A cancelled literary festival at Home in Manchester will go ahead following protests outside the arts venue and an open letter signed by 300 artists.
Home originally said it would not go ahead with the Voices of Resilience festival after the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester (JRCGM) claimed that one of the speakers, writer and the Palestinian Authority culture minister Atef Abu Saif, had engaged in antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
The festival pointed to the numerous times Saif had condemned Nazi atrocities, and said it was considering legal action against what they said were libellous accusations.
Announcing its U-turn, a theatre spokesperson told the Guardian: ‘We support Palestinian and all community voices, and acknowledge that we can learn from how this was handled.’
Numerous Palestinian and Arab arts events, exhibitions and speakers have been cancelled globally since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israelis, and the subsequent retaliation of Israel that has seen an estimated 33,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza.
In November, the Arnofini gallery in Bristol cancelled two Palestinian film festivals as it said it they could be ‘construed as political activity’. The same month, the Saarlandmuseum in Saarbrücken, Germany pulled an exhibition by Jewish South African artist Candice Breitz, stating the artists in support of Palestine amounted to ‘antisemitism’. Likewise, in January Palestinian artist Samia Halaby was informed by a two sentence email that her retrospective at Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art in the US was to be pulled because she condemned what a new UN resolution has since described as ‘possible war crimes and crimes against humanity’ by Israeli military.
Comma Press, who organise the Voices of Resilience festival, welcomed the reversal: ‘This is a potential watershed moment in the campaign against the intimidation that arts venues face for showcasing Palestinian artists and voices.’
‘We urge other venues and institutions to take inspiration from what has become a collaborative and active listening process between us and HOME. We hope that other venues and institutions can initiate fresh conversations with artists, speakers, and creators whose work has previously been sidelined or cancelled. We believe this is a critical step towards upholding values of artistic expression and inclusivity.’
