Campaign support skyrockets

Support for the Sydney Festival Boycott campaign has skyrocketed -  this petition has now reached over 10,000 signatures! Thanks to all of you for being part of this amazing action.  

BDS Australia issued a media release this week acknowledging the breadth of this campaign. 

The success of this campaign is a measure of the dedication and skill of the organising artists and those that have withdrawn from the Festival as well as Palestinian activists and allies and solidarity and support from many First Nations artists who so well understand the experience of colonisation and dispossession.

Again we’re asking that we all take action to support artists involved in this boycott. Artist and venue withdrawals from the Sydney Festival have come at no small cost to them.  Artists have lost income and the opportunity to perform and be seen at this major Australian festival. However many are still performing their shows outside the Festival. We can acknowledge their principled actions by buying tickets to their shows (if you’re in Sydney). Check out boycottsydneyfest and its Instagram linktree where you can see a list of all the artists/creatives who have withdrawn and links to their shows. 

Over 1000 artists and creatives sent letters on the petition Artists Against Apartheid – Drop Israeli Regime Partnership

Jews and Jewish organisations have penned a strong statement of support -  A Jewish Response to the Sydney Festival Boycott

While hundreds of citizens of the Israeli state as part of Boycott from Within, have written asking the Sydney Festival to respect the Palestinian civil society BDS call, especially its cultural aspect, and cut ties with the Israeli embassy. 

There’s been some recent national media coverage including on the ABC’s 7.30 featuring Palestinian activist and journalist, Jeannine Khalik, and Maissa Alameddine from the Ensemble Dandana from the Arab Theatre Studio, which was the first ensemble to withdraw from the Festival.

Photo credit: Aman Kapoor