Leading artists condemn Israeli raids on Palestinian cultural centres

 

This situation has become unbearable!

Call to action:

Leading artists condemn Israeli raids on Palestinian cultural centres & call for sanctions

12 August  2020 

In the open letter published on 12 August 2020, more than sixty international musicians, artists, writers and filmmakers say that the ransacking of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM), the Yabous Cultural Centre and the Shafaq Cultural Network in occupied East Jerusalem, and that the arrest of their respective directors, ‘threaten to extinguish cultural life for thousands of artists, students and people in wider society’. 

The open letter in full:

On 22 July in occupied East Jerusalem Israeli police raided the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) and the Yabous Cultural Centre, two of the most important cultural centres in Palestine. The buildings were ransacked and their directors arrested. SHAFAQ, the network which links the major Palestinian arts institutions in East Jerusalem, also saw its director arrested, after his home was invaded by police.  

These attacks threaten to extinguish cultural life for thousands of artists, students and people in wider society. They are part of a well-documented campaign of harassment and intimidation, arrests, home demolitions and forced evictions of indigenous Palestinians by the Israeli government.  

This campaign is linked to Israel’s plans to annex large areas of Palestinian territory, which UN human rights experts have described as a ‘vision for a 21st century apartheid’. 

We note that the British Consulate General in Jerusalem has expressed its ‘concern’ about the raids. It must go further than this.  Israel’s policies must be brought to a halt.

We call on the British government to condemn the raids and to take action to stop Israel’s ongoing annexation. Palestinian civil society organisations are calling for ‘targeted and lawful sanctions’, that relate to trade, arms sales and security co-operation. Britain should support them. 

 

Signatories to the letter include:

• Musicians Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Matthew Herbert, Jonathan Ofir, Jocelyn Pook
• Filmmakers, actors David Calder, Julie Christie, Steve Coogan, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Maxine Peake, Leila Sansour, Harriet Walter
• Writers Carmen Callil, William Dalrymple, Inua Ellams, A.L. Kennedy, Sabrina Mahfouz, Ruth Padel, Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Rose, Thomas Sleigh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Poet Benjamin Zephaniah 
• 2019 Turner Prize winning artists Lawrence Abu Hamdam and Tai Shani

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The letter reminds us that the raids are linked to Israel’s ongoing annexation of Palestinian land and calls on the British government to take action to halt Israel’s latest round of aggression towards Palestinians. 

The signatories say: ‘Palestinian civil society organisations are calling for ‘targeted and lawful sanctions’, that relate to trade, arms sales and security co-operation. Britain should support them.’ 

Composer Jocelyn Pook, best known for scores for films such as Eyes Wide Shut, The Merchant of Venice and The Wife, said: ‘These raids strike a blow against music and a blow against education. No government which cared about culture would inflict them. No person who cares about culture should tolerate them.’ 

Pioneering musician Brian Eno argued: ‘These raids are part of a new series of assaults on Palestinian lives and livelihoods and seem designed to break the morale of the Palestinian people, to deny them the last thing that they actually own: their culture. It is essential that our government ends its silence, condemns Israeli actions and takes practical steps to stop the raids.’

Ahdaf Soueif, novelist and founder of the Palestinial Festival of Literature said: ‘Israel is using the familiar tactics of an authoritarian state – night-time raids, trumped-up charges, arbitrary arrests – to kill the cultural institutions that Palestinians have created. Western governments have the power to stop this intolerable use of force. They should use it.’

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The British Consulate in Jerusalem expressed its concern over the raids, via Twitter.  

However, the artists say that expressions of concern are not enough. 

The British Council said on social media that the Council is  ‘a long standing partner’ of all three cultural centres, which support ‘music and culture for young people’, and preserve ‘Palestinian cultural identity & community in Jerusalem’. 

Composer Suhail Khoury, the director of the National Conservatory of Music, who was arrested during the raids, issued a statement urging friends of Palestinian cultural institutions in Jerusalem to ‘demand the Israeli authorities lift their foot off our necks so that we can sing in freedom’. 

