Palestinian artist, curator and poet Ashraf Fayadh is serving an eight year term in a Saudi jail, sentenced to receive 800 lashes for alleged apostasy. Here a member of the Artists for Palestine UK collective reviews the significance of this alarming case.
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,…
In its determination to assist Israel in silencing criticism, the British government betrays the values of freedom and tolerance that it claims to see as fundamental. This article, written by a member of the Artists for Palestine UK collective, charts the resulting pattern of attacks on the rights of Israel’s critics in Britain, from local…
Musician Roger Waters speaks out against the criminalisation in France of non-violent boycott in defence of Palestinian rights. We reproduce his letter, picked up from a French news agency by the website Mondoweiss. —————————————————— Mes Cher Citoyens, Along with most thinking, feeling and compassionate members of global civil society, I deplore the occupation of Palestine and…
Artists for Palestine UK, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, and the Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine call on our respective governments to take action in response to the news of the death sentence passed on Palestinian poet and curator Ashraf Fayadh – for being a poet and curator. Here…
Daniel Barenboim, Israel and Iran: an APUK statement Newspapers in Israel, the US and Europe reported last week that Daniel Barenboim, one of the world’s foremost pianists and conductors, was planning to take a Berlin orchestra [the Staatskapelle] to Iran for a concert. Immediately, Israel’s culture minister Miri Regev stepped in to call for the concert…
A petition signed by 2,000 Israeli artists has exposed the censorious instincts of the Israeli state, epitomised by its new Culture Minister Miri Regev. “CULTURE CLASH” CONTINUES AS MINISTER REGEV TAKES FURTHER AIM AT ARTISTS A war of words between Israel’s new Culture Minister Miri Regev and a group of leading Israeli artists continued yesterday over…
Let audiences be the judge of Palestinian theatre on UK tour (NB this original text differs slightly from the version published by the Daily Mail on May 8) As theatre practitioners in Britain, we are alarmed that the Daily Mail is attacking the Arts Council and the British Council for supporting a UK tour by…
This piece by Asa Winstanley, originally published on Electronic Intifada, explains how Southampton University came to cancel an academic conference about Israel’s legal status following a campaign of vilification by pro-Israel lobbyists, including members of the Conservative-led UK government. Letters from playwright Caryl Churchill and academics Hilary and Steven Rose contested the cancellation in the…
Sajid Javid’s comments on Israeli sponsorship ‘breached the principle of an arms-length relationship between the government and the arts’, writes Caryl Churchill – UK playwright, and Artists’ Pledge signatory. Two letters defending academic and artistic freedom from bullying and censorship by the Israel lobby were published in the Guardian, Monday 6 April 2015 • In late March we…