DV8 Physical Theatre

Lloyd Newson was contacted by Jenny Morgan, Miranda Pennell and Professor Jonathan Rosenhead in August 2012, who asked him to sign a letter of protest against the appearance of the Israeli dance company Batsheva at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Lloyd refused their request and his response, along with the original letter, can be found below.

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I was approached by Jenny Morgan, Miranda Pennell and Professor Jonathan Rosenhead to sign a letter they wanted published in The Scotsman concerning Batsheva Dance Company. Whilst the letter does not directly call for Batsheva to be banned from the Edinburgh Festival, their covering email, asking for my signature was more explicit:

“The internationally renowned Batsheva dance company will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival later this month. We would like to invite you to join other dance professionals in saying that this should not [my emphasis] be happening.” [See letter below]

The lack of public transparency by Morgan and her fellow authors about wanting Batsheva banned is duplicitous. I accept the right of all people to protest peacefully against what they find objectionable – by all means stand outside the Edinburgh Playhouse with your placards – but I am extremely wary of artists calling for the banning of other artists, except in exceptional circumstances where for example the work itself directly incites violence against an identifiable group of people. There is more than enough censorship and restriction of free speech around the world, particularly in the Middle East; we don’t want to follow suit here in Britain.

Morgan and her colleagues give the company’s director, Ohad Naharin, two highly simplified ‘options’:

“They [Batsheva] can clearly state the repugnance they feel for their government’s ongoing theft of land, its conversion of Gaza into an open-air prison for 1.7 million Palestinians, its refusal of the right of Palestinian refugees to return...or they can serve their government’s purposes by staying silent in the face of these crimes.”

The situation might be a little bit more complicated than the authors suggest. Glaringly, their demand ignores the fact that Naharin has publicly stated he is sympathetic to the frustrations experienced by Palestinians and has openly criticised the Israeli government.¹ It’s also disconcerting that Morgan, Pennell and Rosenhead exclusively cite Israel’s violations of international law and human rights abuses in their letter but neglect to mention that Palestine has been criticised for the very same reasons by organisations like Amnesty International:

“the undercurrent of violence and inherent abuses of fundamental human rights and disregard for international law [...] is presented by both sides [my emphasis].”²

The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict came to a similar conclusion.

Furthermore the authors state Israel “suppress(es) Palestinian culture” but they don’t make any references to Palestinian oppression of their own people, particularly women and homosexuals. For example, Unicef has stated “more than two-thirds of all murders in the Gaza strip and West bank were most likely 'honour' killings”³ and Palestinian women are discriminated against, largely due to Muslim religious traditions, when it comes to marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. Hamas co-founder and strategist Mahmoud Al-Zahar said the West “...are secular, you do not live like human beings. You do not (even) live like animals. You accept homosexuality.”⁴ The Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK (2010) published a report citing wide spread torture of Palestinians by their own (PA) security services.⁵ Morgan and her fellow authors conveniently ignore much of what is happening within the Palestinian Authority itself.

I condemn Israel’s building of settlements in occupied territory, they should stop holding Palestinian prisoners without trial and incarcerating children but equally Palestine should recognise Israel's right to exist, stop calling for Israel’s destruction and renounce terrorism.

If the authors of these letters are calling for Batsheva to be censored for the actions of the Israeli government, why then aren’t they also calling for Palestinian artists to be banned from performing in the UK because of human rights abuses by Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority, as highlighted by numerous human rights organisations?

To claim that Batsheva is complicit in Israeli 'crimes' because they receive some government money is equivalent to holding British artists responsible because Tony Blair decided to go to war against Iraq or for the alleged British involvement in rendition and torture. To ban or blame an arts organisation for their government's actions is problematic. To then apply that rule selectively is prejudice.

© This letter cannot be edited in any way without the prior permission of Lloyd Newson. Contact dv8@artsadmin.co.uk

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/arts/dance/ohad-naharin-and-batsheva-come-to-bam-with-hora.html?pagewanted=all "I think the current government is a bunch of bullies" / "I can totally identify with the frustrations of the Palestinians" - Quotes from Ohad Naharin.
2. http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/palestinian-authority
3. http://www.unicef.org/newsline/00pr17.htm
4. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/10/28/uk-palestinians-hamas-interview-idUKTRE69R21120101028
5. Documenting the crime of torture in the Palestinian Authority’s Territories, Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK in association with the Middle East Monitor. December 2010. http://tinyurl.com/9z66py8

Email to Lloyd Newson – DV8 Physical Theatre from Jenny Morgan.
On 06/08/2012 09:09:

Dear Lloyd Newson,

The internationally renowned Batsheva dance company will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival later this month. We would like to invite you to join other dance professionals in saying that this should not be happening.

Here's why: the visit of Batsheva, an Israeli company based in Tel Aviv, is being funded by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In our view, this makes their tour not so much an artistic event as a diplomatic ploy. The Israeli government has an explicit 'Brand Israel' programme, a well-financed initiative to paint a veneer of 'culture' over its 45-year long occupation of Palestinian land, illegal settlements, multiple human rights violations, and blockade of 1.7 million people in Gaza.

We do not think that great cultural institutions like the Edinburgh Festival should become partners in this manoeuvre. There is already an active campaign in Scotland against the invitation to Batsheva. Please consider supporting it by signing the attached letter, intended for publication in The Scotsman. We'd be grateful to have your response by Wednesday 15 August.

Yours sincerely,
Jenny Morgan
Miranda Pennell
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead

LETTER FOR PUBLICATION IN THE SCOTSMAN

As dance professionals, we admire and respect the work of the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company, scheduled to perform at the Edinburgh Festival later this month. As human beings, we find their visit raises difficult questions. This visit, like all their overseas tours, is being funded by the Government of Israel – that same government which violates international law and so many human rights of the Palestinians, including suppressing Palestinian culture.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Batsheva are Israel’s ‘best global ambassadors’. They are an essential building block in that Ministry’s ‘Brand Israel’ campaign, by which culture is deployed to mask the brutality of the occupation regime.

Artistic director Ohad Naharin and his company have a choice to make. They can clearly state the repugnance they feel for their government’s ongoing theft of land, its conversion of Gaza into an open-air prison for 1.7 million Palestinians, its refusal of the right of Palestinian refugees to return...or they can serve their government’s purposes by staying silent in the face of these crimes. Author Iain M. Banks said in 2010, ‘I would urge all writers, artists and others in the creative arts…to consider doing everything they can to convince Israel of its moral degradation and ethical isolation, preferably by simply having nothing more to do with this outlaw state.’ We ourselves will not be attending Batsheva’s performances.