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March 11, 2006
Anti-Israel dancing about architecture
Alison Kaplan Sommer and Adloyada and Rachel Feinerman and Stephanie Fried have been following the latest cultural boycotts of Israel, one by architects and another by dancers.
All four bloggers on Dance Europe's doctrinaire anti-Israel politicalization of art, in chronological order: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Dance Europe carries a list of dance companies around the world. The only country not listed is Israel (which has internationally acclaimed dance companies). "Palestine" is listed. One correspondent for the magazine is an Australian living in Ramallah, named Nicholas Rowe, who writes things like this.
Steven I Weiss, journalist and founder of Campus-J and several Jewish blogs, and fiance of Rachel, publishes an exchange of letters between Stephanie and Nicholas, in which Nicholas is smarmily condescending.
The comments on all these blogposts run from the usual "anti-Zionism isn't antisemitism"/"oh yes it is" to some personal testimony, for example:
The editor of Dance Europe is not only anti-Israel, but also virulently anti-American. I have had the personal experience of having her politics forced upon me as she attempted to influence my writing. She began to insist that when interviewing dancers - I should particularly seek out their political views.I wrote for the magazine for over two years but was summarily informed one day that because of America's foreign policy, as a citizen of the United States, my work would no longer be accepted.
Adloyada on the architect kerfluffle: Did the dog eat his briefing papers?. The biggest irony is that of an architect who supports a fervently anti-Israel group getting a commission to redesign a building named for a politician who was known as a defender of Israel. I suppose the Nicholas Rowes of the world will say he was forced to recant, but the guy seems to be very well-off and well-known, and he doesn't need the commission. So either he's sincere, or he wants to be known as the guy who redesigned the Javits Center.
The demand for ideological purity exhibited by these arts organizations reminds me of those Communist self-criticism sessions where each member has to confess their counter-revolutionary thoughts, and then denounce each other for not being sufficiently doctrinaire. And of course, Art cannot be valued for itself, but must serve the Revolution.
I am sure these people spent their college years in groups just like that. I remember refugees from the SDS and Weather Underground and radical feminist groups telling harrowing stories about that kind of psychological abuse.
Judith | 03/11/06 at 11:19 PM | Categories: - Antisemitism watch
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Blogs which link to Anti-Israel dancing about architecture:
» Dance Europe's Unacceptable Discrimination Against Israeli Dancers from Great Dance Weblog
On March 8th I came across a post, "Dance Europe's Policy of Bias and Censorship" on Rachel Feinerman's Downtown Dancer Blog. Rachel linked to a story by journalist Stephanie Freid who publishes a blog from Tel Aviv, Israel. In this... [Read More]
Tracked on March 17, 2006 07:27 AM
Comments
So either he's sincere, or he wants to be known as the guy who redesigned the Javits Center.
Or, of course, he just wants oodles and oodles more money. And he cares more about the money than the ideology. Which is what I think the answer is. He is not going to cause his business not to get a rich commission for his work just because some politics get in the way. He'd probably get crap from that from his business partners.
He'll go on hating Israel in his spare time.
alcibiades | March 12, 2006 02:09 PM
He may even chortle that he takes money from the Jews and uses it to perpetuate Jew-hatred.
Kai Jones | March 13, 2006 12:01 PM
Architects are about money and prestige and Rodgers' support of the proposed boycott would have cost him more than the Javits commission.
Lynne | March 13, 2006 12:20 PM
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