6 April, Philadelphia: Rally to Join the Cultural Boycott and End Israeli Apartheid

Friday, 6 April
4:00 pm
300 S. Broad St
Philadelphia, PA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/189577875157380/

As Israeli snipers kill unarmed Palestinians in Gaza protesting 11 years of total blockade and 70 years of occupation, over 100 musicians, artists, writers, scholars, union members activists and 30 social justice organizations are calling on the Philadelphia Orchestra to CANCEL ITS ISRAEL TOUR!

Press Conference and Rally in front of the Kimmel Center

Despite Israel’s decades-long suppression of Palestinian voices and Palestinian human rights, the Philadelphia Orchestra plans to perform in Israel in June, claiming that their performance in Israel is “cultural diplomacy,” not “a political mission.” Their statement is undermined by their own admission that the trip is “in celebration of its [Israel’s] 70th anniversary” and by their close collaboration with Israeli government officials, before the trip and in the planned itinerary.

Palestinian civil society, inspired by the global cultural boycott that helped end Apartheid in South Africa, has called on international cultural institutions not to perform in Israel as a popular non-violent means of helping to end Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid policies.

You can add your name/organization on a letter to Philadelphia Orchestra at Phillybds.org, demanding:

Philadelphia Orchestra: DON’T PLAY WITH ISRAELI APARTHEID!

Gaza is the world’s largest open-air prison, where nearly 2 million people are kept under siege, denied the right to medical care, education, drinking water and electricity. Most people in Gaza are the children and grandchildren of refugees driven off their land a few miles away, in what are now Israeli cities and resort towns like Tel Aviv and Herzliya.

The current protests against Israeli-imposed dire conditions and 70 years of theft of land by Zionist settlers have led to shockingly excessive force, outright assassinations resulting in 18 deaths and many scores of injuries to Palestinians.

Israel receives more than $3 billion in annual direct military aid from the US, nearly three times as much as the next highest recipient, and billions more by other means. That is why we demand:
Join the Cultural Boycott & End Israeli Apartheid
Visit us at https://www.facebook.com/phillydontorchestrateapartheid/