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Signed:

Full list of 60+ signatories:

Lawrence Abu Hamdam, artist

Nicholas Blincoe, writer

Victoria Brittain, playwright, journalist

David Calder, actor

Carmen Callil, publisher

Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso, producer, performance-maker

Julie Christie, actor

Steve Coogan, actor, comedian

Selma Dabbagh, writer

William Dalrymple, author

Andy De La Tour, actor

Tam Dean Burn, actor

Raymond Deane, composer, author

Robert Del Naja, Massive Attack

Laurence Dreyfus, musician

Thomas Eisner, violinist

Omar El Khairy, writer

Nancy Elan, violinist

Inua Ellams, poet, playwright

Brian Eno, musician

Kodwo Eshun, writer, filmmaker

Gareth Evans, writer, curator

Adam Foulds, writer

Peter Gabriel, musician

Judy Granville, musician

Trevor Griffiths, playwright

Rahila Gupta, playwright

Omar Robert Hamilton, writer

Rachel Holmes, writer

Tom Hammond, conductor

Matthew Herbert, musician

Gemma Jackson, production designer

Vanessa Jackson, artist

Brigid Keenan, writer

Peter Kennard, artist

A. L. Kennedy, writer

Hannah Khalil, playwright

Paul Laverty, screenwriter

Mike Leigh, screenwriter, director

Ken Loach, film director

Sabrina Mahfouz, playwright

Jamal Mahjoub, writer

Kika Markham, actor

Grant Marshall, Massive Attack

Pauline Melville, writer, actor

Roy Mowatt, violinist

Courttia Newland, writer

Jonathan Ofir, conductor, violinist

Nii A Parkes, writer

Ruth Padel, poet

Maxine Peake, actor

Joceyn Pook, composer

Phillip Pullman, author

Siobhan Redmond, actor

David Roger, production designer

Bruce Robbins, writer

Jacqueline Rose, writer

Leila Sansour, filmmaker

Tai Shani, artist

Thomas Sleigh, poet, writer

Gillian Slovo, writer

Ahdaf Soueif, writer

Sarah Streatfeild, violinist

Tom Suarez, violinist

Jacques Testard, publisher

Harriet Walter, actor

Hilary Westlake, performance director

Penny  Woolcock, screenwriter, director

Benjamin Zephaniah, writer, dub poet

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Link: https://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/2020/08/12/leading-artists-condemn-raids-on-palestinian-cultural-centres-call-for-sanctions

After a challenging spring, Bristol reopened: new piece

 

I wrote this for a new website, West England Bylines. Out soon.
 

Bristol rises – new city, bright future

August 9, 2020

 

Artwork: Hassan Hajjaj

Summer is finally at its height, and with it Bristol seems again to be embracing a feeling of optimism.

After an unpredictably hard start to the year and the worst crisis in decades, its businesses want to start over, its restaurants, pubs and shops are reopening, and art galleries are back with a thrilling programme of shows. After more than four months of lockdown, our city is trying to restart life again.

It is not easy, but we must admire our citizens’ bravery and enthusiasm. Some examples: friends of mine are preparing new books or exhibitions, opening new places to gather and be creative. On the arts front, though artists are struggling, the RWA exhibition hall reopened on 1 August with a show on St Ives, while Kosar Contemporary in Bedminster and That Art Gallery in Upper Maudlin Street are offering local artists the opportunity to show their work.

But for me, one exhibition in particular is symbolic of both this ‘reopening’ but also what has emerged in Bristol from the experience of the past five months.

This is Hassan Hajjaj’s ‘The Path’ at the Arnolfini – an explosion of colours and liveliness, which is a celebration of joy and optimism for the value it places on people, creativity, and quirkiness.

Hassan was born in Morocco and moved to London with his parents in 1973. At that time none of his family spoke English, and there were no other Moroccans living in their neighbourhood. So, they had to adapt – and adaptation is what this entirely self-taught artist has always lived by, inspired as he is by underground music and street culture.

His photos, films and visual experiments are inspired by numerous influences: his Moroccan culture, the marketing commercials that dominated his youth in London, and his experience in the deeply mixed and multicultural capital. ‘The Path’ represents the two parts of his journey, offering a collection of portraits and scenes representing, on the one hand, women in Muslim dress, their faces covered by bright and playful veils and hijabs, and African artists on the other.

These multiple images are a great fit for our 2020 ‘strangeness’, not yet ‘normal’, matching as they do the new world in which we live: a place where we need to protect each other from coronavirus by covering our fragile faces and observing social distancing, while also celebrating the work of black artists.

And these two experiences have seen Bristol emerge a different city, after months of lockdown.

While deep concerns about the pandemic, about energy use and biodiversity, and about the coming economic crisis are having dramatic impacts on our communities, Bristol’s place in the global response to the murder of George Floyd in the United States has marked the city as much as – if not more than – the Covid-19 crisis.

The tearing down of the statue of Edward Colston on 7 June changed Bristol’s relationship with its past, and is now helping shape its future.

