be down shortly.

Like I said, just giving you a heads up.  We will be reimbursing you in full for the entire campaign in the coming days.

Sorry for any inconvenience this will cause.

Josh

Josh Stevens declined to discuss the matter. Henry Clifford, head of the Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine, says the ads appeared in the New York and Washington metro transit systems and got many similar complaints but were not taken down.

“You’d think Boston is an intellectual center of the country, with all those universities, and that they’d be broadminded and open-minded enough to see this,” he told me.

Update:

Boston magazine reports the ads are going back up:

Update, 4:30 p.m. Friday:  According to an MBTA spokesman: “The ads are going back up. Their removal was the result of a miscommunication between the MBTA and its contractor, Titan. There was a breakdown in our established procedures for handling complaints about specific ads.”

 

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I think you should consult an attorney and make sure you understand your rights on this one. On what basis are they being taken down, etc. There is a free speech issue and the bar should be pretty high to stop free speech. Look into it. Any lawyers here at Mondoweiss able to review his contract? Henry Clifford and his group have rights – dont’ they?

>> … your campaign posted on Monday and within hours the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] fielded numerous complaints.

What were people complaining about? That the truth is anti-Semitic? That any amount of the colour green represents an “existential threat” to Jews? That Israel is not clearly labelled “Jewish State”? That the ad fails to “Remember the Holocaust!”™ ?

“The people” were complaining because the ads hurt their feelings, made them angry, fearful, uncomfortable, etc., in short made them feel that their long-held model of heaven-on-earth was crumbling before their eyes.

If MBTA accepts ANY issue-advertising, then a lawsuit for injunction should serve to keep the signs in place. Some places don’t allow issue advertising on public buses, sports stadia, etc. It is a bit hard to understand the CONSTITUTIONAL position of a government agency denying free POLITICAL speech, but maybe MBTA is merely quasi-governmental and can escape the constitution that way.

Stay tuned.

I guess all complaints revolve around the theme
“When I see what the bots have done I don’t feel safe.”

They are losing.
The Jewish fairytale has gone over to the dark side.

Don’t want to be left outside the international community alone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKEAOPu4kW8

And here’s to dear old Boston 
Where liberals kvetch about sod
And ‘Camera’ defines anti-Semites
While Adelson kibbitzs on as if God