On Saturday evening 2 November,protestors gathered outside as the Tricycle opened an Israeli-sponsored Jewishfilm festival.
The livelyand colourful protest was called by the International Jewish Anti-ZionistNetwork, in response to the Israeli Embassy’s sponsorship of the Tricycle’sFestival. People from different faiths, including an Israeli activist,Palestinian solidarity activists, and campaigners from the KentishTown-based Global Women’s Strike, came together to remind the Tricycle that atthe very same time that they hosted the festival last year, Israel was bombingGaza, killing 158 Palestinians; including 30 children.
Protestors, who have valued theTricycle for decades through its vitally informative and entertaining playsabout Afghanistan, Ireland’s Bloody Sunday, US Guantanamo, the Stephen LawrenceInquiry, and more, are appalled at the Tricycle hosting a film festivalsponsored by a government whose major industry is repression, not only ofPalestinians but around the world.
With placards and a loudspeaker theyhighlighted that Israel had broken the international boycott of apartheid South Africa – supplying itwith military hardware and training, and helping build its nuclear industry;had armed the Argentinean junta even as it killed thousands, including manyJews; had helped arm and train the Rwandan military and Hutu militia whichcommitted genocide against the Tutsis; and helped arm the Sri Lankan governmentwith warfare technology, including drones, enabling it to massacre tensof thousands of Tamils.*
Protestors were shocked that theTricycle was not only using security guards who refused to identify themselves,but also that a vanload of police had been called on an entirely peacefulprotest. The protestors, who are mainly local residents and theTricycle’s most loyal audience, have written to the new artistic director ofthe Tricycle, Indhu Rubasingham, to say: "Given that Israeli apartheid is not loved, especially inmulti-racial Kilburn . . . Is this who the Tricycle wants to be associatedwith?
{image_1}
