Annie Ernaux, Sally Rooney or Judith Butler, sign a letter to boycott cultural entities in Israel

More than 1,000 writers, editors and literary workers among which are Annie Ernaux, Sally Rooney o Judith Butler have signed a letter in which they assure that They will not work with cultural entities from Israel, being “silent accomplices” of the “oppression” that the country exercises over Palestine.

“We will not work with Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians. We will not cooperate with Israeli institutions, including publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights, even through discriminatory policies and practices or by covering up and justifying the occupation, apartheid or genocide of Israel,” states the Palestine Festival of Literature document, to which Europa Press has had access.

Thus, the signatories continue, the boycott extends to those institutions that have never publicly recognized the rights of the Palestinian peoplesince working with these entities means “harming” Palestine.

They focus on culture because they ensure that Israel has used cultural institutions to “normalize” “injustices,” artfully “obfuscating, disguising and whitewashing” the “oppression” of millions of Palestinians for decades.

In that sense, they do not reduce the conflict to after the Hamas attacks on the Israeli population on October 7, although they do warn and remember that experts are stating that it is a “genocide” on the part of Israel.

“Israeli officials speak clearly of their motivations for eliminating the population of Gaza, making the creation of a Palestinian state impossible, and seizing Palestinian land. This comes after 75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid“, concludes the letter.