Tag: Palestine

Hundreds of Artists Condemn the Royal Academy of Arts’ Anti-Palestinian Censorship

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Royal Academicians Jock McFadyen, Rana Begum, Vanessa Jackson, Tim Shaw, David Nash, Helen Sear, David Mach and Goshka Macuga are among hundreds of arts professionals condemning the Royal Academy of Arts’ anti-Palestinian censorship after it removed two artworks from its Young Artists’ Summer Show.

In an open letter published today by Artists for Palestine UK, the signatories, including more than 100 Jewish creatives, decry as “shameful” the Royal Academy’s removal of a photograph of a protestor holding a placard that reads, “Jews Say Stop Genocide on Palestinians. Not In Our Name”. 

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Boycott called off as Bristol’s Arnolfini apologises for anti-Palestinian censorship

  • Bristol’s iconic Arnolfini gallery apologises “without reservation” for cancelling Palestinian events amid “ongoing devastation and loss of life in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel”

  • Arnolfini: “We believe that freedom of expression and intellectual freedom are vital and must be fully reflected in our policies and practices.” 
  • Bristol Artists for Palestine welcomes the statement, calls off the artist-led boycott of the venue.

The boycott of an iconic British arts venue has ended after it apologised for its anti-Palestinian censorship. The Arnolfini in Bristol said it was “truly sorry” for cancelling film and poetry events curated by Bristol Palestine Film Festival in November last year, and committed to platforming Palestinian voices.  

In response to the cancellations, more than 1,400 artists – including prominent Bristol artists such as Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja, writers Alice Oswald, Nikesh Shukla, Shon Faye, Travis Alabanza and Rachel Holmes – had announced they would refuse to work with the venue in protest at “the censorship of Palestinian culture”. The artists demanded the gallery “commit to freedom of expression, without exception for Palestine” and “genuinely engage with Bristol’s arts community to rectify the harm it has caused”.

Today, in a statement, Arnolfini acknowledged the detrimental impact the cancellations had had, and addressed artists, audiences, and Bristol Palestine Film Festival, saying it was “truly sorry”. The organisation also affirmed its commitment to freedom of expression, saying:

“During this overwhelming humanitarian crisis, the voices of the victims need to be heard. (…) We believe that freedom of expression and intellectual freedom are vital and must be fully reflected in our policies and practices. We are sorry that we did not provide a platform for Palestinian voices at such a crucial time.”

The organisation said it will be publishing new policies and reviewing internal governance processes in light of what had happened.

Bristol Artists for Palestine welcomed Arnolfini’s apology. They said the statement provided a resolution to the artists’ demands, and the group announced an end to the artist-led boycott of the venue.

They went on to say:

“We call for all arts institutions, galleries, venues, festivals, universities and funders to uphold the same consistent freedom of expression with no exception for Palestine that Arnolfini has committed to support, and to formally recognise the devastation being wrought by Israel as plausibly amounting to genocide, as the Arnolfini has done.”

Artists for Palestine UK said:

“We welcome Arnolfini’s statement and applaud the hard work of those involved in the mediation process. 

We hope this sends a clear message to other cultural institutions.  Amid a repressive political and media climate, cultural institutions are too often failing in their duty to uphold freedom of expression and to protect against discrimination.  

At a time of unprecedented dehumanisation of Palestinian people, artists and audiences expect cultural spaces to amplify voices that articulate the realities of Palestinian experiences and aspirations, as vital contributions to cultural understanding and to our shared humanity.”

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, said:

“We salute the artists, culture workers and human rights defenders in Bristol and beyond who took strategic, principled and persistent action in boycotting Arnolfini until their goals were met.

All British arts organisations and venues should take note that targeted, grassroots mobilisations are a potential consequence of racist anti-Palestinian censorship.”

Last month HOME Manchester announced it would reinstate the event “Voices of  Resilience” that it had cancelled in response to pressure from a pro-Israel pressure group, after artists withdrew their work en mass from the gallery. 

