A Conservative ex-defense minister whose brother was murdered in a terrorist attack has slammed an ‘insensitive and tasteless’ art exhibit featuring suicide bomb vests painted in bright colors.
The mounted bronze cast vests of bronze are on display in Bournemouth gallery, Dorset. They were made from YouTube videos and images of suicide bombers.
They are called ‘Monuments to Immortality’ and were described by curators to be a ‘dialogue of death and beauty’.
Tobias Ellwood, Tory chairman, Commons Defence Select Committee has demanded that the artwork be’removed instantly’.
Jonathan Ellwood, his 39-year-old younger brother, was among the 202 victims of an Islamist terror attack at a Bali nightclub in Bali in 2002.
Jonathan was a history teacher from Vietnam who had been visiting Bali for a conference.
When he tried unsuccessfully to save PC Keith Palmer’s (a victim of the 2017 Westminster terrorist attacks), Ellwood was widely hailed as an hero.
It also follows the assassination of MP Sir David Amess at Belfairs Methodist Church, Leigh-on-Sea, by a terrorist.
The mounted bronze cast vests are on display at a gallery in Bournemouth in Dorset. They are based on YouTube videos of suicide bombers and internet images.
Tobias Ellwood (Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee) has asked for the artwork to be’removed instantly’
A display board featuring the suicide vests displays that the artwork was created in Britain by Jake and Dinoschapman. The artwork was ‘informed from YouTube videos of suicide bombers’ and internet imagery.
Mr Ellwood, the Bournemouth East MP, stated that a terrorist killed his brother wearing one of these jackets. I urge the immediate removal of this insensitive display.
It is tasteless, offensive, and irresponsible. I hope the exhibitors will quickly take it down. The recent loss of Sir David Amess (a colleague in Parliament) shows that extremism is a real threat to individuals who are radicalized by what their eyes see and read.
The GIANT Gallery is located in Bournemouth’s busy town centre and is open to shoppers.
A display board featuring the suicide vests reveals that the artwork was created in Britain by Jake and Dinoschapman. The artwork was ‘informed via YouTube videos of suicide bombers’ and internet imagery.
It says: “This series of bronze-cast, suicide vests is informed and inspired by YouTube clips of suicide bombers as well as internet imagery.
“A dialogue with beauty and death ensues. In which the risk and dangers associated with being an artist are juxtaposed against the power and conviction of the artist to fight for belief.
The Chapman brothers are visual artist known for their bizarre works. Their previous artwork, which included a crazy golf ornament with Hitler saluting, has drawn controversy.
They painted hippie-inspired motifs on 13 water colors originally produced by the Fuhrer in 2008
The GIANT gallery was contacted and the Chapman Brothers were contacted for comment.
After the death of Sir David, a suspected terrorist killed him, Mr Ellwood called for a temporary suspension on public meetings between MPs.
Channel 4’s he said: “Ultimately, we have to recognize that there could possibly be a copycat-style attacker. That has been made clear by the police.
“So yes, absolutely. Let’s stand up against terrorists. Let’s make certain that our lives and our way of doing business are not altered so that they don’t win. We must do this in a cognitive manner to ensure that MPs, staff, and the general public are safe.
It comes amid criticism of Prevent (the Government’s flagship counterterrorism programme), which its critics claim was hijacked by political correctness to distract from the threat posed by Islamism.
According to The Henry Jackson Society, anti-terror resources are diverted from Islamist extremism, which is the main terror threat to the UK.
Dr Alan Mendoza is the Prevent’s executive director. He stated: “The Prevent program has been hampered due to political correctness after a well-organised campaign of Islamist groups and political Left of false allegations about Islamophobia so that its work is skewed away form the gravest threat, that posed by radical Islam.
“The truth is that the program has struggled with the increased number of referrals to it over time due to increased extremism, the unremitting hostility by some leaders in the Muslim community, and the political Left to its activities.
They are called ‘Monuments to Immortality’ and curators have described them as a dialogue between beauty and death’
The series of bronze-cast vests in mounted bronze are on display in Bournemouth gallery, Dorset. They were made from YouTube videos and images of suicide bombers.
A display board featuring the suicide vests displays that the artwork was created in Britain by Jake and Dinoschapman. The artwork was ‘informed from YouTube videos of suicide bombers’ and internet imagery.
According to the report, there is a fundamental mismatch’ between the threat posed Islamist terrorism and Prevent’s attention.
Only 22 percent of all referrals for Prevent concern Islamist extremists. The remaining 24 percent refer to neo-Nazis or other extreme Right extremists. Official Home Office data shows.
Only 30% of the cases that were actually taken up by Prevent’s ‘Channel” programme, which mentors individuals to turn away from terrorist causes, relate to Islamists, compared to 43% which are far-Right.
This is despite Jonathan Hall, QC, the Government’s Independent Review of Terrorism Legislation’s latest report that stated that “Islamist terrorist remains the principal threat to Great Britain”.
Unconfirmed reports were also made last year that the majority of suspects on MI5’s ‘watch list’ – 39,000 out of a total 43,000- – are jihadists.
Dr Rakib Ehsan (a British Muslim academic who compiled this report) stated that the Prevent scheme’s main goal was to reduce the UK’s terror threat and maximize public safety.
“At the moment, it’s failing to deliver on that front. The public authorities are not adequately monitoring Islamist extremists, which could pose a serious security risk.
The report called on Prevent to conduct a forensic analysis of all cases in which a person referred to it leaves the scheme and continues to commit terrorist-related crimes.
A number of terrorists, despite being on Prevent’s list, have continued to commit atrocities.
Khairi Saadallah was the Reading knife attacker who killed three men in Reading last June. Ahmed Hassan, Parsons Green bomber, plotted his attack against a Tube train in 2017 right under his mentors’ noses.
A separate commentary was published separately by Policy Exchange, asking whether antiterrorist schemes strike the right balance between Islamist and other terror threats.
Dr Paul Stott, the head of security and extremeism at the organization, asked ministers to investigate whether staff have been focusing more on far-Right extremism than Islamists due to greater social acceptance in the public sector.
He asked, “Has the denigration of Prevent by its critics as racist or Islamophobic deterred certain employees in the public sector to fulfill their statutory duties?”
Dr Stott also questioned whether the Security Service, MI5, was accountable and whether it was providing ‘value-for-money’.
He asked: “With the expansion in MI5 over the past 20 years since 9/11, ministers should ask if we are getting value for our money from the domestic security services?
“Is their enough oversight of the way the resources pie is being chopped up inside the “independent republic” of Thames House?