Sanctuary Queer Arts Solidarity Statement

Sanctuary support for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) - July 2024

Sanctuary commits to concrete action in support of the people of Palestine by pledging to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

What is PACBI?

“The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was initiated in 2004 to contribute to the struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. It advocates for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions for their deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights that are stipulated in international law.

"PACBI is a founding member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), and is tasked with overseeing the academic and cultural boycott aspects of BDS.”
The cultural and academic boycott of Israeli institutions is based on “the fact that these institutions are complicit in the Israeli system of oppression that has denied Palestinians their basic rights guaranteed by international law, or has hampered their exercise of these rights” including freedom of movement, freedom of expression, academic freedom and the right to education. Academic and cultural institutions “are part and parcel of the ideological and institutional scaffolding of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

In action for Sanctuary Queer Arts this looks like:

- Not platforming or participating in performance projects, residencies & arts/academic exchanges which are in receipt of funding from the Israeli Government, complicit Israeli institutions or Israeli Embassy touring funding.
- Not programming or participating in performance projects, residencies & arts/academic exchanges which serve to normalise and/or whitewash the oppression of the Israeli State, or present a 'two-sides' narrative that assumes that both colonisers and colonised are equally responsible for “conflict”.
- Reviewing the guidelines laid out in the PACBI Guidelines for the International Cultural Boycott of Israel & writing them into our policies.

Sanctuary Queer Arts stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine - November 2024

We are witnessing multiple atrocities and humanitarian crises in Gaza enforced by the state of Israel and supported by the UK and other Western governments. We stand with our peers and colleagues (Queers in Palestine, Arts Workers for Palestine Scotland, BPOC writers Network, Voices4London and many others) in the knowledge that silence at this urgent time of crisis and escalating genocide is not a neutral position.

Sanctuary Queer Arts is a Community Interest Company. We exist to provide safe, sanctuary spaces for LGBTQIA+ artists in Scotland, to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices and to provide and support spaces for the community to come together to celebrate, exchange and commune.

We believe that standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine is a queer issue. A true queer liberation is intertwined with all liberation struggles – including the fight against antisemitism, and for a free Palestine. Palestinian people are not responsible for the actions of Hamas, equally neither are peoples of Jewish faith responsible for the actions of the government of Israel.

We support Arts Workers for Palestine Scotland’s Open Letter calling for all of Scotland’s arts and literary organisations to call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to siege on Gaza and to stand with the people of Palestine - and therefore stand against settler-colonialism, racism, Islamophobia, and genocide.

What are we doing?

  • Company co-directors have written to our representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to the siege.

  • Company co-directors have signed the Queers in Palestine solidarity letter and International queer solidarity with Palestine Open Letter, linked below.

  • Sanctuary is writing to the cultural organisations we partner with calling them to use their voice to stand with the people of Palestine and call for a ceasefire.

  • Sanctuary is working with an anti racism worker to help our organisation and workers take stock of our current practices and processes, identify where we need to improve and set out a clear plan for training and development.

  • Sanctuary is updating our ‘equal opportunities’ and ‘creating sanctuary spaces’ policies to provide clear, actionable resources and organisational processes to protect workers, artists and audiences from acts of Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other forms of racism during this period, and in the future. 

  • Sanctuary is following our peers’ examples (eg UBelong’s and Scottish BPOC Writers Network) and adding a new point to our Creating Sanctuary Spaces Policy: “Pro-occupation, pro-war, pro-colonialism, fascism, and white supremacist sentiments will not be permitted on our platforms and in our spaces.”

  • Inspired by Arika, Sanctuary will be creating and commiting to a Boycott Divest and Sanction policy.

Sanctuary seeks to be representative of and led by the LGBTQIA+ community in Scotland.

We invite feedback/discussion/learning/understanding in order to continually be further informed of the multiple experiences of our diverse community.

Email us: hello@sanctuaryqueerarts.com

What can you do?

Further resources and sources of information: