More Than 1300 Artists Signs Letter Accusing Art Institution Of Censoring Palestine
More than 1300 artists including Oscar winning-actress Olivia Colmann, Oliver Award winners Harriet Walter and Juliet Stevenson, BAFTA winners have signed a letter accusing the cultural institutions across the western countries for “repressing, silencing and stigmatizing Palestinian voices and perspectives”.
Other signatories include, Aimee Lou Wood and Siobhán McSweeney, Paapa Essiedu, Susanne Wokoma, Youseff Kerkour, Nicola Coughlan, Amir El-Masry and Lolly Adefope.
They also wrote in the letter that this repression and stigmatisation includes targeting and threatening the livelihoods of artists and art workers who express solidarity with Palestinians, as well as cancelling performances, screenings, talks, exhibitions and book launches”.
Nevertheless, the artists all around the world but has followed their conscience and continued to speak out. “Freedom of expression, as enshrined in the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights is the backbone of our creative lives, and fundamental to democracy,” the letter read.
The letter also cited some examples in which the institution attributed the cancellation of several events due to the artists pro-Palestine stance, this includes, Lisson Gallery’s ‘postponement’ of a London exhibition by Ai Weiwei; Folkwang Museum in Essen’s last minute cancellation of curator Anais Duplan’s Afrofuturism exhibition, and the Saarland Museum’s cancellation of a solo exhibition of artist Candice Brietz, both in Germany; the announcement by Hollywood producers that they had dropped actor Melissa Barrero from Scream VII. This was highly criticised by the artists as the reason for the cancellation was un to the content of their professional work.
The artists accused the art organisations for their ‘disturbing double standards’ stating that the ‘expression of solidarity readily offered to other peoples facing brutal oppression, have not been extended to Palestinians’.
Many of the artists have refused to work in an environment that to failed to meet the basic obligations which is to uphold the freedom of expression and anti-discrimination in the case of Palestine.
In solidarity with the Palestinians, two thousand poets announced boycott of the Poetry Foundation in the US after its magazine refused to publish a book review. As part of the protest, many artists and workers declared that they will no longer work with the Artforum magazine. The editorial staff of the magazine resigned in response to the firing of the editor David Velasco who published a letter, signed by 8000 artists that called for a ceasefire and for ‘Palestinian liberation”.
On 24th November, UN expressed its solidarity to the artists who have been pushed out of their jobs for voicing out for Palestine. They put out a statement stating that ‘speaking out on Gaza/ Israel must be allowed’.
The letter called out on the arts and culture sector to demand for a permanent ceasefire and promote and amplify the voices of Palestinian artists, writers and thinkers. They also demanded the sector to stand up for Palestinian rights and to refuse collaboration with any institutions which are complicit in severe human right violations.
