Nan Goldin, Laura Poitras Arrested at Pro-Palestine Protest

Two hundred activists connected to Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) were arrested after the group organized a sit-in in support of Palestine outside the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan on October 14. Among them were filmmaker Laura Poitras and artist Nan Goldin. Hyperallergic, which broke the story, reported that artist and author Molly Crabapple was also arrested. JVP told the platform that those taken into custody during the action have been released and charged with trespass.

Goldin, Crabapple, and Poitras—whose 2022 documentary on Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, was nominated for an Oscar—were three of roughly five hundred demonstrators protesting the increasing stock prices of US weapons manufacturers amid Israel’s sustained retaliatory assault on Gaza and its recent attacks on Lebanon. According to Forbes, US defense contractors including L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon have all seen their stock prices rise as the conflicts in the Middle East heighten. The action was arranged and staged shortly after the US government revealed that it is sending troops and a sophisticated missile defense system to Israel in a show of what the Biden administration has described as “iron-clad” support.

As part of the demonstration, a handful of activists chained themselves to the main entrance gate and were forcibly removed by police. “I’m proud to be arrested with them if it helps amplify our message,” Goldin told Hyperallergic. Goldin is no stranger to protest, having founded the activist group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) after having become addicted to OxyContin following an injury. P.A.I.N. was instrumental in bringing attention to the transgressions of the drug’s maker, Purdue Pharma, successfully lobbying museums and art institutions to remove the name of the Sackler family, members of which owned the company, from their walls.

“I’ve been working with Jewish Voices for Peace since the beginning,” Goldin told Artnet News. “I’m very gratified to be working with Jews on this because for a long time I was going to Palestinian protests by myself. Since last year, there’s such a strong coming together among Jews about this and it’s very meaningful. It means a lot to Palestinians to see Jews putting their bodies on the line for them. It’s the least I can do. Things have been ratcheted up to an unbearable point, so I want to do anything I can to amplify the message.”