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Action against ‘pinkwashing’ at filmscreening Kriterion
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On the evening of Monday March 19, activist collective Queeristan organized a protest at the film screening of 'Yossi and Jagger' by Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox in cinema Kriterion in Amsterdam. The film displays the love between two Israeli Defense Force officials stationed at the Israel-Lebanon border in the 1980's. During this war over 17.000 Palestinians and Lebanese were killed, of which the film makes no reference. The activists interrupted the introduction to the film, hosted by the University of Amsterdam's UvA Pride platform, shouting slogans such as “There is NO PRIDE in any army”; “There is NO PRIDE in Israeli occupation”; “There is NO PRIDE in Apartheid” and “Stop using gay rights to pinkwash war crimes”. After their action the activists left the cinema, handing out flyers (see below). The intervention was meant as a solidarity action to support the call of Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PQBDS). Additionally they wanted to pay attention to the Israeli state's multimillion dollar pinkwashing campaign, which uses liberal gay rights to divert attention from Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, apartheid within Israel itself, and Israel's refusal of the UN sanctioned Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees. They argue that talking about homosexuality in the Israeli army is part of the larger pinkwashing campaign that denies the rights of Palestinians.
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Text of the flyer distributed to those present at the film screening:
STOP PINKWASHING!
SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
END ISRAELI APARTHEID!
Pinkwashing is a multimillion dollar sponsored strategy of the Israeli state that uses progressive LGBTQ rights in order to cover up human rights
violations, such as the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the building of illegal settlements, the marginalization and criminalization of Palestinians in Israel, the open-air prison of Gaza, the refusal of the UN sanctioned Palestinian Right of Return, and the apartheid wall.
The pinkwashing of Israel’s national image is found in campaigns of gay tourism, cultural production and international policies. This film you are
about to see is part of that pinkwashing campaign.
Israel’s pinkwashing is used as a cover up to the systematic oppression and exclusionary politics of the state against the Palestinian population.
Palestinian queer activists living in the occupied Palestinian territories and inside Israel have come together to promote and stand for the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, which was launched in July 2005, and finds increasing resonance within the international (queer) community.
Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PQBDS) argue that the struggle for sexual and gender diversity is interconnected with
the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination.
If you want to learn on how to support pqbds you can visit the following websites: http://www.pqbds.com/ & http://www.pinkwatchingisrael.com/