This revolutionary move has inspired a deep and complicated debate about the inequality from which so many in Bristol suffer – a debate that is far from over: institutions, businesses, intellectuals and many others, have and continue to question their relations with black citizens, whether they are of African and Caribbean descent, more recent immigrants, mixed-race people, or those from other ethnic groups, all of whom suffer equally though in different ways, from deplorable levels of discrimination or a lack of life-chances in the UK.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed many of these inequalities, with these groups suffering disproportionately as they have sought adequate healthcare, or in their work as key frontline workers. 

But there has also been an upside to Bristol’s experience of the five months of crisis, Bristolians having come forward with very creative responses: charities like Caring in Bristol, Feed the Homeless and the Bristol Food Union have organised housing for the most vulnerable, as well as helping feed frontline workers and homeless people; Facebook groups have offered local support to families in need, and artists have organised fundraising in order to upscale the response to the pandemic.

Little was expected of the Government. Its approach intensified anxiety and failed to provide the emergency funds needed. And as Colston’s statue fell, and the deep need and demand that the political leadership show its understanding of what had led to support across the UK for the Black Lives Matter protests, it was soon realised that the citizens of Bristol should take matters into their own hands. Which is what they did, and have continued to do.

Now, we can reflect on some of the lessons we have drawn or absolutely must draw from these multiple crises.

Some really do understand that we cannot return to ‘business as usual’ – that we must clearly define and live by our values and take care of the most vulnerable in our communities, that we must truly value key workers, and must respect their needs when they are immigrants and are going through challenging times, with Brexit having made their nightmare worse.

Among artists, there is now a call for artistic and cultural platforms for those the Black Lives Matter campaigners designate as ‘melanated voices’. Others are demanding urgent responses to the climate crisis, which is being studied for its possible links to the origins and the surge of coronavirus.

Initiatives like these are now appearing across Bristol: the Food Union has just created the ‘Eat Out Help Out’ initiative; the M Shed is preparing an exhibition on the role of Edward Colston in the slave trade; schools, and teachers like Aisha Thomas are rethinking the curriculum; Councillor Cleo Lake is campaigning for reparations and is promoting Greens of Colours.

Throughout Bristol’s long association with the slave trade, a parallel historical thread also exists, which has seen the city rebel against this crime, against exploitation, and for social progress; when for four months of 1963 Bristolians boycotted the city’s buses in protest at the refusal of the bus company to employ black drivers, the protest changed history In the wake of such protests, Bristol also gave birth to some of the most multicultural and politically-aware artists in the country – rappers like Tricky, street artists like Banksy, and bands like Massive Attack.

Poster: Massive Attack

Not coincidentally, as their ecological tour was rendered impossible by the pandemic, members of Massive Attack have used their time in lockdown to come back with a unique art and music project: three videos entitled ‘Eutopia’, inspired by the 16^th century English lawyer, writer, and statesman Thomas More’s book Utopia. Three songs were written by the band’s main creator Robert Del Naja, in collaboration with his sound engineer Euan Dickinson; they will be used as a platform for three experts to discuss climate justice policies (Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres, a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement), tax justice (French economist Gabriel Zucman) and a universal basic income (SOAS professor Guy Standing).

Their messages are being channelled through three magnificent films created in collaboration with filmmaker Mark Donne in London and A.I. artist in Germany, with vocals from Scotland (Young Fathers) and the United States (Saul Williams, and the band Algiers): a multi-layered achievement, which shows that once again Bristol can lead the way with positive and constructive messages, despite all the difficulties – proof that knowledge and creativity are the only sustainable answers to crises, and that a community can always build forward and better, whatever stands in its way. 

 

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Melissa Chemam is a Bristol-based writer, reporter and radio producer, as well as being a lecturer in journalism at UWE/BIMM Bristol and Writer-in-Residence at the Arnolfini Gallery

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link: https://westenglandbylines.co.uk/bristol-rises-new-city-bright-future/ 

From Byblos to Bristol via Barbès

6 years ago, in late July 2014, this show took place in Lebanon. A few days later, I read about it in Paris and my Bristol journey began... 

Much love to this incredible band and all my thoughts and solidarity to the people of Lebanon x 

'Massive Attack Dedicates Lebanon Gig To Gaza Children' 

                                        - Byblos Festival in Beirut, Lebanon on the 29th July 2014 

Massive Attack at Byblos International Festival 2014

Arnolfini: Hassan Hajjaj in Conversation

My latest interview is filled with joy, colours and roads.... 

The brilliant and unique visual artist Hassan Hajjaj talks about his show opening tomorrow in Bristol's Arnolfini gallery! 

But also about his native Morocco, North African and African cultures, his career in London, his exhibitions to my native Paris and beyond, and about his art, travels and inspirations in these strange times of re-thinking and re-shaping of our world...

