Strictly

New campaign: demand cinemas worldwide refuse to screen the new Ali G film. Sacha Baron Cohen retired Ali G in 2007. Amazon has revived him. On 23 October, Ali G: Who Iz I? opens in cinemas worldwide, and Sony Pictures is selling it to the public with the line "He iz back. We ain't liable." The distributor is joking about liability. But the screens belong to the cinemas, and a booking is a choice. In January 2000, the Guardian reported the verdict of Black British comedians under the headline "Comics find Ali G is an alibi for racism". Felix Dexter said the act lets "the liberal middle classes laugh at black street culture" while keeping their sense of political correctness. The catalogue behind it hurt community after community. The Kazakh American Association told Amazon that in Borat "a white person adorns a Kazakh persona" and belittles everything Kazakhs stand for. Kazakh children were bullied at school off the back of the joke. On The Dictator, Jack Shaheen said "Arabs are being ridiculed again and again and again", and Dean Obeidallah called it a "modern-day minstrel show". Studios sell films. Cinemas choose them. No film is owed a screen. So we've created a campaign where you can voice your opinion to the cinemas. One click sends up to 20 personalised letters in your name to the booking desks of Odeon, Cineworld, Regal, Vue, Everyman, Picturehouse, Showcase, Cinemark, Harkins, B&B, Landmark, Cineplex, Event, Kinepolis, VOX, Reel, Pathé, CinemaxX, Cinépolis, Cinemex and Nordisk Film. Every address is verified on the chain's own website. Non-English chains get the letter in their own language. You read every letter before it is sent. The chains decide their bookings in the next eight weeks. Ask them to refuse this one: newscord.org/action/cinemas-…