Leading law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler has refused to work again with former client RedBubble over the listing of \u201cHipster Hitler\u201d merchandise on the art retail website, citing its \u201cdeep roots in the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a statement, ABL\u2019s senior partner Mark Leibler, who is also national chairman of the Australia\/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, says that a post on the Firm Spy website implies that the law firm \u201ccondones the distribution of pro-Hitler merchandise\u201d by being associated with RedBubble.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cArnold Bloch Leibler has had a long and unswerving commitment to fighting discrimination and protecting human rights, and any implication that the firm is supportive of attempts to \u2018reinvigorate Nazi ideas’ is false and unacceptable to the firm,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFurthermore, the firm has deep roots in the Jewish community and is extremely sensitive to the consequences of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cArnold Bloch Leibler does not currently act for RedBubble and will not act on behalf of RedBubble in the future; however the firm has previously provided corporate advice to RedBubble.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leibler called for the Firm Spy post, and accompanying reader comments on the matter, to be removed. At the time of publication, however, the post remains published.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ABL has distanced itself from RedBubble in protest to the website\u2019s decision to continue acting as a sales portal for several t-shirts featuring artwork from an online comic called Hipster Hitler.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ABL says that it was only made aware of the merchandise on Monday, although Hipster Hitler has been listed on RedBubble since September 2010.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The New York-based comic says it satirises \u201chipster culture and the exploits of the Third Reich\u201d through its artwork.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T-shirts sold via RedBubble, which acts as a shop window for the work of more than 150,000 artists, feature slogans such as \u201cStalingrad Class of 1943\u201d, \u201cI Love Juice\u201d and \u201cEastside Westside Genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other t-shirts feature drawings of Adolf Hitler as a scarf-wearing, cardigan-wearing Brooklyn hipster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Martin Hosking, CEO and co-founder of RedBubble, told StartupSmart that the issue had caused \u201csome disturbance\u201d among the site\u2019s user base over the last six months, but defended the decision not to withdraw the artwork.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cArt has always been controversial, whether it\u2019s Lichtenstein or nude photos,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have a commitment to art and creative expression, within guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a genuine parody and not anti-Semitic. We looked at this work six months ago with Jewish groups and we concluded it was a parody. I don\u2019t know where you end up when you start taking down art because someone doesn\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hosking, who was previously a diplomat in Egypt and is a former secretary of the Australian Arabic Council, adds: \u201cI do not support Nazi material. I have fought for human rights for the past 20 years and I find any suggestions to the contrary personally offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hosking says that \u201ctens\u201d of RedBubble users have deleted their accounts in protest at the featuring of Hipster Hitler.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, he denies allegations made by commenters on RedBubble that users who voiced dissent have been censored or blocked from the site, or that the Hipster Hitler artwork has the support of far-right groups such as Stormfront.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hosking says that RedBubble is currently in \u201cproductive and friendly discussions with a range of Australian based Jewish organisations, including the ADC (the B\u2019nai B\u2019rith Anti-Defamation Commission).\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTogether we are working to craft a solution which balances the right to free expression against the legitimate restrictions on this,\u201d he says. \u201cThese discussions are ongoing and are drawing to a fruitful conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hosking adds that he \u201canticipates a change\u201d to RedBubble\u2019s guidelines in wake of the spat, although he refuses to be drawn on whether Hipster Hitler merchandise will be withdrawn from the site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Currently, RedBubble\u2019s guidelines on \u201cInciting Violence, Hatred or Racism\u201d state: \u201cAny work or behaviour where the intent of the artist is to incite hatred, violence or racism is not permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cConsequence: Account suspension and six month probation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ABL referred to its statement published on Firm Spy when contacted by StartupSmart. Firm Spy hadn\u2019t responded to an emailed request for comment at the time of publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leading law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler has refused to work again with former client RedBubble over the listing of \u201cHipster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}