London’s Barbican Centre has been subject to a mass sit-in, and artists and collectors have withdrawn six art works from the current exhibition, ‘Unravel’, in protest at the cancellation of the London Review of Books lecture series that included a talk by Pankaj Mishra, “The Shoah after Gaza”. 

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Olivia Colman among 1000+ artists accusing art institutions of censorship on Palestine

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More than 1,300 artists, including Academy Award winning Olivia Colman, Olivier Award winners Harriet Walter and Juliet Stevenson, BAFTA winners Aimee Lou Wood and Siobhán McSweeney, Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You), Susanne Wokoma (Enola Holmes), Youseff Kerkour (Napoleon), Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls, Bridgerton), Amir El-Masry (The Crown) and Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), have launched a letter addressed to the arts and culture sector, that accuses cultural institutions across Western countries of:

 “repressing, silencing and stigmatising Palestinian voices and perspectives”. 

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Reflections on violence, oppression and a just peace

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‘We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality. The only way to get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence.’ Jewish Voice for Peace 

‘I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, no water, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.’ Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defence 

Artists for Palestine UK responds with horror and sadness to the violent loss of life across Palestine/Israel, that continues as we write. We mourn every death. And we redouble our commitment to fighting for justice, respect and dignity for all people. In what follows, we share statements by international organisations that remind us of the context of the events which we are all now witnessing. We hope this will help to illuminate the root cause of the violence so that we may  formulate responses that are grounded in the ethics of genuine care.

Al Haq, Palestine’s largest Human Rights organisation,  said, in coordination with  Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: 

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Leading artists oppose Barbican’s partnership with apartheid Israeli embassy

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More than fifty artists, including poet and writer Benjamin Zephaniah, actor Miriam Margolyes, DJ The Blessed Madonna and Turner Prize co-winning artist Tai Shani have called on London arts venue the Barbican Centre to end its partnership with the embassy of Israel.

The Barbican is due to host the Jerusalem Orchestra East & West this Sunday 5th February, in an event organised “in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel in the UK”. 

Writers China Miéville, Rachel Holmes and Pauline Melville are among those saying they “doubt the Barbican would have partnered with the South African embassy during its apartheid era”, citing reports by leading human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that designate Israel an apartheid regime.

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Campaign to silence rapper and campaigner Lowkey reaches new low

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The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, a trade union-organised ‘celebration of solidarity’, disinvited the pro-Palestinian artist following behind-the-scenes pressure.

In a summer punctuated by missile strikes and the targeted killings of Palestinians, Israel’s defenders in the UK continue to respond to critics with defamatory allegations and quasi-legal attempts to silence debate. We have now reached a new low: an artist disinvited by an organisation which has historically prized the right to free expression.  

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival is a trade union-organised ‘celebration of solidarity’, open to all those prepared to ‘stand up and be counted’ as defenders of workers’ rights. In culture and in political debate, it commemorates the Dorset trade unionists who in 1834 were evicted from their homeland and transported as criminals to Australia. 

The disinvitation of rapper and campaigner Lowkey from the 2022 Festival, following behind-the-scenes pressure, is a denial of solidarity where it is badly needed. Lowkey’s music has inspired and energised audiences, igniting an interest in issues of militarism, economic injustice, and Palestinian rights. It has also provoked attempts at censorship. Earlier this year more than 44,000 people, including actor Mark Ruffalo, musician Kae Tempest and philosopher Cornel West, came to the aid of Lowkey, successfully calling on Spotify to resist pressure from the lobby group ‘We Believe in Israel’ that sought to have him deplatformed. 

Lowkey has been singled out for continuous harassment. What also makes his case significant is that a leading part in the effort to ban him from Tolpuddle was taken by one of the largest unions in Britain, the GMB. Its General Secretary, Gary Smith, wrote to a Festival organiser announcing his ‘severe doubts’ about Lowkey’s appearance and implying that it somehow carried a risk of promoting antisemitism.

