A man holds a sticker calling for a boycott against Israeli goods to protest against Israel’s 2014 offensive in Gaza in Pamplona, Northern Spain.
(ANTIMEDIA) London, UK – An ever-growing list of musicians, broadcasters, performance artists, movie makers, thespians, writers, and visual artists have pledged to engage in a cultural boycott of the Israeli government due to the violence against Palestinians last summer. The apartheid is also a major concern for the artists.
The massive list of signatories agreed with a very simple statement:
“We support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality. In response to the call from Palestinian artists and cultural workers for a cultural boycott of Israel, we pledge to accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
Artists for Palestine UK, issued an in-depth statement via the Guardian:
“We are announcing today that we will not engage in business-as-usual cultural relations with Israel. We will accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government. Since the summer war on Gaza, Palestinians have enjoyed no respite from Israel’s unrelenting attack on their land, their livelihood, their right to political existence. “2014,” says the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, was “one of the cruelest and deadliest in the history of the occupation.” The Palestinian catastrophe goes on.
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Israel’s wars are fought on the cultural front too. Its army targets Palestinian cultural institutions for attack, and prevents the free movement of cultural workers. Its own theatre companies perform to settler audiences on the West Bank – and those same companies tour the globe as cultural diplomats, in support of “Brand Israel”. During South African apartheid, musicians announced they weren’t going to “play Sun City”. Now we are saying, in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Ashkelon or Ariel, we won’t play music, accept awards, attend exhibitions, festivals or conferences, run masterclasses or workshops, until Israel respects international law and ends its colonial oppression of the Palestinians.”
The list of signatories is growing by the hour. A full list of signatories is available here.