New Feeling Endorses the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
New Feeling is proud to sign on to support and endorse the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their fight for liberation from Israeli occupation and genocide.
New Feeling’s mission is to cover the sounds and stories of music across the country/occupied Indigenous lands that constitute Canada. We recognize the violence and injustice that has led to the creation of “Canada” and that it is ongoing. We also recognize the broad and systemic nature of this violence, how it is embedded in the structures in which we work, and our responsibility to challenge and dismantle these harmful systems, however we can.
Artists and writers have been attacked for voicing their support for the Palestinian people. In some cases they’ve lost their jobs or funding opportunities for being critical of the genocide and being supportive of a ceasefire and/or boycott. We’ve watched as major media outlets in Canada work to manufacture consent for Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing violence they enact against Palestinian people, all the while conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
While our mission is to write about the land on which we work, we also recognize that we live in an interconnected world where struggles for liberation extend across borders, and are committed to supporting movements for justice globally, including Palestinian resistance.
As part of this support and consistent with PACBI, New Feeling commits to:
- Boycott any cultural product commissioned by an official Israeli body;
- Boycott any cultural product funded by an official Israeli body, even if not commissioned;
- Boycott any cultural event that is partially or fully sponsored or funded by an official Israeli body;
- Refrain from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration, or joint projects with Israeli institutions, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to/from these institutions;
- Refrain from hosting or circulating any events or cultural products operating under the auspices of “normalization,” or which advance a false symmetry between oppressed and oppressor;
- Support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.
- Centre Palestinian-led organizations and amplify Palestinian voices in our own programming and work.
We wish to be clear that Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and PACBI are “anchored in precepts of international law and universal human rights.” The BDS movement, including PACBI, rejects, on principle, boycotts of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, sexuality, or religion) or opinion. Mere affiliation of Israeli cultural workers to an Israeli cultural institution is therefore not grounds for applying the boycott. The individual must represent the State of Israel or a complicit institution to be grounds for boycott.
Importantly, the PACBI guidelines exclude boycotts of Israeli cultural institutions who have met the following two conditions:
- Publicly recognized the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law (including the three basic rights in the 2005 BDS Call), and
- Complied with international law in their policies and practices to end the violation of Palestinian rights.
We strongly encourage all music, arts, and media organizations to support and uphold PACBI’s principles and take action to help end violence against Palestinians and the destruction of Palestinian culture.
You can read more about PACBI and the Palestinian Boycott National Committee at: bdsmovement.net/pacbi.
Writers Against the War On Gaza (@wawog_now) also provides resources about PACBI and is available to support organizations wishing to endorse the PACBI guidelines. Their website is writersagainstthewarongaza.com/pacbi and they can be reached at pacbi@wawog.com.
