dance-action

[dance-action]

STRUT MEMBERS & COMMUNITY STATEMENT AGAINST ISRAEL'S GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE

Dance is a human art form. Our language is focused on movement, the passage of the body through space as creative expression. However, we are living in a time of genocide.

For more than 600 days we have watched Israel murder innocent people in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. As a community we work, care and acknowledge bodies in many capacities. Right now, it is our collective responsibility to recognise the many bodies in peril due to the genocide Israel is committing. As dancers in so-called Australia, we must recognise and take responsibility for how this country was built on genocide and settler violence, and that violence continues today. No matter where we are in the world, we can no longer move in spaces with freedom and safety because there is no safety in silence when it comes to genocide. 

As members of Strut Dance and the broader dance community, we are expressing our solidarity with the people of Palestine, adding our collective voice to the calls for an immediate end to the acts of genocide by Israel in Gaza and the continuous war crimes Israel is committing throughout Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.

Why should dancers and dance organisations speak up?  

We don’t need to be experts to speak up about genocide. It is not complicated. It is indefensible and we cannot wait for politicians or governments to protect the rights of the people of Palestine, because they have failed for 77 years. There can be no peace without ordinary people standing together across professional, geographic and cultural boundaries. We must become an international movement of consensus demanding action to stop the genocide; a movement that cannot be ignored.

For this to occur, we need the organisations that represent us as everyday people to amplify our collective voice. This is what organisations are for. They are the opposite of disembodied corporations and institutions where a small number of people speak on behalf of the collective. Organisations help us to organise together, to make our own expressions and statements. Strut Dance exists to be a ‘strut’, to be scaffolding for the independent dance sector. As a member-based organisation of dancers, we are in a particularly strong position to take a stand and model how consensus can be built at the organisational level. We are a tight-knit local community with far reaching international connections. We share strong values about the rights of the body, of human freedom and of the freedom to move. 

Speaking up about fundamental human rights is essential for cultural practice and for inclusivity. If we and our organisations act as silent bystanders to genocide and settler violence, we automatically exclude the people who are directly impacted. We create an unsafe environment for anyone who is horrified every time they think about Palestine, and we fail to respond to the First Nations Elders and people who have spoken about seeing a reflection of their own people's struggle against colonisation in the genocide happening in front of their eyes. We must ensure we don’t lose the shared humanity that is at the heart of dance practice by staying silent.

As members, community and staff of Strut Dance, we demand that the Australian Government:

1. Names Israel's violence in Palestine as genocide.

2. Demands a permanent ceasefire and Israel's full withdrawal from all military presence in Palestine, Lebanon or Syria.

3. Commits to fulfilling its obligations under international law by enforcing the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu for his role in the commission of war crimes in Palestine.

4. Imposes sanctions on Israel, and on Israeli individuals and entities contributing to the genocide. 

5. Advances legislation and/or policy to ensure Australia is not complicit in any breaches of international law committed by foreign states, regardless of alliance.

Lastly, we respectfully call on the Board of Strut Dance to endorse this statement generated by members and to advocate for action by setting an example of taking a stand in the dance sector and beyond. 

-- If you are a STRUT member, staff or part of the community surrounding STRUT please fill out the form at this link to endorse this letter. Only names and relationship to STRUT will be published with the letter and not the other details.

Sign up here And also, note that this statement is not intended for release in early August, so please spread the word via direct messages and email, not on social media or to media outlets just yet. To contact the working group email: danc3action [at] gmail.com

--

SIGNED BY:

Feras Shaheen - Community Sam Fox - Strut member,  Strut lab & workshop facilitator Lara Dorling - Member Emily Jane - Dancer- in training :D nobu hojimi chaan - 'community ' Kathleen Szalay Mulholland - member Makaela Rowe-Fox - Strut Member Emma Fishwick - Strut Member, Previous STRUT Board Member, Community Crystal Nguyen - Member Aimee Smith - member Kimberley Parkin - Community Hala Shanableh - Community Alice Cummins - Community Laura Boynes - Member Sophie Molony - member Elsa Mona Bignell - member / community Tyrone Robinson - Member Isabella Stone - member Jo Pollitt - member Otto Pye - Member Lilly McCarthy-Cole - Member Hunter Ewen - Community Charlotte Elise Deany - Waapa and Community Alisha Subritzky - Member Harrison Cook - STRUT Member Luci Young - member Gavin Mills - Member Rhiannon Stacey - Member Bridgette Davies - Member Briannah Davis - member, community Rachel Arianne Ogle - (former) member, community Izzy Leclezio - Member Rosamund Philpott - Community Aloalii Tapu - Community Daisy Sanders - member/community christopher jee tze hong - community Tori Manley-Tapu - Community Leena Shanableh - Community Mackenzie Brown - STRUT member Felicity Groom - Community Zendra Giraudo - Board Member Victoire Hemedi - Community Estelle Brown - Member Eadie Pocock - Community Paea Leach - Community Bella Waru - Detour recipient, community William Dickie - Community