On November 9 in Rome, for the second night in a row, protests were organized against the Israeli Embassy sponsored performance of the Batsheva Dance Company at the RomaEuropa Festival. Over 50 activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign demonstrated outside the Auditorium Santa Cecilia against the decision of the dance company to lend itself as cultural fig leaf to conceal ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.
In addition to being financed by the Israeli government as well as the Jewish National Fund, which plays a key role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, Batsheva is also a central figure of Brand Israel, a marketing campaign developed by the Israeli government, in consultation with US public relations experts, with the declared intention of diverting the attention of world public opinion from a decades-long brutal occupation and Apartheid regime. The direct links that Batsheva maintains with the Israeli government makes it impossible to describe the company as 'apolitical'.
Despite the massive police presence that prevented demonstrators from approaching the Auditorium, the protest was both seen and heard by the audience, with leaflets and chants calling for boycotts. A large poster depicting the graphic of the UK boycott Batsheva campaign (produced in Scotland) was attached above a traffic signal, and together with signs and stickers left behind, was still present the following day.
An online campaign to raise awareness opened up the debate on cultural boycotts, creating a space for activists to explain the reasons behind the Palestinian led campaign, which is never against individual artists or groups but against those who choose to maintain institutional relations with the Israeli government, thereby lending their talents for propaganda. Hundreds of people sent letters to the RomaEuropa Festival calling for withdrawal of the invitation to Batsheva and several people informed the campaign that they had decided not to attend. A ticket was burned in front of the theater in solidarity with those who refused to be complicit with Apartheid.
The previous evening, protests took place inside the theater, where activists interrupted the show, in the presence of the Israeli ambassador, to denounce the role that the dance company plays in covering for Israel’s inhumane policies.
Unfurling a banner reading "Boycott Apartheid. Boycott Israel "and chanting "Batsheva, you're an accomplice! Say NO to Occupation!", the protesters called on the dancers to refuse to be instruments of the Brand Israel project and reject government funding.
The protests in Rome were held at the same time as those in Brighton (UK) at the performance of the Batsheva Dance Ensemble. One of the two shows programmed in Brighton had been canceled for "security reasons". The protests in Rome and Brighton are part of the international campaign "Don’t Dance with Israeli Apartheid" of the BDS movement, which organized protests earlier this year in North America and, starting this summer, throughout the UK.
Protests will continue until Batsheva commits itself, in word and in deed, to oppose violations of Palestinian rights, refusing to be part of Israel’s ideological justification, through art and culture, of the ruthless colonial occupation of Palestine, a request the company has thus far ignored. Additional protests at Batsheva performances are scheduled for 12-13 November in Turin, and in the UK in Birmingham, Leicester, London and Plymouth.
For more information about the campaign "Don’t Dance with Israeli Apartheid" and the BDS movement:
http://bdsitalia.org/
http://www.no2brandisrael.org/
http://www.bdsmovement.net/
http://pacbi.org/