Philly, Don’t Orchestrate Apartheid!
Dear Ryan Fleur, Matthew Loden, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin,
We are a group of artists, scholars and human rights advocates from the Philadelphia area and beyond, writing to urge you to cancel upcoming performances of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Israel this June. It troubles us that one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated cultural institutions will participate in the Israeli government’s “Brand Israel” propaganda strategy, which employs arts and culture to divert attention from decades of Israel’s military occupation and denial of basic rights to the indigenous Palestinian population. The aims of “Brand Israel” were articulated by an official from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the New York Times: “We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits…This way you show Israel’s prettier face.”
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s trip to Israel, with heavy involvement of government officials, is part and parcel of this strategy. We therefore urge you to cancel your trip to Israel.
Your website indicates that your visit is “in celebration of its [Israel’s] 70th anniversary,” but while you celebrate with Israel, Palestinians will be mourning the Nakba, when Israel expelled over 750,000 indigenous Palestinians, and confiscated their properties, businesses, lands and heritage. Those Palestinians and their descendants remain refugees today.
You also wrote that “Sharing the ‘Philadelphia Sound’ with audiences abroad is part of our commitment to cultural diplomacy, using music to bring people and cultures together in ways that would not otherwise take place.” You should know that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora, will not be permitted to attend your performances.
We question your communication team’s statement that the “tour [is not] a political mission.” As the Israeli government welcomes your shows at the highest levels, its attacks against Palestinians, including musicians and other artists, will go unabated. To give a few examples of Israel’s repression of Palestinian culture: Israel prevented the opening of the Palestine Festival of Literature in Jerusalem in 2009, and the Israeli army attacked the Festival’s final event in 2011 with tear gas. In 2011, Israeli commandos assaulted the Freedom Theatre in occupied Jenin, arresting several of its members. Israeli soldiers have repeatedly forced young musicians to “perform” for soldiers at military checkpoints. These are glimpses of the ways in which Israel continues to assault Palestinian musicians, artists and writers.
In addition, your itinerary falsely lists the Old City as part of Israel. According to international law, East Jerusalem–which includes the Old City–is occupied Palestinian territory, where Israel’s ethnic cleansing has been most acute. Just this month, Israel introduced a ‘loyalty’ bill to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem for “breach of loyalty” to the state, an Orwellian measure to dispossess the city of its indigenous inhabitants. Another recent measure involved proposed legislation that would allow Israel to confiscate lands and properties belonging to Christian churches, which led Palestinian denominations in Jerusalem to close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest.
A recent United Nations report stated that “evidence supports beyond a reasonable doubt the proposition that Israel is guilty of imposing an apartheid regime on the Palestinian people, which amounts to the commission of a crime against humanity.”
A global cultural boycott helped end apartheid in South Africa, and now Palestinian civil society has called on international cultural institutions not to perform in Israel to help pressure Israel to end its policies of occupation and apartheid.
In the words of Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “People who are denied their dignity and their rights deserve the solidarity of their fellow human beings. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor…I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing in the Holy Land that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under apartheid. I have witnessed the systematic humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces. Their humiliation is familiar to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government.”
Performing in Israel with the blessing of the Israeli government conveys the Orchestra’s tacit approval for Israel’s systemic denial of Palestinian rights. It has now been over 50 years since Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been subject to a regime of military occupation and colonization, and 70 years that Palestinians have lived inside Israel as second-class citizens, subject to over 60 discriminatory laws, or as refugees in the diaspora, denied their right of return to their homes as guaranteed by international law. We urge you not to lend your good name to covering up Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
We would be happy to meet to share our perspective and discuss these issues in greater depth. We look forward to hearing from you by Thursday, March 28, 2018.
