A BoB short:
Amir Khadir says he has no desire to see Jean Charest dead. “Mr. Charest is quite alive and I wish he stays that way for a long time,” the Quebec MNA told reporters on Tuesday.
The remarks came after artwork depicting a partially nude, fully deceased Jean Charest, lying at the feet of a musket-wielding Khadir, was discovered during a raid on the controversial politician’s home. Police were there to arrest his teenage daughter for her alleged acts of vandalism during recent student protests.
A parody of a 19th-century painting by French artist Eugene Delacroix, “Liberty Guiding the People,” which depicts a scene from the French Revolution, the poster was taken from the cover of a 2010 album by a student rock group, Mise En Demure. It also shows the band’s front man, “Bananarchist,” waving the black flag of anarchy while police officers crouch at his knees.
“Go see it on the Internet. It will make you smile, too,” Khadir’s wife, Nima Machouf, told reporters after a bail hearing for their daughter. Charest’s cabinet ministers, however, aren’t smiling. Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre called the painting disgusting and Health Minister Yves Bolduc said it could send dangerous subliminal messages.
Mise En Demure hasn’t been shy about satirizing other right-wing politicians as well. The music video for their dance song “I Hate You Son — Margaret Harper,” below, features the Conservative prime minister’s head pasted to the gyrating body of a Chippendales-style male stripper.
– Emily Olesen
