Why Are Artists Boycotting Sydney Festival for Palestine?

It's complicated.

You’re not alone if you think the Israel-Palestine conflict feels so far away and complex to even know where to begin with it.

So, the latest news of Emma Watson copping flack, and Australian artists boycotting the Sydney Festival in support of Palestine could be a bit of a puzzling pill to digest.

It’s as complicated as it is important. So we’re here to break it down for you as best we can.

What’s happened?

The Sydney Festival opened on Thursday 6 January with more than 25 acts withdrawn from the festival.

The boycott is a direct response to a $20,000 grant from the Israeli Embassy in Canberra toward a dance work in the festival by Israeli choreographer, Ohad Naharin.

Naharin themselves has said they support the efforts of the boycott, yet believe there are better ways to advance the cause.

Comedian Tom Ballard and First Nations musician, Barkaa are amongst those to pull out of the festival.

The Guardian reports the sponsorship deal was sealed in the same month Israeli armed forces launched a series of air attacks on Gaza last year, killing several Palestinian civilians.

Sydney Festival has since responded to the claims, saying they respect the rights of all groups to protest and raise concerns.

The Guardian reports the festival now says it will be reviewing all funding arrangements with embassies.

 

 

 

 

 

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Why is it a big deal?

According to SBS, the boycott of the festival comes under the umbrella of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The BDS is a global initiative led by Palestinians that “aims to place economic sanctions on the state of Israel and associations linked to it”.

In an open letter, the BDS Australia group writes that the funding “art washes” (using art in a positive way to distract from or legitimise negative actions by country or government) the Israeli regime’s control over the lives of Palestinians.

Critics have mirrored the response,  saying “arts, culture, and politics cannot be separated”.

In her article about the boycott published by The Conversation, Associate Professor in Culture at The University of Melbourne, Jo Caust, said this isn’t an isolated incident, and that it’s “part of a broader global debate around sources of arts funding”.

But there’s more to it…

This stems deeply from the conflict that’s been going on for decades in the middle east and as far as arts funding goes there’s a heavy history of protest over arts sponsorship too.

Jenine Khalik, A Palestinian-Australian writer and content creator helped organise the Sydney Festival boycott and wrote an opinion piece about it for Sydney Morning Herald.

In it, she brings forward the common comparison of the Israel regime of South Africa’s apartheid.

This was where a system of institutionalised racial segregation existed for more than half a century until the early 1990s.

The state of Israel has strenuously rejected these claims of similarity. 

Khalik also details examples of erasure of the Palestinian identity in the arts. She says the decades of complex mistreatment is why Palestinian civil society has called on the international community to “boycott, divest from and sanction Israel until Palestinians are free.”

The experience of Palestinians has also led to acts of solidarity within the Australian Indigenous community who see similarities between their ongoing treatment and the historical experience of removal from their land.

As you’ve probably gathered, the debate is super complex. Given that Israel is defined as a Jewish state, arguments against it are often accused as anti-Semitic (religiously discriminatory toward Jewish people.)

For example, alongside all this conversation in Australia—across the world, Harry Potter star Emma Watson is also receiving backlash for showing her support for Palestine.

In response, people argue that supporting Palestine is not part of the big, real issue of antisemitism, and support for Palestinians doesn’t equate hatred for Jewish people.

What can I do about it?

We totally understand if this all seems a bit far away, and a bit too much. But we highly recommend doing your own research if you want to understand more.

Triple j Hack has done a solid explainer, and we broke down the Israel/Hamas ceasefire last year.  

Louis Theroux’s The Ultra Zionist doco on Stan is a also a great watch.

You can also look into donating to not-for-profit charities to help those who have been affected and displaced by the conflict.

Header Image: TIMO via Pexels