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Emma Watson support for Palestine: Israel advocates increasingly desperate as public figures speak out

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Artists for Palestine UK statement

We welcome Emma Watson’s statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people. It is another sign of a groundswell of change. Over the last twelve months there has been a decisive shift in global opinion. The facts of Israel’s system of apartheid have been recognised by Human Rights Watch and the leading Israeli human rights organisation, B’tselem.  Israel’s attacks on Palestinians last May were met with worldwide outrage. Farewells to Desmond Tutu, who defended Palestinian rights so passionately, have reminded us of the threads that connect the Palestinian experience to struggles for liberation everywhere.

It is a sign of the Israeli government’s increasing desperation that a simple expression of support for Palestinian rights should provoke immediate and baseless smear tactics from Israel’s former and current Ambassadors to the UN, Danny Danon and Gilad Erdan.

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Leading writers support Sally Rooney decision to refuse publication in Israel

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Photo: David Levenson

Seventy prominent writers, poets and playwrights from several continents, have signed a letter endorsing Sally Rooney’s decision to turn down an offer with an Israel publishing house, describing it as

“an exemplary response to the mounting injustices inflicted on Palestinians”. 

Among the signatories are award-winning Irish authors Niamh Campbell and Kevin Barry; Rachel Kushner, Eileen Myles and Eliot Weinburger from the US; Monica Ali, Caryl Churchill, China Miéville and Kamila Shamsie from the UK. 

The writers say that in May this year Rooney was one of more than 16,000 artists who

“… condemned Israel’s crimes in ‘A Letter Against Apartheid’. Israeli apartheid, they said, is ‘sustained by international complicity; it is our collective responsibility to redress this harm’. ”

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Thousands of artists call for an end to complicity with Israeli apartheid

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It is as if a dam has burst. The last few days have seen an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity with Palestinians from artists and cultural organisations around the world.  Half a century ago, there was massive support for a cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa. Now, artists and cultural workers are mobilising on a similar scale against Israel’s system of apartheid, calling variously for boycotts, practical acts of solidarity with Palestinians and, in particular, an end to co-operation with cultural organisations that are complicit with apartheid.

On May 23rd, ‘Against Apartheid’, a letter signed by many leading Palestinian authors and artists, was endorsed by more than 16,000 international artists, writers and actors including Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy, Cornelia Parker, Alejandro Iñárritu, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Irons, Richard Ford, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alia Shawkat, and Tony Kushner. The letter, which referenced the 2021 report by Human Rights Watch which found Israel guilty of ‘crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution’, said:

‘We call on activists, and especially our peers in the arts, to exercise their agency within their institutions and localities to support the Palestinian struggle for decolonization to the best of their ability. Israeli apartheid is sustained by international complicity, it is our collective responsibility to redress this harm’.

May 25th saw more than 500 visual artists each posting a statement with the hashtag #VisualArtsforPalestine. The statement pledged to

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Artists stand with Ken Loach and against McCarthyism

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“We are deeply troubled to learn of a McCarthyite campaign demanding Oxford University cancel a public event with director Ken Loach discussing his distinguished career in film. The campaign to silence a world-renowned artist, which has been active behind the scenes and which became public at the last minute, is using the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism to try to prevent a cultural event from taking place. If any further evidence were needed to demonstrate how a vaguely worded definition is being deployed to silence critics of Israeli policy towards Palestinians — then this is it. We have been warned by respected Palestinian academics, Israeli scholars, leading experts on antisemitism, dozens of progressive Jewish groups, and others that this definition is being used as a political weapon. We cannot fight racism, including antisemitism, by demonising and silencing supporters of Palestinian rights.”

Signed:

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Brian Eno: Artists must call out Germany’s anti-Palestinian witch-hunt

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A 2019 parliamentary resolution has had a chilling effect on critics of Israeli policy. Now the cultural sector is speaking up.

  • This article was published in The Guardian under the title ‘Artists like me are being censored in Germany – because we support Palestinian rights’.