Hassan Hajjaj in conversation with Arnolfini's Writer in Residence, Melissa Chemam

Ahead of Hassan Hajjaj: The Path opening, Arnolfini's Writer in Residence, Melissa Chemam, caught up with Hassan Hajjaj for a chat that spanned common links with their North African heritage, Hassan's work, influences, music and bringing an exhibition to Bristol for the first time. Make yourself a cup of something, sit back and enjoy this delightful, meandering conversation. More details and how to book your exhibition slot on the Arnolfini's website!

Massive Attack’s new audiovisual project 'Eutopia' addresses our need for radical global change

My latest article for Public Pressure: 

Massive Attack’s Eutopia addresses our need for a radical global change

 

by Melissa Chemam

“There are endless ways of being a political artist,” French-Algerian visual artist Kader Attia once said. “I go back and forth between a highly political grammar and syntax and work that is much more poetical. But even with the poetical, there is something there. It’s a matter of degree.” Artists, he thinks, have a responsibility to “supplement a failing education system by holding up for scrutiny moments that would otherwise get lost.” 

In the history of popular music, few bands have mastered this art as deeply and beautifully as Massive Attack, who just surprisingly released ‘Eutopia’, a three tracks EP featuring the Algiers, the Young Fathers and Saul Williams. 

As they explained in their press release: “The lockdown exposed the best aspects and worst flaws of humanity. This period of uncertainty and anxiety forced us to meditate on the obvious need to change the damaging systems we live by.”

Eutopia is an entirely unseen form of protest art. It features commentaries from political experts Christiana Figueres, who wrote the UN Paris Climate Agreement, Universal Basic Income theorist Guy Standing and professor Gabriel Zucman, the mind behind the American Wealth Tax policy.

The spirit of Eutopia “has nothing to do with naïve notions of an ideal perfect world,” they added, “and everything to do with the urgent and practical need to build something better. In this sense, Eutopia is the opposite of a spelling mistake.”

The project was conceived by Robert Del Naja aka 3D and Mark Donne, who worked together in Mark’s film ‘The UK Gold’ on the subject of tax evasion. Touched by the new challenges added by the pandemic to the global environmental crisis, Robert started working with Bristol Food Union and Caring In Bristol charities. He raised more than one hundred thousand pounds with his iconic artwork ‘Protection’, inspired by mid-90s themes. 

The team also included Anthony Tombling Jr from Unit 3 Films production and AI artist Mario Klingemann, who worked with Adam Curtis for the Mezzanine anniversary shows in 2019. 

Eutopia is an independent no-profit project that offers credible social, economic and political solutions. It was created as “a unique format where the message was the medium”, a team member told me. Made available only on social media and free video streaming platforms. 

While ‘Utopia’ is in its original meaning is a place that doesn’t exist, ‘Eutopia’ is a place of well-being, with an urgent need to be designed. If not, now, when?

Stay in touch with Massive Attack:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Twitter

Marc Quinn's statue replacing Colston in Bristol: Political act? Or complete PR stunt...?

The statue was "erected" at 5am this morning, as reported by the press.

The artist's interview was already in The Guardian at 9:

Even Channel 4 filmed the supposedly secret event...

The reactions are polarised in Bristol and the UK to say the least, but especially in the art world.  

Of course, many activists are supporting the piece and especially the woman it represents: Bristol protester Jen Reid, who said to the same Guardian that she 'shed a tear' when she saw a sculpture of her replace that of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol this Wednesday. She has worked with Quinn for days to get this piece done. 

Meanwhile, alt-right militants are outraged to see a black activist on this plinth... and threatened to take it down, might even do so tonight.

But also, many wonder why this came out of the blue, from an artist that has nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, Colston, or colonial history to begin with. Never supported political causes very strongly...

When Bristol-born and politically funny Banksy came up respectfully and jokingly on Instagram with a proposal representing the fall of the statue and the protesters in action, he was mocked as not valid enough. He went on to paint rats playing with masks in the Tube instead... in London where he probably spent the lockdown, as most of his life. 

So why would a Londoner millionaire male celebrity be more appropriate?

Many in Bristol have since 7 June demanded a deep discussion about history and the role of public art. Others were quite satisfied to keep an empty plinth for a while, as a reminder of the recent events, before a new form of art could be envisioned, maybe without plinths or pedestals in general.

On Twitter, researcher in art Dr Edwin Coomasaru @ecoomasaru wrote: 

Marc Quinn: “I have been listening and learning and one of the phrases that really struck me was, ‘White silence is violence.’” —um, not sure occupying more space is the response? If he really wanted to be involved he could have commissioned a Black artist

Artist Thomas J Price @TJPStudio commented: “Looks like #marcquinn literally just created the Votive statue to appropriation! #appropriationart”

I completely agree. Or at least give them a chance to!

