Thought For The Day: Tony Kushner

"A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy. One or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, Uncle Tom's Cabin and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. But if I believed that Angels in America was important simply because it raised levels of sexual tolerance or encouraged people to be nicer to gays, I'd still be sitting at my laptop wondering what to do next. In fact, my new play is a big American family drama in the Eugene O'Neill tradition. I'm not a missionary. I'm primarily addressing progressive communities in the hope that we can go forward into the darkness trying to figure things out together."

Tony Kushner interviewed by Michael Billington in The Guardian.
The strapline; "When Tony Kushner's honorary degree was vetoed over allegations that he was anti-Israel, there was an outcry. Here he talks for the first time about the controversy"
Good stuff, but it's not the first time.
Here he is talking to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! in May.

Tony Kushner: The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Zionism

"The trustees board of the City University of New York (CUNY) brought to an end an embarrassing row over freedom of expression by voting unanimously to award an honorary degree to the award-winning playwright Tony Kushner.
"A firestorm was ignited last week when a single trustee, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, launched an attack on the Jewish playwright on the grounds that he was not sufficiently pro-Israel. The intervention blocked the award of the degree which would normally have been routine..." The Guardian.

Here's Tony Kushner's lengthy, impassioned, rational response to the original decision in The Jewish Week.
“This has been an incredibly ugly experience, that a great public university would make a decision based on slanderous mischaracterizations without giving the person in question a chance to be heard. I’m sickened that this is happening in New York City. Shocked, really.”
Kushner is not the only gay New Yorker to come under attack for daring to criticise Israel.
In March New York's LGBT Center cancelled a benefit gig organised by Israeli Apartheid Week after a row manufactured by gay Neo-Con cunt Michael Lucas.
Last year Queers Against Israeli Apartheid were banned from taking part in Pride Toronto.
Some things appear to be unsayable in north American Gayland.
Exhuming McCarthy...
And some things are unreportable in the UK - some gay journalists are too busy writing glowing reports about free holidays in Israel that were paid for by the Israeli government.
Just sayin'...

Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures has just opened off-Broadway to so-so reviews.
"Kushner’s talent for self-criticism is endearing, but what his wise, challenging and heartbroken play really needs is a tough editor" - LA Times

Here's Tony talking to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now today about CUNY and iHomo...


Transcript here.