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Norway Arts Festival Rejects Israeli Artists

Norway Arts Festival Rejects Israeli Artists

Organizers claim “Israel uses culture to ‘whitewash’ its treatment of the Palestinians.”

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5181105,00.html

Feminine Tripper, a femininity and gender identity arts festival in Oslo, Norway, decided to reject six Israeli choreographers because “Israel uses culture to ‘whitewash’ its treatment of the Palestinians.” The Jerusalem Post continued:

The six Israeli artists who applied to participate in the “Feminine Tripper” festival — Eden Wiseman, Roni Rotem, Nitzan Lederman, Maayan Cohen Marciano, Adi Shildan and Maia Halter — received copies of a letter from the organizers saying that Israel “uses culture as a form of propaganda to whitewash or justify its regime of occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.”

As a result, wrote organizers Kristiane Nerdrum Bøgwald and Margrete Slettebø, “We cannot with a clear conscience invite Israeli participants when we know that artists from the occupied Palestinian territories struggle with very restricted access to travel to international art venues and that they have little opportunity to communicate their art outside of the occupied territories.”

The festival opens on Saturday.

The choreographers called the rejection “reverse discrimination,” saying it holds artists accountable for the actions of their governments.

“Would you reject a Saudi artist for Saudi restrictions on women’s rights? Would you reject an American artist for the American policies regarding the ‘Muslim ban’ regulations?” they wrote in a letter, obtained by Ynet.

They also asked whether the ban would apply to Arab Israelis or Jewish-Israeli artists living abroad.

The organizers acknowledged receiving the Israeli reply but said that they could not address it until the festival was over because of their current heavy workload, Ynet reported.

[Featured image via Dancing Opportunities]

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Comments

Does Norway not have laws against national origin discrimination?

Discrimination boardering on RACISM!!!

END THE OCCUPATION of Norway.

This can’t be a very big festival and I hope that participants who do not support the views of the organizers drop out od it.

Fun Facts:

1. Population of Norway in the 1940’s: 3 million.
2. # of Norwegians who volunteered for service in the Wehrmacht, Waffen SS, or other German auxiliary units, 1940-1945: 50,000

If the above numbers are converted to 1940’s U.S. proportions, this would be equivalent to nearly 2,500,000 Americans volunteering to serve in the armed forces of an occupying nation.