Musicians
Tareq Abboushi, Musician & Director of Edward Said National Conservatory of Music – Palestine
Ahmed Alam, Bass player, Tunisia
Derek Ball, Composer, Scotland
Richard Barrett, composer, UK
Conor Biggs, bass, Belgium
Nathaniel Chase, Bassist, New York
Rhona Clarke, composer, Ireland
Siobhán Cleary, composer, Ireland
Aliya Cycon, oud player, Boston MA
Tamar Dart, Musician, Little Strike, Philadelphia
Raymond Deane, composer, Ireland
Liza DeProphetis, Musician, Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia
James Dier, “Small Change”, DJ, NYC
Laurence Dreyfus, Director of Phantasm Viol Consort, Germany
Nancy Elan, Violinist , UK
Perry Genovesi, Musician, Bike Crash, See-Through Girls, Philadelphia
Owen Johnson, musician/artist, Detroit
Dr. Fergus Johnston, composer, Ireland
Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble, Raleigh
Ohal Grietzer, composer, Tel-Aviv
Meri Haines, Musician, Great Weights, Cult Objects, Yarrow, Philadelphia
David Hempel, Principal Oboe, Orchestra Iowa
Hip Hop for Justice, Raleigh, NC
Wieland Hoban, composer, Germany
Bill Homans, Watermelon Slim, American Blues musician, Clarksdale
Jake Holtzman, pianist & piano teacher, NYC
Dirar Kalash, musician, Palestine
Andrew Keller, Musician, Hermit Thrushes, Snow Caps, Philadelphia
Debbie Kennedy, bass player
John King, composer, NYC
Alex Lichtenauer, Founder, Get Better Records, Philadelphia
Brian Morsberger, Musician, Drums Like Machine Guns, Global Sync, Philadelphia
Jonathan Ofir, violinist and conductor, Denmark
David Oppenheim, Artist, Israel
Dennis Parrish, musician, Bensalem
Vijay Prashad, Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Milos Raickovich, composer & conductor, NYC
Danielle Ravitzki, musician, Israel/Palestine
Omar Saad, violist, Galilee Quartet, Palestine
Mostafa Saad, violinist, Galilee Quartet, Palestine
Tibah Saad, celloist, Galilee Quartet, Palestine
Gandhi Saad, violinist, Galilee Quartet, Palestine
Jowan Safadi, musician, Palestine
Michal Sapir, guitarist, singer, songwriter, Afor Gashum, Israel
Yonatan Shapira, musician, Israel/Palestine
Farah Siraj, singer/songwriter, Philadelphia
Julie Slim, vocalist, Austin, TX
Sarah Streatfeild, violinist , UK
Simon Streatfeild, conductor, UK
Faraj Suleiman, composer & pianist, Palestine
Writers, Activists, Academics & Clergy
susan abulhawa, writer, Yardley
Pam Africa, Int’l Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Philadelphia
Ramona Africa, the MOVE Organization, Philadelphia
Suad Amiry, writer, Palestine
Huwaida Arraf, human rights lawyer, Detroit
Dr Ramzy Baroud, journalist, author – Seattle
Mariam Bazeed, Writer & Performance Artist, Egypt/USA
The Rev. Judith T. Beck, Philadelphia
Barry Binks, Veterans for Peace, Sacramento
Diana Buttu, lawyer, Palestine
Joe Catron, International Solidarity Movement
John Catalinotto, Editor & Author, New York City
George Ciaccariello-Maher, Hemispheric Institute, NY
Rev. E. Clifford Cutler, Philadelphia
William Dalrymple, historian & writer, India
Lawrence Davidson, Professor, West Chester, PA
William Davis, National Action Network, Detroit Chapter
Rev. Jim Eby, Retired, Philadelphia Presbytery, Presbyterian Church USA
Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University
Henry Hagins, Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition, NYC
Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Baltimore
Dr. Sue Harris, Peoples Video Network, NY
Marc Lamont Hill, professor, Temple University, Philadelphia
Rebecca Katherine Hirsch, Writer, Philadelphia
Rachel Holmes, writer, UK
Rabbi Linda Holtzman, Philadelphia
Randa Jarrar, writer, Fresno CA
Andrew Kadi, blogger & organizer, Washington DC
Tarak Kauff, Board of Directors, Veterans for Peace, NY
Chuck Kaufman, National Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice
Lamont Lilly, Poet, Journalist, Organizer, The Black Alliance for Peace
Joe Lombardo, Co-Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition – UNAC
Rev. Amy Yoder McGloughlin, Germantown Mennonite Church, Philadelphia, PA
Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman, Georgia
Rev. Isaac Miller, former priest Church of the Advocate, Philadelphia
Anthony Monteiro, scholar & organizer of the Year of W.E.B DuBois, Philadelphia
Monica Moorehead, co-coordinator, International Working Women’s Collective, NYC
