[Boycott - Cultural]

Alert - Wed 6th Nov - Picket Odeon Swiss Cottage - Protest Israeli Government Sponsored Film Festival

inminds
3 November 2013

Wed 6th Nov 6:45-7:45pm
Odeon Swiss Cottage
96 Finchley Rd,
London NW3 5EL
(very close to Swiss Cottage tube station on Jubilee line)

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/535231909899221

The Israeli Embassy is sponsoring the Jewish Film Festival which is playing at several venues in London including the Odeon Swiss Cottage. We are protesting the hosting of the film festival, not because it’s Jewish, but because its sponsored by the apartheid state of Israel.

In 2003 when Nelson Mandela visited Camden he unveiled a plaque outside 13 Lyme Street, the former home of the eminent anti-apartheid activists Joe Slovo and Ruth First whose home was the hub of the anti-apartheid movement before Ruth First was murdered by the apartheid regime by a parcel bomb, Camden's MP announced "this is a great day for Camden where the British anti-apartheid movement was founded". A few streets away in what in now called Mandela Street was the headquarters of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. As Camden residents, we are proud of our borough’s history in fighting apartheid and racism so we are shocked that our local cinema is collaborating with an apartheid regime by hosting a film festival sponsored by the Israeli Embassy.

In the same way as it was ethically unacceptable to host a film festival paid for the South African regime during apartheid South Africa so today its not acceptable to host apartheid Israel.

Film festivals should not be used in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of an apartheid regime. Odeon Swiss Cottage is wittingly or unwittingly, been complicit in a million-dollar ‘Brand Israel’ PR campaign to change negative perceptions of the state of Israel, to take the focus off Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and refocus it on culture. As former deputy director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, explained upon launching the Brand Israel campaign in 2005: “We are seeing culture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture.”

We urge Swiss Cottage Odeon to make a commitment to abide by the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel. We welcome Jewish filmmaking but we reject the promotion of Israel in the UK while Palestinians continue to live under siege, discrimination and exclusion.

More info on Jewish Film Festival: http://ukjewishfilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/UKJFF_full_brochure_web1.pdf
( Embassy of Israel is listed as the primary "Funding Contributor" on pg2)

Live updates during protest

We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live (hash tags #SayNoToApartheid #BDS ) from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can't join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inmindscom-Boycott-Israel/365007213584914

https://twitter.com/InmindsCom

Source: www.inminds.com

Related Articles

Alert 9th June / 11th June Protest Apartheid Israel Sponsored Film Festival Join us picket the Israeli government sponsored SERET film festival, part of its 'brand Israel' project whereby culture is used to whitewash an apartheid state. Two protests: Israeli Deputy Ambassador reception on Tue 9th June, and opening gala at BAFTA on Thu 11th June. 1

London Protest of Israel's Cultural Ambassadors the Jerusalem Quartet On 24th April 2015 activists protested the performance of Israel's cultural ambassadors, the Jerusalem Quartet, in London. The highly successful action, organised by Inminds, united activists against Israel's multi-million dollar 'Brand Israel' project of using culture to whitewash crimes against the Palestinian people. Inside the hall activists disrupted the concert, charging the Jerusalem Quartet of complicity in Israeli war crimes.

Alert: 6th & 8th Nov - Protest BFI & BAFTA hosting apartheid Israel sponsored film festival Join us picket the Israeli Embassy funded film festival being hosted by the British Film Institute and the BAFTA - Israel's latest "Brand Israel" project, whereby culture is used to whitewash war crimes of an apartheid state.

Alert: Protest Israeli Government / Israel Lobby sponsored film festival As the latest chapter of Israel's "brand Israel" project the Israeli government has teamed up with the Israel Lobby BICOM to sponsor a film festival in the UK. Activists will be picketing outside the Odeon Swiss Cottage on 14th June 2013, 7:15pm

Israeli diplomat's bid to 're-brand' Israel "Brazil's is about fun, Paris is about romance, so Israel is about what? We researched worldwide, and it came up almost universally that Israel's image is identified with conflict. Even people who support Israeli policies are not attracted to what the conflict represents."

The Meaning & Importance of Cultural Boycotts After the bombardment of Gaza by Israel, John Greyson, Naomi Klein and 1,500 others, including myself, signed the ‘Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation’ to protest the Spotlight on Tel Aviv at Toronto International Film Festival..

London Protest Urges Baaba Maal to Cancel Apartheid Israel Performance And Respect Palestinian Call For Cultural Boycott On 3 Sept 2016, Inminds human rights group protested outside the Africa Utopia festival to urge renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal to respect the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and cancel his scheduled performance in East Jerusalem.

Alert: 3rd Sep 2016 - Protest to ask Baaba Maal to cancel apartheid Israel performance On 3rd Sept 2016 Inminds will protest outside the Royal Festival Hall urging renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal to respect the cultural boycott of Israel and cancel his scheduled performance this month in East Jerusalem, a city that is under illegal Israeli military occupation since 1967.

London protest asks PEN to respect cultural boycott and support imprisoned Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour On 25th April 2016 activists from Inminds human rights group protested outside English PEN, the writers association, urging them to respect the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and to distance themselves from their sister organisation PEN American which has partnered with the Israeli Embassy for a literary festival.

Alert 25th Apr 2016 - PEN Don't Partner With Apartheid - Free Palestinian Poets & Journalists Protest outside English PEN, the writers association, urging them to distance themselves from American PEN which has partnered with the Israeli Embassy and taken apartheid money for a literary festival. Also to demand freedom for Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, and journalists Samah Dweik and Omar Nazzal.

London protest urges Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to cancel Israel performance On 25th March 2016 activists from Inminds protested outside Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London urging the theatre not to breach the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and cancel their scheduled performance at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv on 30th March. Full video photo report.

Also Of Interest

London Protest Urges Baaba Maal to Cancel Apartheid Israel Performance And Respect Palestinian Call For Cultural Boycott On 3 Sept 2016, Inminds human rights group protested outside the Africa Utopia festival to urge renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal to respect the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and cancel his scheduled performance in East Jerusalem.

Alert: 3rd Sep 2016 - Protest to ask Baaba Maal to cancel apartheid Israel performance On 3rd Sept 2016 Inminds will protest outside the Royal Festival Hall urging renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal to respect the cultural boycott of Israel and cancel his scheduled performance this month in East Jerusalem, a city that is under illegal Israeli military occupation since 1967.

London protest asks PEN to respect cultural boycott and support imprisoned Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour On 25th April 2016 activists from Inminds human rights group protested outside English PEN, the writers association, urging them to respect the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and to distance themselves from their sister organisation PEN American which has partnered with the Israeli Embassy for a literary festival.

Alert 25th Apr 2016 - PEN Don't Partner With Apartheid - Free Palestinian Poets & Journalists Protest outside English PEN, the writers association, urging them to distance themselves from American PEN which has partnered with the Israeli Embassy and taken apartheid money for a literary festival. Also to demand freedom for Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, and journalists Samah Dweik and Omar Nazzal.