The war in Ukraine continues after three years. There are new horrors in Syria. There is slaughter in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is chaos with our neighbour to the south, as the President of the United States seems to be at war with everybody. There is a tenuous cease fire between Israel and Gaza, but where are the hostages after more than a year and a half? And globally, antisemitism is at an all-time high.
The theatre brings us together as a community, bridging our differences, connecting us with our similarities, to hear stories from our world from various points of view. We may agree with one side over the other side or even agree with both sides. There are three sides to every story: one side, the other side and the truth. We need to hear both sides to find the third side. Without that willingness to listen to things we don’t want to hear we have blinkered ignorance.
What then to make of these two articles that note that 18 publicly funded performing arts organizations in Canada, nine from Toronto, are supporting the cultural and academic boycott of Israel?
The 18 organizations collectively called Theatre Artists for Palestinian Voices (TAPV) endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel (PACBI), the cultural arm of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee, which leads corporate, academic and cultural boycotts of organizations affiliated with Israel.
Boycotting a voice/culture is censorship. It is racist and despicable.
In a statement: “TAPV is a coalition of Palestinian, Indigenous, Jewish and allied artists and arts workers committed to bringing a diversity of Palestinian voices to our stages…..”
What are you waiting for? Start programming those Palestinian voices!
You might consider The Arab-Israeli Cookbook by Robin Soans. The play presents many sides of a horrible situation, all true. You might also consider The Runner by Christopher Morris, which will be presented by The Harold Green Jewish Theatre and Koffler Arts, April 26-May 4–lots of angst about this play. I’m glad someone has the guts to present it.
To repeat: boycotting a voice/culture is censorship. It is racist and despicable. Let’s do better.