The Adventures of Mr. Chris

Fair Use and Social Justice – Grace Lee Boggs and MLK Jr. -v- EMI

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So I ran into one of those ironies of ironies this evening while working on a project. I pose this to my readers as a question: what would you do?

So here’s the background to the story. I’ve been working for several months with a group of people to bring Grace Lee Boggs, the 96 yr old Detroit activist, intellectual and philosopher, to the New School. After much work we were finally able to secure two events, one event planned as an activist workshop, and the other a public talk. In the lead up to that, I was also working on a possible promo video, after a suggestion from some of the planners. The idea was to have a 2-3 minute promo video to announce the event, and connect the two themes of the event: Grace Lee Boggs and her latest ideas from The Next American Revolution, which she recently published, and the remarks of Martin Luther King Jr. from his 1967 talk ‘Where Do We Go From Here,’  at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention in Georgia. So I put together a clip from a talk she did with Bill Moyers on PBS talking about the changes she was seeing (mind you this is pre-OWS), and a clip of the audio from MLK Jr.’s talk, illustrated with images from OWS and contemporary socio-political issues.

Here’s roughly what was included from the MLK Jr. speech:

I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about “Where do we go from here?” that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. (Yes) There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. (Yes) And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. (Yes) But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. (All right) It means that questions must be raised…Now, when I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. (All right) These are the triple evils that are interrelated…In other words, “Your whole structure (Yes) must be changed.” [applause]…What I’m saying today is that… “America, you must be born again!” [applause]

After editing the video and uploading it to YouTube, the video was immediately flagged by EMI Music Publishing. Apparently they own the copyright to the MLK Jr. speech, and so it had been flagged. Hum, I thought to myself, I think this meets Fair Use guidelines, and by my reading are examples like those in common uses 4 and 5 of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video. The irony here of course is that the text and audio of this speech are freely available all over the Internet, but once it enters the YouTube commercial filter, the corporate copyright net closes around access to the media.

So I was posed with a dilemma. Do I fight the copyright claim and argue it is fair use? Google gives you that option, but also adds a menacing warning:

“I believe this copyright claim is not valid because:
My use of the content meets the legal requirements for fair use or fair dealing under applicable copyright laws.

 

If you believe your use meets the legal requirements for exemption from copyright under appropriate law, you can dispute this claim. If you are unsure, you should seek legal counsel before submitting a dispute.
“
It’s the “If you are unsure, you should seek legal counsel before submitting a dispute” part that gave me pause. My legal counsel huh. So the implication here of course is that if you file a copyright dispute against EMI then maybe their lawyers will decide to take an interest in you and, should things escalate, you could find yourself in a copyright violation/media piracy gray area and looking at possible legal trouble. Now that’s a worst-case scenario, and not one that I immediately worry about, the very fact that I even have to go through this thought exercise is itself the issue.

 

And as I said before, it’s doubly ironic since one piece of what MLK and GLB are both talking about is capitalism! Oh private property and corporations are people too politics! So what would you do? If YouTube is blocking the video due to copyright claims, the video is worthless for public promotion. If I fight the claim as fair use, I have no idea if I would be successful, or even how long it might take. The event could be over before YouTube resolves the matter, also making the video a waste. I can upload the video on another site, or host it on my own site here, but the problem with YouTube remains the same. So what would you do?

Grace Lee Boggs Promo Video

 

The video above may or may not be available, contingent on the whims of YouTube. I’ll leave the file embedded and see what happens for now. [Update: It is now fully blocked, but there is a mirror of the video below] But the deeper issue of the idea of MLK being subject to private censorship in a speech decrying that very economic and political system, only speaks to just how important–and dangerous–the ideas of MLK Jr. and Grace Lee Boggs still are to the system.

Video Mirror

 

 

Although the event is still being finalized, here’s a draft version of one possible poster for the event as a bonus.

Until next time…Fight the Power!
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1 Response

  1. Marge Telerski says:
    04/01/2012 at 06:34

    If I had won the lottery–I would tell you to fight it and I would cover legal fees. But since I didn’t–use another site to post but make sure others know why –letters to the editor–on any site that will take the information. Even try news shows like 20/20 etc.

    Good luck