Declaration of Swiss Artists
We Refuse to be Complicit!
Declaration of Swiss Artists Responding to the Palestinian Appeal for Solidarity
19 November 2011
When Israel, through the Culturescapes festival, conducts a wide public relations campaign in Switzerland, when the program Swiss Season invites Swiss artists to present their works in prestigious venues in Israel, the undersigned artists and cultural actors hereby express their rejection of the politics of the Israeli state, policies which, for over 60 years, violate the rights of the Palestinian people.
The flattering image that Israel seeks to present, an image of a country in which creativity blooms in freedom, clashes with the reality that the Palestinian people endures. The refugees are still refused their right to return, Palestinians citizens of Israel are subject to legal and cultural segregation, the Gaza Strip is still under siege, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem remain under military occupation. In contempt of the law and public protestations, Israel continues the colonization and the construction of the separation wall in the West Bank and Jerusalem. We recognize in these politics the traits of an apartheid regime, as defined by international law.
In order to resist against this oppressive situation, and in order to struggle against the impunity that Israel enjoys through the support of the great powers, Palestinian civil society launched an appeal for solidarity in the form of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions - BDS). We note that the non-violent boycott, when it gains wide popular support, is an effective means of putting pressure on those in power. Israeli companies such as Agrexco, which exploited agricultural land in the Occupied Territories, and multinational corporations such as Veolia, which is implicated in the construction of the light train project that connects the illegal settlements to the center of Jerusalem, have been subject to the successful pressure of BDS supporters. BDS is also adopted by the group of Israeli citizens, Boycott from Within, continuing their actions despite the anti-boycott law passed recently in the Israeli parliament.
Palestinian artists and intellectuals launched the Palestinian call for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - PACBI), directed at their fellow artists and intellectuals all over the world. Many internationally recognizes names have responded to the call, including John Berger, Bjork, Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Eduardo Galeano, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Henning Mankell, Massive Attack, Arundhati Roy, and Carlos Santana. Israel’s present publicity offensive in Switzerland gives us the opportunity to respond in our turn to this Palestinian appeal for solidarity.
We refuse to be complicit. Conscious of our political responsibility as artists and as citizens, we express our support for the boycott, and we pledge not to present our works in Israel, for as long as persist the occupation and the colonization of the Palestinian territories, for as long as equality is denied Palestinian who are citizens of Israel, and for as long as the right of return of the refugees is refused.
Signatories
Myriam Abourousse - plastic arts
Joël Aguet - theater historian, dramatist
Gabriel Alvarez - stage director
Laurence Amy - actor
Johannes Anders - cultural journalist
Ariane Arlotti - photographer
Oke Asso - painter
Imanol Atorrasagasti - cultural manager, actor
Pascal Auberson – singer, composer
Adriana Auderset - painter, video artist
Jacques Basler - sculptor
Julien Basler - stage director, actor
Carmen Bayenet - painter
Ahmed Belbachir - actor
Martine Benoît - art therapist
Néfissa Bénouniche - storyteller
Fabienne Berger - dancer, choreographer
Marco Berrettini - choreographer
Éliane Beytrison - plastic arts
Jean-Luc Bideau - actor
William Blank - composer, conductor
Jean-Philippe Bolle - painter, draftsman
Wolfgang Bortlik - writer
Maya Bösch - stage director
Alain Bottarelli - film distributer
Pascal Bourquin - painter
Giorgio Brasey - actor, stage director
Isabelle Brunier - historian
Michel Bühler - singer, writer
Antonio Buil Pueyo - actor
Ozan Çagdas - musician, singer, saz player
