Sir, – We wish to express our support for the Palestinian call for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it abides fully by its obligations under international law and the Palestinian people enjoy the fruits of freedom, justice and equality.
The campaign for a cultural boycott of Israel is an important and integral aspect of this strategy as the Israeli state seeks to use culture, in particular, to whitewash it’s record of occupation, apartheid and war crimes.
We salute the courage of the more than 200 Irish artists who have signed a pledge not to perform in Israel, and support the efforts of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) to promote this non-violent campaign. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Congratulations are due Dr Deane, Cultural Liaison and Sporting Boycott Officer – what a grandiloquent title. Perhaps he should add and flag censor of the Irish Friends of Palestine. Five letters of Palestinian propaganda in this newspaper in one day (May 29th) takes some organisation. Surely a record! A far greater achievement however is the fine article by Gerard Donovan “So much for Irish artists sharing ideas without interference” (Opinion, May 26th), which interferences by Dr Deane and co are indeed intimidating, coercive and insidious. A demonstration against flying the blue and white Israeli Flag, the Mogen David.
Gerard Donovan is correct in writing, “what has happened to Irish artists sharing their ideas without interference? What happened to “that is what we do”. I would add to all others, and mind your own business.
Have Dr Deane and friends never considered that creative artists, in whatever field, are amongst the best communicators in the world?
Communication is the very essence of their work. To deny them the right to communicate in Israel, where talk is freely open and I would have thought, to be promoted not opposed amongst those of differing views, is to adopt a destructive attitude with more than an odour of fascism.
Some time ago I witnessed an anti-Israel demonstration in O’Connell Street, where the gathering was harangued through bull horns by a number of trades union leaders. From my stance some half way back, not a word could be deciphered, yet at every pause the assembled five hundred or so cheered and roared. At what I wondered? Never mind, it was anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, the centuries old yet ongoing, fashion of the moment. – Yours, etc,