Boycot Israel 51

La Carrau, a famous Catalan music group, has heeded an appeal by Palestinian and pro-Palestinian groups to boycott a festival in Acre, sponsored by the ultra-right Israeli municipality. Here's their statement.

Below that, an artistic response to another attempt to "re-brand" Tel Aviv and Israel in Vienna.

Omar Barghouti

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1013

La Carrau | 22 May 2009

"LA CARRAU IS CANCELLING ITS VISIT TO ACRE"

After having talks with the platforms promoting the boycott of Israel and with representatives of Catalan institutions and gathering as much information as possible about the events taking place on 24-25 May at Acre, Israel in which La Carrau has been invited to participate, we feel that we should make the following public statement: 

LA CARRAU IS CANCELLING ITS VISIT TO ACRE

First of all we would like to make very clear our total respect for the people of Israel and their different ethnic groups and cultures. We would also like to point out that we did not intend to take part for profit; we were invited to go, not hired. Our reward, rather than economic, was to be the chance to visit some wonderful places and get a close look at ways of life that are very different from our own, due not only to their cultural characteristics but also to the obvious incongruities of a problem that is still unresolved: the imbalance of cultures and religions.

Having said this, the reasons that finally led us to take our decision were:

- That in spite of the efforts we have made to contact different people, entities and media organisations, we have not been able to determine the exact nature of the events in which we are invited to take part.

-  That we understand and agree with the arguments given by the network of platforms for the cultural boycott of Israel, as long as this boycott is not aimed at personal initiatives and only affects events orchestrated by the institutions of the Israeli state. 

- That we do not wish to have anything to do with an event that could be used as propaganda by the official institutions of the state of Israel, and this seems especially likely when the promoter is the town council of Acre, which is extremely right wing and xenophobic in character.

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http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1014

24 May 2009

Summer actions against the "Tel Aviv Beach" on the Danube river in Vienna: Asking for Help

The Israeli chamber of commerce in Vienna (Austria) have got the permission, for the opening of the «Tel Aviv Beach »  from the Mayor of Vienna (Häupl, socialist)  on the Viennese Donaukanal (right bank) to honor the 100 years of Tel Aviv this year. On the 10th of May the beach has been opened to the public.

In  strong protest against this obscene « Tel Aviv Beach » all pro Palestinian organisations (Women in black, the anti-imperialist movement, the Austrian -Arab associations, moslem organisations,) together opened the «Gaza Beach » on the left bank of the Donaukanal.

The actions planned for the whole summer will disturb the « Israeli beach ambience. »  There will be a strong moment on the weekend of 27/28 june with the street theater from France playing  « Checkpoint » in featuring the brutal daily oppression in the OT and Gaza by the Israeli occupying army. There is also a military vehicle transformed into an Israeli prison with photos and films from the last barbaric Israeli offensive in Gaza.

We would like people of other countries to participate in the «checkpoint » play, which is mostly with gestures. It would be great if some people from other European countries could come on that weekend or on others:  the 20 June, 4 July and 8 August. The lodging of the activists will be assured by the organisation.

Photos of the last actions can be viewed on:
www.antiimperialista.org 

or press articles:
http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1603503/ 

Viva Palestina!

In Solidarity