Mat Callahan - musician, producer
Fiamma Camesi - actor, stage director
Nicolas Cantillon - dancer, choreographer
Nicolas Carrel - sound poet
Christophe Chammartin - photographer
Isabelle Chladek - actor
Frédéric Choffat - filmmaker
Mireille Clavien - designer 3D, infographiste
Paed Conca - musician, composer
Martine Corbat - actor
Catherine Corthésy - plastic arts
Michèle Courvoisier - pianist
Edmée Croset -actor
Roger Cuneo - writer, singer, actor
Sami Daher - storyteller
Claude Darbellay - baritone-bass
Tareq Daoud - director
Muriel Décaillet - sculptor
Anne Delahaye - dancer, choreographer
Aydin Dere - journalist, writer
Eric Devanthéry - stage director
Amina Djahnine - filmmaker
Alois Dubach - sculptor
Valentine Dubois - jewelry maker
Jean-Jacques Dünki - pianist, composer
Yan Duyvendak - performance artist
Ufuk Emiroglu - producer
Christine Ferrier - culture communication
Heike Fiedler - author, poet, performance artist
Foofwa d'Imobilité - dancer-choreographer
Deirdre Foster - actor, storyteller
Maoro Frascotti - painter, graphic novel illustrator
Céline Froidevaux – plastic arts
Hubert Froidevaux - Plonk & Replonk, editor
Jacques Froidevaux - Plonk & Replonk, editor
Massimo Furlan - performance artist
Jorge Gajardo Muñoz - historian
Andrés Garcìa - musician, composer
Jacques Gardel - stage director
André Gazut - filmmaker
Barbara Giongo - production manager
Julie Gilbert - dramatist, screenwriter
Oskar Gómez Mata - director, actor
Claude Goretta - filmmaker
Jean Grädel - stage director
Sébastien Grosset - author, dramatist
Pascal Gravat - choreographer, dancer
Karine Guignard, La Gale - rapper
Christine Guye - pianist
François Guye - violoncellist
Anne-Marie Haller - documentary film director
Wenzel A. Haller - cultural activist
Nadia Hammadi - jewelry maker
Redouane Haribe - musician, oud player
Linda Henry "Oke Asso" - painter
Juan-Carlos Hernández - photographer
Silvia Hodgers - dancer, choreographer
Yann Hynek - painter
Robert Indermaur - sculptor
Anina Jendreyko - actor
Jopo - saxophonist
Nathan Jucker - graphic arts, video maker
Huguette Junod - writer
Michael Khouri - creativiste
Heidi Kipfer - actor
Yaëlle Kneubühler - jewelry maker
Richard Koechli - guitarist, writer
Oliver Krähenbühl - Plastic arts
Daniel Künzi - filmmaker
Thomas Laubacher - actor
Pierre Lautomne - singer
Béatrice Leresche - storyteller
Frédérique Leresche - actor
Nicolas Leresche - actor, choreographer
José Lillo - actor, stage director, dramatist
Logovarda - peinter
Juan José Lozano - film director
Yann Marussich - performer
Angela Marzullo - feminist filmmaker
Janine Massard - writer
Jean Mayerat - photographer
Fernand Melgar - film director
Yann Mercanton - actor, stage director
Thierry Meury - humorist
Michèle Millner - singer, actor
Patrick Mohr - stage director, actor
Muchach - rappeur
Thaddeus Nsumpi - singer, composer
Guido Nussbaum - painter
Brigitte Papazian - ceramist
Martine Paschoud -stage director, actor
Maria Pérez - actor
Danielle Perret - art historian
Daniel Perrin - composer
Michaël Perruchoud - writer
Dany Petermann - painter
Yves Pinguely - actor, stage director
Stefania Pinnelli - actor
Ingeborg Poffet - singer, accordionist
POL - Electronic music
Isabelle Pralong – graphic novelist
Arthur de Pury - curator
Francis Reusser - filmmaker
Claire de Ribaupierre - dramatist
La Ribot - choreographer
Urs Richle - writer
François Rochaix - stage director
Coralia Rodriguez - storyteller
Edurne Rodriguez - plastic arts
Annette Rommel - cultural manager
Rafik Ben Salah - writer
Suzan Samanci - writer
Boubacar Samb - actor
Samir - filmmaker
Christoph Schaub - filmmaker
J.-Claude Schauenberg - painter
Lucas Schlaepfer - sculptor
Karim Slama - humorist
Alain Tanner - filmmaker
Isabelle Tanner - ceramist
Tenko - painter, illustrator
Udo Theiss - illustrator, graphic novel draftsman
Anne-Dominique Thiébaud - jewelry maker
José Tippenhauer, Geos - rapper
Tom Tirabosco - illustrator, graphic novel draftsman
Teslim Töre - writer
Julie Usel - jewelry maker
David Valère - actor
Roberto Ventrella - designer
Jacquelline Veuve - film director
Grégoire Vuilleumier, Greis - rapper
Nicolas Wadimoff - film director
Dominique Ziegler - author, stage director
Vanessa Zurini - actor