QUARTET FIDDLES WHILE PALESTINE BURNS – BOYCOTT THE JERUSALEM STRING QUARTET!
Join a local protest or organize your local action – contact us at usacbi@usacbi.org!
The Jerusalem String Quartet is embarking on a North American tour from October 2-16, 2011 (visiting Vancouver, BC; Costa Mesa, CA; Tucson, AZ; Logan, UT; Downers Grove, a Chicago suburb, IL; Houston, TX; Toronto, ON; West Lafayette, IN; and Louisville, KY). The Quartet, a premier Israeli musical institution and a project of the Jerusalem Music Centre, has been protested by Palestine solidarity and Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) activists around the world during its tours over the years.
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is calling for boycotts and protests of the Jerusalem String Quartet at all of its performance locations during its North American tour, in accordance with the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and the call for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
Please see details below for your city and join the call to boycott! Contact usacbi@usacbi.org for protest information and to share local information about your protest of the Jerusalem String Quartet.
Arts and culture have become an important weapon in the Israeli government’s public relations campaign, and in 2006, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an initiative called “Brand Israel,” to salvage Israel’s deteriorating image abroad. Arye Mekel of Israel’s Foreign Ministry has stated that, “We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits… This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.”
The Jerusalem Music Centre, the home base for the Jerusalem String Quartet, is prominently featured on the Foreign Ministry website, revealing how it is among the Israeli cultural institutions that are all part of the ongoing effort to “re-brand” Israel’s image in the West. Thus, Israel is portrayed as an enlightened center of arts and technology, thereby concealing the ugly facts about its occupation, racial discrimination and grave violations of international law and fundamental Palestinian rights.
Although the Centre claims to be independent, it cooperates readily with practically all leading organisations of music and music education in Israel and is funded by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, a backer of the racist Jewish National Fund (instrumental in the Nakba and a key active participant in the ongoing displacement of millions of Palestinians, including), and whose stated purpose is to “showcase the State of Israel as a thriving cultural environment that stimulates creativity and artistic life.” The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated in an article that the Jerusalem Quartet receives professional patronage from the Unit for Young Musicians at the Music Centre and the Israeli ambassador to the UK said in 2008 when protesters disrupted the Quartet at the Edinburgh Festival “we must not give in to attempts to sabotage the marketing of Israeli art and culture….”
Since the quartet has made no attempt to dissociate itself from Israel”s apartheid policies, we can only assume that it is happy to play under the patronage of the State of Israel and/or its institutions while the charges of war crimes against Israel hang thick in the air worldwide.
Join us to Boycott the Jerusalem String Quartet! Send details of your local protests to usacbi@usacbi.org for posting onUSACBI’s website and sharing widely!
PERFORMANCE AND PROTEST DETAILS
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Vancouver, BC, Canada
PROTEST at 2:30 PM
Performance at 3:00 PM
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC
6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver
For more information about the protest, contact the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign at boycottapartheid@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Costa Mesa, CA, USA
PROTEST from 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa
Meet at the intersection of Anton Blvd. and Avenue of the Arts
For more information about the protest, email: jsqboycott@gmail.com
Protest organized by: Al-Awda, LA; ANSWER,LA; ARA-LA/People Against Racist Terror; BDS -LA Justice for Palestinians; CEIA-SC (Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid; Friends of Sabeel – OC, LA; IDC (Israel Divestment Campaign Orange County Peace & Freedom Party; Progressive Iranians of Southern California; US Academic and Cultural Boycott Campaign; US Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid; WIB-LA (Women in Black-Los Angeles)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tucson, AZ, USA
PROTEST TBA – contact usacbi@usacbi.org to announce!
Performance at 7:30 PM,
Leo Rich Theater, Tucson, AZ
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Logan, UT, USA
PROTEST TBA – contact usacbi@usacbi.org to announce!
Performance at 7:30 PM
Performance Hall, Campus of Utah State University
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Downers Grove, IL, USA (outside Chicago)
PROTEST TBA – contact usacbi@usacbi.org to announce!
Performance at 3:00 PM
Johnson Auditorium Downers Grove North High School, Downers Grove, IL
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Houston, TX, USA
PROTEST TBA – contact usacbi@usacbi.org to announce!
Performance at 8:00 PM
Stude Concert Hall Shepherd School of Music, Houston
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Toronto, ON, Canada
WHERE: St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts, 27 Front Street East
(1 block East of Yonge Street, South side)
abroad in an effort to whitewash the ongoing crimes, human rights abuses, and apartheid they are responsible for.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
West Lafayette, IN
PROTEST TBA – contact usacbi@usacbi.org to announce!
Performance at 8:00 PM
Loeb Playhouse, Purdue University
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Louisville, KY, USA
A demonstration to protest the Jerusalem Quartet”s performance will be held at 2:30 pm on October 16 at the University of Louisville, Belknap Campus, School of Music, Margaret Comstock Hall prior to the Quartet”s scheduled performance at 3 pm.
Performance at 3:00 PM
Margaret Comstock Hall, University of Louisville
