The Batsheva Dance Company, cultural ambassadors for the Israeli State, will be performing in Edinburgh on 30th and 31st August and the 1st September. We want to make sure that they know they are not welcome.
To make the most impact we have said that we will try and get as many people from Dundee as possible outside the theatre on the first night – Thursday 30th August.
To maximise the turnout we are organising a bus, leaving Dundee at 4pm, and aiming to leave Edinburgh at 8pm. Please make every effort to come along and let us know as soon as possible if you are able to join the bus.
To book a seat, email us at taysideforjusticeinpalestine@googlemail.com, letting us know your name, how many seats you require and please include a contact phone number.
This is a high profile event that should make an impact. You can find more details on http://no2brandisrael.org, from which the following paragraphs have been taken:
Why We are Calling for a Boycott of the Batsheva troupe
The campaign does not call for a blanket boycott of Israelis. The reason for the protest against Bathsheva is that their international tours are funded by the government (Ministry for Foreign Affairs, MFA). The MFA initiated and drives the “Brand Israel” campaign, with the objective of deflecting the attention of the West from images of conflict and occupation to images of Israeli cool: great arts community, nice beaches, a vibrant gay scene in Tel Aviv, desert ecology (greenwashing), even a great bird watching community! Brand Israel is an instance of place branding, a marketing concept more typically associated with cities that have a bad reputation (crime, drugs), that they want to dispel. Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul General in New York and the thought leader of the Brand Israel initiative, accepts that the traditional political and military arguments used to defend Israel’s behaviour are no longer plausible. Whichever side people support, they are tired of hearing about Middle Eastern conflict. The branding campaign is intended to associate the country with positive images, so that we won’t care about the Palestinians anymore or, better, may even take the Israeli side because Israelis are just so like us. The Batsheva dance troupe credits the MFA with funding international performances, so is part of the Brand Israel campaign. We need to convey to the Israeli government, and our own, that we see through this attempt at respectability to the underlying reality of military occupation and oppression.