{"id":53849,"date":"2015-02-16T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=53849"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:26:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:26:06","slug":"700-british-artists-pledge-to-boycott-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/02\/700-british-artists-pledge-to-boycott-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"700 British Artists Pledge to Boycott Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Roger<\/a>

Roger Waters, Pink Floyd<\/p><\/div>\n

15 Feb 2015<\/em> – 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.<\/p>\n

The group, including actors, musicians, and writers, wrote their pledge in a letter published Saturday by Britain\u2019s Guardian newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n

In their letter, the signatories says that Israel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the summer war on Gaza, Palestinians have enjoyed no respite from Israel\u2019s unrelenting attack on their land, their livelihood, their right to political existence. \u20182014,\u2019 says the Israeli human rights organization B\u2019Tselem, was \u2018one of the cruelest and deadliest in the history of the occupation.\u2019 The Palestinian catastrophe goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s 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 \u2018Brand Israel.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring South African apartheid, musicians announced they were not going to \u2018play Sun City.\u2019 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,\u201d they further emphasized.<\/p>\n

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\/.<\/p>\n

The group \u2018Artists for Palestine\u2019 which launched the cultural boycott campaign said the invitation remains open for more British luminaries to join.<\/p>\n

The list of signatories includes a number of well-known artists based in the UK, including:<\/p>\n

-Writers<\/strong> \u00a0William Dalrymple, Aminatta Forna, Bonnie Greer, Mark Haddon, Hari Kunzru, Liz Lochhead, Jimmy McGovern, China Mieville, Andrew O\u2019Hagan, Michael Rosen, Kamila Shamsie, Hanan al-Shaykh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Marina Warner, Benjamin Zephaniah,\u00a0Tariq Ali<\/p>\n

-Film directors<\/strong> Mike Hodges, Asif Kapadia, Peter Kosminsky, Mike Leigh, Phyllida Lloyd, Ken Loach, Roger Michell, Michael Radford, Julien Temple<\/p>\n

-Comedians<\/strong> Jeremy Hardy, Alexei Sayle, Mark Thomas<\/p>\n

-Musicians<\/strong> Richard Ashcroft, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Kate Tempest, Roger Waters, Robert Wyatt<\/p>\n

-Actors<\/strong> Rizwan Ahmed, Anna Carteret, David Calder, Simon McBurney, Miriam Margolyes<\/p>\n

-Theater writers\/directors<\/strong> Caryl Churchill, David Edgar, Dominic Cooke CBE, Sir Jonathan Miller, Mark Ravenhill<\/p>\n

-Visual Arts<\/strong> Phyllida Barlow, John Berger, Jeremy Deller, Mona Hatoum<\/p>\n

Architects <\/strong>Peter Ahrends, Will Alsop.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cThe 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director and screenwriter Michael Radford said that: \u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read the complete list of statements made by the British artists who signed the pledge Click Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Songwriter and children\u2019s author Leon Rosselson, a signatory to the pledge, chose one of his songs, which was performed in August 2014 \u201cThe Ballad of Rivka and Mohammad\u201d as his statement.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0A song which tells the story of two children in two different wars.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We have posted this song on YouTube account before, and they closed our Channel claiming that we are violating the guidelines.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Can you tell us what the guidelines that we have violated are?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0To watch the video please Go to Original.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 falastinews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}