700 British Artists Pledge to Boycott Israel

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 16 Feb 2015

Falastin News Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service

Roger Waters, Pink Floyd

15 Feb 2015 – A group of over 700 British artists signed a pledge to culturally and professionally boycott Israel to pressure an end to its aggressive and discriminatory practices against the Palestinians.

The group, including actors, musicians, and writers, wrote their pledge in a letter published Saturday by Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

“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,” the letter stated.

In their letter, the signatories says that Israel’s last war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014 and its ongoing attacks on Palestinian cultural institutions are some of the reasons that have prompted them to boycott Israel.

“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 organization B’Tselem, was ‘one of the cruelest and deadliest in the history of the occupation.’ The Palestinian catastrophe goes on.”

“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 were not going to ‘play Sun City.’ Now we are saying, in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Ashkelon or Ariel, we will not 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,” they further emphasized.

Notable signatories of the letter include film directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, legendary musician Brian Eno and art theorist John Berger. Musician Roger Waters, well known for his criticism of Israel, also signed up. The full list of names can be found on the website, http://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/.

The group ‘Artists for Palestine’ which launched the cultural boycott campaign said the invitation remains open for more British luminaries to join.

The list of signatories includes a number of well-known artists based in the UK, including:

-Writers  William Dalrymple, Aminatta Forna, Bonnie Greer, Mark Haddon, Hari Kunzru, Liz Lochhead, Jimmy McGovern, China Mieville, Andrew O’Hagan, Michael Rosen, Kamila Shamsie, Hanan al-Shaykh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Marina Warner, Benjamin Zephaniah, Tariq Ali

-Film directors Mike Hodges, Asif Kapadia, Peter Kosminsky, Mike Leigh, Phyllida Lloyd, Ken Loach, Roger Michell, Michael Radford, Julien Temple

-Comedians Jeremy Hardy, Alexei Sayle, Mark Thomas

-Musicians Richard Ashcroft, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Kate Tempest, Roger Waters, Robert Wyatt

-Actors Rizwan Ahmed, Anna Carteret, David Calder, Simon McBurney, Miriam Margolyes

-Theater writers/directors Caryl Churchill, David Edgar, Dominic Cooke CBE, Sir Jonathan Miller, Mark Ravenhill

-Visual Arts Phyllida Barlow, John Berger, Jeremy Deller, Mona Hatoum

Architects Peter Ahrends, Will Alsop.

These artists pledge to accept neither invitation nor funding from any institution linked to the Israeli government until Israel complies with the international law and principles of human rights.

The letter also included a statement by the Israeli writer Ofer Neiman who called on British and other international artists to join the boycott, by saying: “The Palestinian people are being dispossessed, tortured and massacred by a brutal and powerful regime. Israeli dissidents are too few to change this reality by themselves, from within. Artists, in the UK and elsewhere, can play an important role in the collective effort to stop the Israeli regime’s crimes, simply by saying no to the use of culture for Israeli state propaganda. Those who do so may face smearing and bullying, but they will find supporters all over the world, including Israeli citizens who will stand with them.”

Director and screenwriter Michael Radford said that: “As the son of a Jewish refugee, the anger and despair I feel can only faintly echo that of the people of Gaza. Art is a celebration of humanity, and the symbolic gesture of refusing any artistic collaboration with a state which values its own contribution to the arts so highly is the least we can do to protest against the horrifying inhumanity of its actions.”

To read the complete list of statements made by the British artists who signed the pledge Click Here

Songwriter and children’s author Leon Rosselson, a signatory to the pledge, chose one of his songs, which was performed in August 2014 “The Ballad of Rivka and Mohammad” as his statement.

 A song which tells the story of two children in two different wars.

 We have posted this song on YouTube account before, and they closed our Channel claiming that we are violating the guidelines.

 Can you tell us what the guidelines that we have violated are?

 To watch the video please Go to Original.

Go to Original – falastinews.com

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation’s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH 729, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!

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