- 40 activists protest in front of the venue in Ravenna
- Batsheva is a propaganda tool financed by the Israeli government in order to conceal its policies of occupation and apartheid in Palestine
- The participation of Batsheva in the Festival dishonours the memory of Mandela, defender of the Palestinian rights.
- After communicating the reasons behind the protest, several people declined to attend the show
On July 6 a group of about forty activists of the Italian Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions Campaign against Israel (BDS Italia) together with Palestine solidarity organisations in Ravenna protested in front of the Pala De André against the performance of the Israeli dance company Batsheva as part of the Ravenna Festival.
The activists distributed leaflets and displayed posters denouncing Batsheva’s role as a central figure of the marketing campaign Brand Israel, launched in 2009 by the Israeli government to present Israel as a “normal country” and to divert the attention of world public opinion from the continuous violations of Palestinian human rights and international law. Batsheva's Italian tour, similarly to those of other Israeli artists in the world, is financed by the Israeli government and sponsored by the Israeli embassy. The government of Israel openly admits using culture and arts as propaganda tools.
The activists also emphasized that Batsheva's participation is in clashing contrast with the dedication of the Ravenna Festival to Nelson Mandela and offends the memory of the leader of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and defender of the Palestinian rights.
The activists spoke to public, were not informed about Batsheva’s role, explaining the reasons behind the protest and introducing the BDS campaign. In some cases, more conscientious spectators decided not to attend the show.
Activists responded to the decision of the Ravenna Festival to confirm the participation of the Israeli dance company, in spite of the call from BDS Italia and organizations in Ravenna and the letters sent from Palestine, South Africa and Israel urging them to withdraw the invitation to Batsheva, with a series of awareness-raising and protest actions in the city and on social media, culminated in yesterday evening's demonstration.
The cultural boycott is not against individual Israeli artists, but against those choosing to maintain institutional relationships with the Israeli government, lending their talents to a propagandistic use of the arts, such as Batsheva.
While Ohad Naharin, Batsheva Dance Company’s artistic director, has criticized Israeli abuses of Palestinians, the calls to end collaboration with Brand Israel, to refuse funds from the Israeli government and to take a clear position against the violations of the Palestinian rights have gone unheeded.
While recently replying to a journalist on the role of dance in facilitating a better understanding of other people's ideas and cultures, the Israeli choreographer stated: "The arts can teach the virtue of a new solution and the advantage of abandoning old (bad) ideas. Dance in particular teaches us that national, religious, geographic and ethnic connotations have no importance”. However the art of Batsheva will be able to teach this virtue only when they take a clear position against Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights and international law by refusing to collaborate with a government that bases its discrimination and oppression against Palestinians precisely on the national, religious, geographic and ethnic connotations of its policies. When will Batsheva abandon the old (very bad) idea of being an accomplice of the colonization and apartheid policies of its government?
The protests against Batsheva and other Israeli artists will continue until they show, in word and in deed, they are against the violations of Palestinian rights by refusing to take part in the propagandistic apparatus of the Israeli government and to be accomplices of the colonial occupation and apartheid in Palestine.
Freedom, justice and equality for Palestinians.
BDS Italia