I am just one of many artists who have been affected by a new McCarthyism that has taken hold amid a rising climate of intolerance in Germany. Novelist Kamila Shamsie, poet Kae Tempest, musicians Young Fathers and rapper Talib Kwelli, visual artist Walid Raad and the philosopher Achille Mbembe are among the artists, academics, curators and others who have been caught up in a system of political interrogation, blacklisting and exclusion that is now widespread in Germany thanks to the passing of a 2019 parliamentary resolution. Ultimately this is about targeting critics of Israeli policy towards Palestinians.

Recently, an exhibition of my artwork was cancelled in its early stages because I support the nonviolent, Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The cancellation was never publicly declared, but I understand it to have been the consequence of cultural workers in Germany fearing that they and their institution would be punished for promoting someone labelled as “antisemitic”. This is the work of tyranny: create a situation where people are frightened enough to keep their mouths shut, and self-censorship will do the rest.Advertisement

But as my own story is relatively minor, I’d like to tell you about my friend, musician Nirit Sommerfeld.

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Brian Eno: Israel must not be allowed to use Eurovision as a propaganda tool

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Brian Eno’s op-ed is published in today’s Guardian, and copied below.

“Those of us who make art and culture for a living thrive on free and open communication. So what should we do when we see culture becoming part of a political agenda? “Music unites,” says UK Eurovision entrant Michael Rice. What happens when a powerful state uses art as propaganda, to distract from its immoral and illegal behaviour? Everybody involved in the Eurovision song contest this year should understand that this is what is happening.

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DJs, producers, electronic musicians join boycott of Israel en masse

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Today a stream of DJs, producers, record labels, electronic musicians are speaking up for Palestine and endorsing the cultural boycott of Israel. Using the hashtag #DJsForPalestine, these artists and cultural producers say they are supporting the Palestinian call for boycott as a peaceful protest against the occupation, “for as long as the Israeli government continues its brutal and sustained oppression of the Palestinian people”.

This collective action follows the pattern of a similar wave of bands, including  Portishead and Wolf Alice, who came out in protest using the hashtag #ArtistsForPalestine, shortly after Israel’s massacre of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza this May.

Caribou, the Discwoman collective, Laurel Halo, The Black Madonna, Ben UFO, Tessela, Truants, Ciel, DEADBOY, FourTet, Room4Resistance and many, many more joined together for this action.   Some artists added personal messages, for example Ben Thomson / UFO explained:

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Jamiroquai, will you stand with the Palestinians?

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Dear Jamiroquai,

We write to ask you to cancel your concert in Israel. We do so knowing that band members are not indifferent to the situation in Palestine. In a 2008 interview, Jay Kay said, ‘Ask me something else; Ask me about the situation in Palestine’.

If we asked you about the situation in Palestine today, you’d probably know  that it has greatly deteriorated since 2008, with three prolonged bombing campaigns by Israel on Gaza. The besieged Strip is, according to the United Nations, ‘unlivable’, and there’s an ever expanding colonisation of land in the Palestinian West Bank. Continue reading →

Israeli cultural whitewash fails to impress at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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For the second August in a row, advocates for Israel have used Edinburgh’s huge annual cultural gathering as cover for an attempt to whitewash the state’s decades of oppression and racist discrimination against Palestinians.

Under the rubric of coexistence and cultural cooperation, this year’s International Shalom Festival, staged over three days at a community secondary school, sought to avoid the opprobrium heaped upon its blatantly propagandistic 2016 incarnation.

Last year the event’s organisers, known for working with the Israeli Embassy to undermine and oppose campaigning work in support of Palestinian rights, proudly proclaimed it as a major “Israel advocacy” initiative. This year the same groups – the Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland (COFIS) and StandWithUs – have tried to entice audiences with a vision of Israel as a haven of tolerance and harmony offering “real examples of coexistence”.

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Artswatch Palestine: February-March 2017

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Introduction
‘Artswatch’ is a regular digest that monitors attacks on Palestinian cultural life. Such attacks are a constant and shocking part of  a long-term campaign that attempts to undermine Palestinian collective identity and resilience. The pattern of this systemic abuse is overlooked by the mainstream media,  yet is testimony to the fact that  ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘free cultural exchange’ are privileges that have never been extended to Palestinians by Israel. This fact demands an urgent response from international artists in particular.

