Misan Harriman to Step Down From Southbank Centre
Thousands had expressed their support for the artist and activist after right-wing tabloids accused him of antisemitism.
Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will step down from his post as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. Harriman’s announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids scrutinized his response to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green.
In a video uploaded to Instagram, Harriman, who has helmed the arts organization since 2021, said he had decided to depart the leadership position prior to the criticism from British media in May. A photographer of exceptional range, Harriman, born in Nigeria, became the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in September 2020.
“It’s semi-public knowledge that my term is coming to an end anyway, my actual term,” Harriman wrote. “I had decided way before this madness that I was going to do two terms.”
A spokesperson for the Southbank Centre confirmed to Hyperallergic that Misan would not seek a third term as the institution’s leader and would depart this autumn.
“Succession planning is already underway, with further details to be confirmed following our annual general meeting in July,” the Southbank Centre spokesperson told Hyperallergic.
Over 100,000 people formally complained to the United Kingdom Independent Press Standards Organisation in May over a spate of right-wing media reports characterizing Harriman's social media comments about the Golders Green attack as antisemitic.
Essa Suleiman is accused of stabbing two Jewish men in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood in an April attack that local police described as a “terrorist” incident. Suleiman is also accused of stabbing his friend Ishmail Hussein, who is reportedly Muslim, hours before stabbing the two men. The violent incident prompted calls from the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, to address antisemitism in the country.
Harriman had criticized a perceived lack of media attention to the third victim, Ishmail Hussein, prompting accusations from the Telegraph that the arts leader was promoting “conspiracy theories.” The paper also zeroed in on a video Harriman posted reflecting on the right-wing Reform Party’s success in local elections, in which he invoked a quote by Jewish-American critic Susan Sontag, which she had given in the context of the Holocaust. Right-wingers then accused Harriman of comparing the populist party to the Nazis, making for additional headline fodder.
On social media this week, Harriman shared that he received threats to his life following over 20 articles about social media activity.
“I’ve organized for Black Lives Matter, championed women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, transgender protections, and for the Ukrainians during the war, and no one has had a problem until I started speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Palestine,” Harriman told Hyperallergic in a May interview.
In addition to the formal complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, over 33,000 people have signed onto a celebrity-backed missive organized by the UK’s Good Law Project condemning Harriman’s treatment. The letter, signed by Greta Thunberg, Brian Eno, and Hozier, rejected the “smear campaign” as an attempt to “traduce and marginalise Misan.”
“Truth itself is on the line; just because these right-wing and frankly racist newspapers scream the loudest, it does not mean it is the truth,” Harriman told Hyperallergic in May. “To have by far the most complaints in British newspaper history means the people have had enough.”
