Stuart Munckton: M.I.A.’s radical clip banned by YouTube in the US

By Stuart Munckton, Green Left Weekly, 3 May 2010

Its censorship shows up the myth of the “democratic” West. Depicting the truth about the crimes of US troops, or Western-backed dictatorships, is clearly too much for the corporate giant Google.

M.I.A. — a Tamil whose family was forced to flee persecution in Sri Lanka.

In the United States, Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube has banned the video for hip hop star M.I.A.’s new single “Born Free”, citing the graphic nature of its content.

More than nine minutes long, the clip, directed by Romain Gavras, begins with heavily armed soldiers with US flags on their uniforms raiding someone’s home. The location is not known, but the setting is reminiscent of Baghdad or the Palestinian West Bank.

As the soldiers storm into the house, bass and drum-driven music begins pounding with growing intensity.

An older couple are interrupted having sex and dragged screaming from their beds. The soldiers brutally bash another man. Eventually, the soldiers find their target and violently drag outside a young white, male with red hair.

[Read the article/View the video]

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