Artists stand with Ken Loach and against McCarthyism
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.
Palestine
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Brian Eno: Artists must call out Germany’s anti-Palestinian witch-hunt
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…
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Brian Eno: Israel must not be allowed to use Eurovision as a propaganda tool
“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
Today a wave of DJs, producers, record labels, electronic musicians are speaking up for Palestine and endorsing the cultural boycott of Israel. Using the hashtag #DJsForPalestine, this collective action follows a similar wave from bands, including artists such as 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.
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Jamiroquai, will you stand with the Palestinians?
Palestinians pay with life and limb for their protests, and they ask for your support. Will you stand with them? Will you cancel your concert in Israel?
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Israeli cultural whitewash fails to impress at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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…
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Artswatch Palestine: February-March 2017
ARTWATCH DIGEST: FEBRUARY – MARCH 2017
* Raiding Jenin
* Raiding Aida
* Shutting down a Theatre
* Controlling the film industry
* Putting poetry on trial
* Making Music -
‘Beautiful resistance’ meets cynical culture-washing on Edinburgh Fringe
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,…
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Boycott message reaches Baaba Maal: please don’t play Israel’s PR game
“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.”
Paul Hellyer, WOMAD audience member -
Israel’s war on Palestinian media – Why no protest from the UK government?
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,…
