HOW DO WE STAND WITH PALESTINE?

We spoke about the different situations for people. Some are finding their organisation are blank refusing to talk about it, others finding there is pushback. There is diverging opinions of what goes on social media, which cause to support etc.

There are several organisations who are already organising:
Arts Workers For Palestine (mainly based in Scotland but anyone can join)
Culture Workers Against Genocide

Open to different entry levels and skills. Sub-groups mean there’s different ways to get involved. These include platforming Palestinian voices, fundraising, making space for children, researching and sharing information about boycotts and getting the facts.

There are ways to share Palestinian stories, for example Complicite theatre company have been sharing examples of artists. Companies can stage the Gaza Monologues. Boycotts of South By South West festival who are sponsored by the US military.

We discussed it might be easier to come at the genocide from an artists angle, e.g artists standing with artists, which is what happened when staff at the Freedom Theatre were arrested.

We talked about taking arts to a protest, getting together painters and musicians and dancers and getting involved with local demos and activism.

It’s also sometimes useful to come from a charity/humanitarian angle rather than activism if that helps appeal to people and get through the layers of an organisation. It’s easier for organisations that work with children who can focus on the rights of the child.

We discussed how boycotts can affect freelance artists. If something if being cancelled for good reason, make sure the freelancers and zero hour staff are compensated.

We also discussed what ‘Stand’ means, and we discussed the recording and archiving of voices for posterity. That sharing stories prove this happened and these people exist.

Why is there silence? It’s normalised, people aren’t allowed to have a conversation.
People feel powerless in the grand scale.
Layers of fear, a racial dimension, that the West has to confront it’s own history and accountability. We have cycles of grief and denial.

“Art is supposed to comfort the distressed and distress the comfortable”.

We ended by signing a statement and pinning it to the wall for others to sign.