Thomas Price is, with Veronica Ryan, one of the two Black artists commissioned to design two sculptures to become the first permanent artworks to honour the Windrush generation - – including a 2.7-metre (9ft) figure that will stand outside Hackney town hall in London.

In regards to these critics and to the operational mode used to bring the new statue to Bristol, it seems quite obvious that Marc Quinn has done something totally old-fashioned and typical: controlling the narrative as a white privileged celeb artist capturing a moment he has nothing to do with... 

Again, his interview was already in the Guardian before most Bristolians could get a chance to see the plinth. All was prepared for publicity. 

And again we have a man choosing to represent a woman, the traditional pygmalion idea. 

I'm happy for the activist but I hope other artists will get their chance to express their experience around this century-long story.

For an artist who became known with a piece called 'Self', I guess it's not surprising... Indeed the first work for Marc Quinn to gain international fame was exhibited in 1991, when he was 27, and 'Self' is a, well indeed, self-portrait formed by a frozen cast of 10 pints of the artist's blood. It is "an ongoing work, where the artist portrays himself every five years through a new cast with new blood."

The mayor Marvin Rees reacted with this statement: "the future of the plinth and any memorials must be decided on by the people of Bristol."

Hopefully, this Marc Quinn statue will be a temporary gesture, moved somewhere else as it's really nice, and a younger, more edgy - and African/Caribbean - artist will get a chance to create something unique for this plinth as well.

Massive Attack's new EP is called 'Eutopia' and addresses our need for CHANGE

Massive Attack "surprisingly" released a new EP called Eutopia this Friday, 10 July 2020.

This release come after the band's last three releases in 2016, EPs titled Ritual Spirit, The Spoils and the rarer Dear Friend, in limited final editions, featuring James Massiah. 

Massive Attack x Algiers - Eutopia EP

This unusual set of three songs is quoting Thomas More’s 16th century book Utopia, and includes audiovisual release available on YouTube, created by Robert Del Naja with a team including documentary filmmaker Mark Donne and Anthony Tombling Jr at Unit 3 Films.

The pieces are featuring the American band Algiers, American singer-songwriter Saul Williams, and their Scottish friends of Young Fathers, along with three key political speakers: 

 -Christiana Figueres, who wrote the UN Paris Climate Agreement; 

 -universal basic income theorist Guy Standing, from SOAS university; 

 -and Gabriel Zucman, the professor behind the “wealth tax” policy in America. 

Created in different lockdown location including Bristol, the songs and videos address the need for global change— via visuals from AI artist Mario Klingemann, who worked with the band and the filmmaker Adam Curtis for Massive Attack’s Mezzanine anniversary shows in 2019.

Massive Attack x Young Fathers - Eutopia EP

Massive Attack said in a press release:

"Lockdown exposed the best aspects and worst flaws of humanity. That period of uncertainty and anxiety forced us to meditate on the obvious need to change the damaging systems we live by. 

By working with three experts, we’ve created a sonic and visual dialogue around these global, structural issues; taking the form of climate emergency, tax haven extraction and Universal Basic Income. 

The spirit of this EP, its elements and ideas have nothing to do with naïve notions of an ideal, perfect world, and everything to do with the urgent & practical need to build something better. 

In this sense, Eutopia is the opposite of spelling mistake."

The NME described it this morning as a "stunning audio-visual EP."

Massive Attack x Saul Williams - Eutopia EP

The video should be available in French, Spanish and German soon, and a vinyl release might be on the way...

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Melissa Chemam

Massive Attack x Saul Williams - Eutopia EP

#TAXHAVENS

Massive Attack x Saul Williams - Eutopia EP

Taken from the Eutopia EP Featuring Young Fathers, Algiers and Saul Williams Written and produced by Robert Del Naja and Euan Dickinson. Film Written and produced by Robert Del Naja and Mark Donne Generative visuals by Mario Klingemann Editing and title animations by Anthony Tombling JR Constructed at Unit 3 Films 2020
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#TAXHAVENS

Massive Attack x Algiers - Eutopia EP

1:13 / 4:20

#CLIMATEEMERGENCY

Massive Attack - Massive Attack x Algiers - Eutopia EP

Taken from the Eutopia EP
Featuring Young Fathers, Algiers and Saul Williams Written and produced by Robert Del Naja and Euan Dickinson. Film Written and produced by Robert Del Naja and Mark Donne Generative visuals by Mario Klingemann Editing and title animations by Anthony Tombling JR Constructed at Unit 3 Films 2020