 selected writing Letter sent to Minnesotan protesters of the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company tour
Hey folks, This is a message to those who said "Attending" at the Northrop Batsheva thing on Wed night. Not going to spam you or anything, just wanted to let you know what's going on... Compared to other stops on the tour, if this Facebook event page thing for tonight is true (the page says currently 65 attending), Minnesota is going to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Batsheva tour protests. Let's let them hear our voices, but let's do it right. Everyone is pissed off about Gaza. We should be pissed off about Gaza. This tour of dancing Israeli soldiers and any other cultural events that have a clear Israeli focus should be boycotted. I'm an artist. I'm a musician, I do design, I am with artists. But I am not "with" artists from countries that have systematically violated international law for decades, and I am not "with" artists who sign on to supporting stuff that's clearly whacked out. We don't talk to each other enough in the pro-Palestinian community, or as I would rather call it (not that anyone should not be pro-anyone) the anti-injustice, anti-violations of humanitarian law, anti-stuff that makes no common sense community. People are getting it. Look (all links in this article will open up into a new window, allowing you to remain here after you visited elsewhere): http://nigelparry.com/photos/jon-stewart-on-gaza.shtml We need to start talking to each other more. We need to start thinking aloud in new ways, so that we can all hear each other and get new ideas for different ways to approach this issue, about what we are doing. We need to step up at this awful time, this increasingly awful time of inexcusable violence towards Palestinians which we just saw in Gaza, but which is just the same pattern of everything that the Israelis have done for what now seems like forever. Basically, we're now looking at over a century of Zionist colonization. We better start thinking different if we want this to end before someone like me is writing to people like you--all of whom have long passed and gone--in another hundred years from now. Boycotting arts events is hard for me to do. Like I said earlier, I am an artist. And it is also true that some of Batsheva's peeps HAVE said things in opposition to the occupation. But they have also taken part in the official 60 years anniversary of the driving out of nearly a million Palestinians from their homes, and they are part of the lip gloss that is currently protecting a state that Amnesty and many, many other international human rights organizations agree committed war crimes. I am no longer "for" Israel. What I mean by that is that I am always open to the people of a country that fight against the blatant injustices of their state, because no struggle for liberation has historically not had a significant component from the oppressive community. Hell, we in America elected Bush twice. I get there's some technical disparities about that statement, but even if you agree that there were electoral irregularities in both elections, if the people here had been truly paying attention, then it wouldn't have been even slightly close enough to enable corruption. But that community needs to be put on notice. I am no longer "for" Israel because I know that the people there barely give a shit. The left wing is nominal. Look at the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president who not only existed concurrent to the massacre we all witnessed in Gaza, but who went on international media to 'explain it away'. I am especially angry during this particular killing spree because Israel fried Arab babies like turkeys. I am haunted by these two links, an image and video from January 8th: http://nigelparry.com/downloads/gaza-baby-jan-8-09.jpg The video is also super hard to watch, but do yourself the favor and get the focus: http://mefeedia.com/entry/israeli-war-crimes-burned-baby-to-death-in-gaza/13577950 These symbols tell me that our world has changed. Israel is no longer going to be left to do as it pleases. Gaza this last time was and should be the straw that broke every living camel's back. A Jewish woman called Medea Benjamin wrote a very cool article about that on commondreams.org. Here it is: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/17-10 Read her article. Follow the links. She's doing the right thing. Our world has changed. And we need to be very angry about how it has changed. But we need more than anything to develop new protest models. Not to replace letter writing, petitions, vigils, demonstrations, or anything similar. We need to develop new protest models because if our existing protest models worked by themselves, then Gaza would not have happened. This has finally started to happen. Tomorrow in Minneapolis, the high will be 22°F, so bundle up. There may be snow, which is always fun in the Twin Cities (if only to cover the last round of dogshit :-). Here are some things that have been developed for the demo. Tomorrow, come and help us do them, and come and help us start doing them more regularly... Tomorrow, a documentary called Occupation 101 is being screened at the Coffman Memorial Union on campus at 3:30pm - 6:30pm. Facebook event page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50738987556 Then there's the Batsheva thing... Here are some ideas for signs to bring: http://nigelparry.com/photos/batsheva-protest-signs.shtml I will be bringing these to hand out for use: http://nigelparry.com/protest-posters/ Then there's this. "Performance Preview. Come early and join us for “A Conversation About Batsheva” in Northrop's Studio 4 from 6:30 - 7:15 pm for a discussion amongst William and Nadine McGuire Senior Curator, Performing Arts, Philip Bither; Northrop Director, Ben Johnson, and Dance Historian, Judith Brin Ingber." Note that seats are limited and the "conversation" starts at 6:30pm (main performance starts at 7:30pm). It also looks like it's Northrop people answering the questions but I can't imagine at least one person from Batsheva wouldn't be there. Not sure how that changes the main protest start time but it would be great if a couple of well dressed people could turn up and ask questions. Suggestions would include: 1. How do Batsheva's dancers deal with the issue of military service conflicting with their dance calendar? Do they get exemption from military service? For example, were Batsheva members/Batsheva junior ensemble members required to take part in the recent war in Gaza? 2. Batsheva's company includes dancers from as far away as Brazil, France, and Japan. 25% of the population of Israel outside the Green Line is Arab. How many Arabs are part of the company and how many Arabs have been part of the company in its 45 year history? How many and when? 3. Batsheva is described as "perhaps the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture" by the Israeli government and its self-description often includes the phrase that "Batsheva is proud to be considered Israel's leading ambassador." How does Batsheva reconcile its international mission as an artistic ambassador with the reality of the racist, militaristic, and expansionist state that it represents? 4. How many Arab countries has Batsheva performed in? Let's get organized in a smart way. Let's do it with nice visuals. Let's make an impact tomorrow that leaves the audience feeling challenged but not intimidated. Batsheva is a world class dance company. Their artists do amazing stuff. But the world has changed and we need to start addressing that with all of our intelligence, all of our creativity, and all of our love. Without those three things, we will not see a free Palestine. And I'm sick of fried baby pictures. See you tomorrow in the snow to give the Zionist movement a deserved set back! Be creative, love your enemy, and let's get this stupid, obviously wrong conflict over so we can move on to stuff at home in this country where 12% of the population of roughly 300 million go to bed hungry every night. Respect and love, Nigel Parry 
more from this section  • The 2010 Olympics and Repression of Independent Media: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, February 15th, 2010)  • Israel & the Goldstone Report: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, February 1st, 2010) • Egypt and Gaza: Report for Rustbelt Radio (Monday, January 18th, 2010) • Press Release: G-20 Summit Leaves Pittsburgh, Questions About Freedom In America In Its Wake (Sunday, September 27th, 2009) • From St. Paul to Pittsburgh: Citizen Media is Not a Crime (Monday, September 21st, 2009) • Why St. Paul City Attorney John Choi is a danger to public safety (Friday, February 20th, 2009) • Letter sent to Minnesotan protesters of the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company tour (Wednesday, February 18th, 2009) |
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