Cynthia Weber: Uniting States of Americans: from ‘I Am An American' to ‘We are the 99%'.

10 January - 2 February 2014
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 11-17 hrs; Saturday and Sunday: 12-17 hrs


Part of See You in The Hague

In concurrence with the masterclasses Preemption, Politics, Alternatives, dedicated to the development of alternatives for current preemptive counter-terrorism policies, Cynthia Weber (professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, UK) presents 'Uniting States of Americans: I Am An American. Video Portraits of Unsafe US Citizens (2007) and We are the 99%' (2012) in the lobby of Stroom, consisting of two documentaries and a 'Comment Flag'.

'We the People of the United States.....' is the opening sentence of the American Bill of Rights, dating from 1787, in which equal rights for all citizens were proclaimed and that has had a lasting influence on the history of the Western world. 'I am an American', US citizens proudly state in the public service announcements that were aired nationally ten days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The motto 'E pluribus unum' - out of many, one - is a key value of American society.

When President Bush proclaimed the ‘War on Terror', some Americans discovered they were considered to be less American than they had thought they were. For I Am An American tthe documentary filmmaker and academic Cynthia Weber set out on a journey across post 9/11 America in search of a deeper understanding of what it means to be a US American today. America's core values of ‘equality' and ‘fairness' turn out to be more flexible than is assumed in the Constitution. Additionally, with her film We are the 99% - about the 2012 Occupy movement - Weber shows how people from different beliefs and walks of life try to reenergize the concept of democracy.

Please comment
Visitors of Stroom can read what is written on the so-called American and Dutch 'comment flags' in reaction to Weber's films, and leave their personal comments on these topics, also in the specific context of what it means to be Dutch ‘Ik ben een Nederlander'!

On Friday January 10, 2014 Cynthia Weber gives a lecture at Stroom Den Haag as part of the meeting Preemption, Politics, Alternatives.

See You in The Hague
This presentation is part of the cultural program See You in The Hague, a multifaceted narrative about the ambitions and reality of The Hague as International City of Peace and Justice.

Cynthia Weber, 'I Am An American: Video Portraits of Unsafe US Citizens', video still
photo: © Pato Productions 2009
Cynthia Weber, 'I Am an American' (Comment Flag)
photo: courtesy the artist
Cynthia Weber, 'I Am An American: Video Portraits of Unsafe US Citizens', video still
Cynthia Weber presentation at Stroom
photo: Stroom Den Haag
Cynthia Weber presentation at Stroom
photo: Stroom Den Haag
design: Autobanh