Over 250 arts organisations call for cultural boycott of Israel

Over 250 cultural organisations, theatre companies, and festivals in the Netherlands and Belgium have signed a statement calling for a boycott of Israeli cultural organisations in protest against the continuing genocidal violence in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.

Among the Dutch participants are TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the Bonnefanten museum in Maastricht, the Oostpool theatre in Arnhem, and the Nederlands Theater Festival in Amsterdam.

Over 750 theatre makers, writers, and other artists have also signed up to the boycott, including artist Marlene Dumas, writer Tom Lanoye, and choreographer Alain Platel.

“The Dutch government is doing exactly nothing to put pressure on the Israeli government, so we, the citizens and artists, will have to do what we can,” Anne Breure, creative director of Theater Utrecht, told the Volkskrant.

“The cultural sector is made up of stories that make people think. This boycott tells everyone: do what you can. We can stop working with Israeli organisations but you can stop buying dates from Israel the next time you go to the supermarket,” she said.

The boycott is aimed exclusively at Israeli cultural organisations and companies connected with the state, for instance, by subsidies. Only organisations that are “not complicit in the breach of international law and have spoken out against the genocide, the recognised illegal occupation and apartheid” will be exempt, the statement said.

Individual Israeli artists are not included in the boycott, TivoliVredenburg director Jeroen Bartelse told the paper. “This is very important. Artists, musicians and others often play a crucial role in achieving social change and you don’t want to stand in the way of that,” he said.

The organisers said the action is mainly symbolic and “will not stop genocide” but may convince sports organisations, the academic world, businesses and politicians, to follow suit.

“This decision was not taken lightly,” they said. “Artistic exchange is the lifeblood of the cultural sector but it is no longer ‘business as usual’: the lawlessness must end.”