[Photo: T Suárez. Palestine Philharmonie: Amandine Beyer demonstrating a phrase to (left to right) Lamar Elias, Carol Ibrahim, Gandhi Saad, and Lourdina Baboun. ]

raiding jenin

Rania Wasfi, program coordinator at The Freedom Theatre, whose home was turned over by the army.

The Jenin Freedom Theatre website reported on 27th March a raid by Israeli soldiers on the home of its co-ordinator, Rania Wasfi.

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‘Beautiful resistance’ meets cynical culture-washing on Edinburgh Fringe

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Best singers

Alrowwad singers. Picture by Phil Chetwynd

The Edinburgh Fringe’s renowned open platform for all forms of artistic expression produced a curious juxtaposition this year, as Palestinians deployed creativity to shatter the bonds of political repression while Israeli state apologists cloaked a discredited political message in threadbare cultural clothing.

The gulf between the two was demonstrated in the pages of Scotland’s press, the airwaves and in the streets, as well as in performance and display spaces across the city.

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Boycott message reaches Baaba Maal: please don’t play Israel’s PR game

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Baab Maal WOMAD by Paul Hellyer

Baaba Maal  on stage during WOMAD 2016 (Picture credit: Paul Hellyer)                                                        

“I’ve been a fan of Baaba Maal for around a quarter century. The thought of him playing in apartheid Israel instead of showing solidarity with the Palestinian people makes no sense to me” – audience member at the WOMAD festival.

The campaign to persuade renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal to reconsider his decision to perform on September 20 in Occupied East Jerusalem made headway last week with his appearance at two music festivals in the UK and boycott calls spreading internationally.

Israeli citizens urged him to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people, addressing him in his own words: “I stand as one because I believe we all deserve to live in safety.”

The call was taken up in France at the same time as leaflets headlined “Baaba Maal: Don’t support apartheid Israel” were well-received by the crowd at Baaba’s gig at the WOMAD, Charlton Park, festival in southwest England on Saturday July 30. They were mentioned by Financial Times reviewer David Honigmann in his festival report.

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Israel’s war on Palestinian media – Why no protest from the UK government?

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In March 2016, Israel continued its assault on Palestinian media organisations by closing down the TV station, Palestine Today, and arresting some of its staff. The British government, so vocal at other times in its defence of ‘democratic values’, responded only with silence.  The APUK collective sent this letter to the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, to request that he apply the principles that apparently underpin his government’s domestic policy, to relations with Britain’s allies overseas. We await a reply.

Israeli troops invading Palestinian radio station. Picture:Palestine News Network.

Israeli troops invading Palestinian radio station. Picture:Palestine News Network.

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Strategy of Silencing: What Britain does for its ally Israel

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In its determination to assist Israel in silencing criticism, the British government betrays the values of freedom and tolerance that it claims to see as fundamental. This article, written by a member of the Artists for Palestine UK collective, charts the resulting pattern of attacks on the rights of Israel’s critics in Britain, from local councils to academics and arts organisations.

 

2016 began with ringing declarations about British liberty. David Cameron’s New Year message to the nation contrasted the freedom and tolerance of ‘our way of life’ with the ‘poisonous narrative of grievance and resentment’ laid out by ‘murderous extremists’, seething with hatred for the west.

These are claims that have come to sound more hollow with every month that passes. Domestically, the Prevent strategy operationalises the defence of ‘freedom’ with an apparatus of reporting and repression which extends across schools, universities and the NHS – some NHS trusts have made it mandatory for staff to attend Prevent workshops.  In its foreign policy, Cameron’s government holds firmly to alliances with states which are deeply committed to the oppression of the populations they rule over: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, to name only the most prominent. Turkey, a NATO member, uses airstrikes against its Kurdish population without reaction from the defenders of freedom. Saudi Arabia kills its opponents, and is met only with an expression of ‘disappointment’ from a British junior minister.

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