Published: 3 February 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Jerusalem Orchestra East & West is multicultural in members and music, but protestors oppose its performance as a ‘cynical attempt to re-brand apartheid as diversity’.
More than 50 artists signed a letter to London’s Barbican arts venue protesting its collaboration with the Israeli embassy for a concert by a multicultural Israeli orchestra.
Arguing that the Israeli government must be “held to account for its policies towards the Palestinian people”, the artists say the concert this weekend is “a cynical attempt to re-brand apartheid as diversity and military occupation as tolerance”.
The concert is to be performed by the Jerusalem Orchestra East & West, which describes itself as “a multicultural orchestra, with members from all three religions, from all over the country and from all sectors that make up Israeli society”.
Tom Cohen, its artistic director and head conductor, integrates music from the Arab world and north Africa into the work of classical, western musicians, and vice versa.
In a letter objecting to the concert, the signatories acknowledge “the appeal of an event” that appears to join together Jerusalem’s different cultures for a broad audience.
But, they say, “this has to be seen for what it is – a cynical attempt to re-brand apartheid as diversity and military occupation as tolerance. Far from exemplifying a convivial multiculturalism, Jerusalem itself is the site of long-running oppression and violent military occupation.”
Citing reports by human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that designate Israel an apartheid regime, they say they “doubt the Barbican would have partnered with the South African embassy during its apartheid era”.
Many of the signatories to the letter are well-known supporters of Palestinian rights. They include the actors Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Rea, film-makers Peter Kosminksy and Ken Loach, and the writer Ahdaf Soueif.
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Leading artists criticise Barbican’s collaboration with Israeli embassy for concert (Guardian)
Photo: Jerusalem Orchestra (Barbican)
