Around 20 international performers pulls out of the 2022 Sydney Festival as according to them the event is “artwashing” of Israeli apartheid and oppression of Palestine, says report.
This huge boycott of the annual festival has come after Israel listed as a partner of the Sydney festival as Israeli embassy in Australia has made $20,000 of donation to support a choreographer from Israel.
The Palestinian Justice Movement of Sydney have stressed that deal was made in May 2021 and it is when Israel and Gaza Strip were in conflict in which over 250 Palestinians including many children were killed.
“Palestine advocates call on all opponents of apartheid to boycott the 2022 Sydney Festival,” it has said.
“By partnering with Israel, Sydney festival will contribute to the normalization of an apartheid regime.”
An open letter which was titled with ‘Do Better on Palestine’ has asked the Sydney festival organizers to cancel its partnership with the Israeli government.
“Israel has long used culture and the arts to cloak its atrocities against the Palestinian people,” the letter stated.
“The Sydney Festival Star Partnership with the Israeli embassy” serves to “artwash” the Israeli regime’s “violent control over the lives of Palestinians and enables the apartheid regime to continue to breach the human rights of Palestinians with impunity,” it also added.
More than 23 performers confirmed to have withdrawn from the Sydney festival to protest against event sponsorship by Israel.