[syndicate] Following info

[A. G-C]

On 19/07/06 13:40, "ctgr at free.fr" <ctgr at free.fr> probably wrote:

>> The Real Aim
> 
> aaah !
> truth at last ...
> I call my sister immediately !
> 
> Any papers from ziZek or Beaudrillard ?
> 
> --
> OG
> -/ let's restaure peace around ! /-
> 
////////////////

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4853.shtml

Open Letter to Slavoj Zizek
Open Letter, PACBI, 27 June 2006

Slavoj Zizek in an image from Ben Wright's film, "Slavoj Zizek - The Reality
of the Virtual".

We at the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of
Israel (PACBI) have received with concern the news of your participation in
the Jerusalem International Film Festival next month. Since a clear majority
of Palestinian civil society has called upon international academics,
artists, and intellectuals to boycott Israeli institutions due to their
complicity in maintaining Israel's occupation and oppression of the
Palestinian people, we strongly urge you to reconsider your participation in
this event. At a time when the international movement to isolate Israel is
gaining ground in response to the escalation of Israel's colonial and racist
policies, we urge you-as a person of conscience--to reflect upon the ethical
implications of your accepting an invitation to take part in a festival that
not only enjoys the support of the Israeli establishment but is also part of
Israeli efforts to appear as a "normal" participant in the "civilized world"
of science, scholarship and art while at the same time practicing the most
pernicious form of colonial control and racism against Palestinians.

We believe that participation of international academics and intellectuals
in conferences, festivals, or similar events in Israel not explicitly
dedicated to ending Israel's illegal occupation and other forms of
oppression only enhances Israel's image as a center of learning and the
arts, and contributes to the propagation of the untruth that scholarship and
politics or art and politics should be kept separate and that business as
usual need not be disturbed by the intrusion of "politics." We are certain
that as a conscientious scholar you do not subscribe to such formulations
that can only be construed as complicity with the status quo. Remaining
silent in the face of injustice is not different from acquiescence to it, we
are sure you will agree.

The Jerusalem Film Center, under whose auspices the Festival is held,
describes itself as "a tribute to pluralism, dialogue, co-existence,
cooperation and the quest for freedom." The idyllic description of the
opening festivities of the 2005 Festival "in the shadow of the Old City
Walls" is in flagrant disregard of the appalling political and social
reality behind the ancient walls of occupied East Jerusalem or indeed behind
the other, illegal, Wall that is engulfing Palestinian land, ghettoizing
Palestinian Jerusalemites, and blocking the access of other Palestinians to
their metropolis.

We wonder what the Festival's sponsors have done to condemn the occupation,
the Wall, or the longstanding policies of exclusion, discrimination, and
outright apartheid practiced by city planners, government agencies, and
successive mayors of Jerusalem, the most notorious of whom was Teddy Kollek,
a generous patron of the Center. You may not be aware that the Jerusalem
Film Festival receives the ongoing support of the Israeli Ministry of
Education and Culture, as well as the Jerusalem Municipality and the office
of the mayor. All of these institutions are key nodes in the structures
maintaining the colonization of East Jerusalem. Once the Jerusalem Film
Festival denounces the Wall and Israeli policies in Jerusalem and declares
that no "coexistence" can flourish under apartheid, and once it severs its
links to the centers of state power, then it will have taken a courageous
step and joined the real civilized world that believes that "coexistence" in
the shadow of occupation is not possible and that the "quest for freedom"
requires taking a firm stand for equality and against oppression.

As a conscientious scholar, you are acutely aware that Israel has flaunted
international law for several decades. Since the hegemonic world powers are
active agents in acquiescence to Israel's colonial and other oppressive
policies, we believe that the only avenue left open to achieving justice for
Palestinians is sustained work on the part of Palestinian and international
activists for justice to put pressure on Israel to end this oppression.
Given the grave circumstances in which Palestinians find themselves at this
juncture, we believe that a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) is the most morally and politically sound way to achieve this. You may
be interested to know that in July 2005, the first anniversary of the
International Court of Justice's ruling on the illegality of the Wall and
the occupation regime, more than 170 Palestinian civil society unions and
organizations issued the Call for BDS as a non-violent form of resisting
Israel's oppression. The Call issued by PACBI for academic and cultural
boycott of Israel has also received widespread support from federations of
academics, professionals, writers and artists, and from civil society
organizations in Palestine.

We hope that you will not grant legitimacy to oppression by participating in
this Festival, no matter how laudable the film you will be speaking about
there is. Your mere presence at the Festival will give solace to the centers
of power bent on giving a beautiful face to an ugly reality.

Yours sincerely,

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel


The Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is endorsed
by over 170 Palestinian union, association and other civil society
organizations. The Call and the list of signatories can be found at:
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=66_0_1_10_M11