Is Banksy a hypocrite? Could ‘active bystanders’ stop police violence? And are Syrians well served by a theatrical protest?
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.
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In this week’s episode, we discuss:
Heroic bystanders
A growing number of American police forces are signing up to the Active Bystander in Law Enforcement programme, in an attempt to prevent police brutality. The idea is that officers will be encouraged to challenge their colleagues if they see bad behaviour – speaking to them directly but non-confrontationally rather than reporting incidents to watchdogs (or staying silent).
Street art
Prints by Banksy have smashed estimates in recent auctions, and an upcoming sale of his 2005 painting Show me the Monet is tipped to top the record £9.9m paid for another of the street artist’s works last year. But is this commercialisation of urban art severing the genre’s anti-establishment roots?
Refugee art
The theatre group behind War Horse is planning to parade a giant puppet of a refugee girl across Europe in an attempt to raise awareness of the plight of asylum seekers. But is a lack of awareness really the problem, and how might their efforts be put to better use?
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