Rami Ibrahim, Mui Thai World Champion, Philadelphia
Shailja Patel, poet, Kenya
Chris Robinson, Green Party organizer, Philadelphia
Kamila Shamsie, writer, UK/Pakistan
Ahdaf Soueif, writer, UK/Egypt
Linda Spalding, writer, Canada
Suzy Subways, writer, Philadelphia PA
Non-musician Unionists
Minnie Bruce Pratt, National Writers Union/ UAW Local 1981, Syracuse
Mike Gimbel, retired Executive Board member, Local 375, AFSCME, NY
Joe Piette, Retiree, National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 157, Philadelphia
Stephanie Hedgecoke, Member CWA Local 14156, New York Typographical Union
David Sole, Past President UAW Local 2334, Detroit, Michigan
Martha Grevatt, Trustee, UAW Local 869*, Detroit, Michigan
Andre Francois, President USW 8751, Boston
Steven Kirschbaum, Vice President, USW 8751, Boston
Steve Gillis, Financial Secretary, USW8751, Boston
Susan E. Davis, National Writers Union, United Auto Workers Local 1981, New York
Johnnie Stevens, Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs and Services
Angaza Sababu Laughinghouse, Political Action Co-chair, NC Public Service Workers Union, UE Local 150
Organizations
The Aafia Foundation
Adalah-NY: Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right of Return Movement
ANSWER Philadelphia
Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, Philadelphia
Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles
Black Lives Matter – Philadelphia
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within (Israel)
Christian-Jewish Allies Working for a Just Peace In Israel-Palestine – Philadelphia
Delaware Valley Veterans for America
Delawareans for Palestinian Human Rights
Food Not Bombs Solidarity, Philadelphia
Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, Ontario, Canada
International Action Center (IAC)
International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Southern California
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) – Philadelphia
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Jews Say No! – New York
Labor for Palestine
Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), Montreal, Canada
The Philadelphia Coalition for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (Philly BDS)
Philadelphia/Camden Boricua Committee
Philadelphia REAL Justice
Philly Socialists
Puerto Rican Alliance – Los Angeles
Quaker Palestine Israel Network
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
School of the Americas Watch – Los Angeles
Temple University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – Philadelphia
The Tikkun Olam Chavurah – Philadelphia
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
Vietnam Veterans Against the War VVAW/OSS
Wisconsin Bail Out the People
Workers World-Philadelphia
(dated: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 1:44 PM)
Response from The Philadelphia Orchestra
(dated: Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 10:39 AM)
Thank you for your detailed and comprehensive letter.
As you mention, the Orchestra is one of Philadelphia’s leading cultural institutions—a role we take seriously. When we travel abroad, we strive to use our power of cultural diplomacy to express Philadelphia’s commitment to brotherly and sisterly love with local audiences. Our desire to share these values and promote peace and tolerance through music is what led our organization to independently decide to embark on a cultural tour of Europe and Israel this summer.
Along with our partners at the Jewish Federation, The Philadelphia Orchestra believes musicians and artists can and should be participating in efforts to bring a peaceful resolution to conflicts in the region. We intend to spend as much time as possible interacting with Arab communities to deepen our understanding of life in the region, and how we can continue to engage in conflict resolution through music.
As you know, there are no easy answers, but the Orchestra strongly believes this trip will be an important learning opportunity as we will meet many diverse people, see the country firsthand, and hopefully inspire many thousands of people with our three concerts.
Ryan Fleur and Matthew Loden
Interim Co-Presidents
The Philadelphia Orchestra
One South Broad Street | 14th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107