Music Gallery Signs on to PACBI

The Music Gallery’s statement of solidarity with Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

The Music Gallery is proud to sign on to support and endorse the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the need for Israel to abide by International Law. We do so in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and their fight for liberation from Israeli occupation and genocide.

The Music Gallery via our staff, board, and larger community of artists are committed to the necessary fight for the freedom of all people from the stranglehold of global capitalism and the inherent racism, colonialism, imperialism, misogyny, queerphobia and environmental destruction that comes with a world built on war and oppression. 

More about Music Gallery and Activism

The Music Gallery has prioritized the safety of artists and community members for over a decade. We have witnessed artists being denied safety and support over the years based on their identity, history and reality. This extension of adding PACBI our practices and policies is further work towards ensuring safety.  

We recognize that the experiences and expressions of Black improvisers in the US are at the root of the experimental music we program. For many of these improvisers, their art remained closely tied to the social and political practices of individuals and communities, and is inherently bound up in liberatory struggles and storytelling. 

In our own organizational practices,  we believe that artists have the right to advocate for their art separate from the power placed on them by organizations and governmental bodies. You can observe this within our programming, our partnerships, and our annual residency where the artists set the tone. 

We not only believe that art is political, but uphold the importance of marginalized artists to express this art freely and fully. We firmly reject the notion that music is apolitical. 

More about PACBI

PACBI was launched in Ramallah in 2004 and is part of the wider Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement (BDS). PACBI guidelines for International Cultural Boycott of Israel ask institutions to refuse support from the state of Israel and reject projects that normalize the occupation of Palestine and dispossession of Palestinians.

We wish to be clear that PACBI is “anchored in precepts of international law and universal human rights”. Its target is organizations, and it “rejects on principle boycotts of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, or religion) or opinion.” 

To learn more about PACBI, endorse the call with your organization, or join us in advocating for PACBI in Canada, check out @wawog_to visit writersagainstthewarongaza.com/pacbi or email pacbi@wawog.com