NO to Palestinian flag on the Lido

VENICE4PALESTINE RENEWS ITS CALL TO THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL: “FLY THE PALESTINIAN FLAG AT THE LIDO”

Following Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera’s refusal, Venice4Palestine is once again calling on the Biennale to fly the Palestinian flag for the remainder of the Festival, pointing to the presence in the official selection of two films that the Festival itself identifies as Palestinian.

The collective, whose latest appeal has already surpassed 1,000 signatures, is responding to Barbera’s comments to la Repubblica, according to which the flag cannot be flown because Palestine is not recognised as a state by Italy. Venice4Palestine is calling on the Biennale to go “beyond protocols” and take a public stand that translates into concrete action.

Venice4Palestine also expresses its solidarity with artists who have publicly spoken out on Palestine, citing Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo, and renews its call to join the protest in Rome on September 9, from 1.00 pm outside the Italian Parliament in Piazza Montecitorio: “Solidarity cannot be put on trial, dissent cannot be silenced”.

The full statement from Venice4Palestine follows below.

The attention paid these days by the international press to our appeal, which has already exceeded a thousand signatures, confirms that even in Venice, as it has long been happening in film festivals, the public conversation is already dominated by the genocide in Palestine and the relationship between film and politics. We firmly believe that film as well as any artistic creation always have political value. As much as the individual choices made by each one of us. This is why we thank Director Barbera for clarifying any doubts by addressing directly our requests - and finally doing so publicly, to make his decisions clear. His choices also have political significance.

We had asked for the Palestinian flag to be hoisted together with all those of the countries represented by the films present in the official selection, but Barbera confirmed on the Repubblica newspaper that the Palestinian flag will not be there - despite the presence of two Palestinian films. The pretext put forward by the Mostra’s artistic director is that only the flags of the countries recognized by the Italian State can be displayed by the Biennale and "unfortunately Palestine is not yet a state" he says - conveniently overlooking that instead Palestine is a state for about 150 other countries in the world, including 35 European states - France, Spain and Great Britain among them.

We must point out to Director Barbera that in fact the Italian State has already implicitly recognised the State of Palestine since it has long recognised the Palestinian ambassador to Italy, Her Excellency Mona Abuamara. If it is true that "we would all like it to be" (a state), as Barbera said referring to Palestine, then the festival should begin to make concrete gestures of real solidarity by recognizing, as most of Europe and the world already do, that Palestine already is a state, without hiding behind old rules and without using the selection of films as an alibi to not express their positions. It's not the time for that anymore. Films can only speak for themselves and at best for their authors, certainly not for institutions like the Biennale. There is still time instead for a symbolic and concrete gesture at the same time. After all, the Mostra has already de facto recognised Palestine as a State, by indicating it as the country of origin of two films in the official selection - as can be read on its official website. It can very well, if there where a real will to do so, make this position official. We therefore relaunch our request to the director to hoist the flag of Palestine for the remaining duration of the festival.

And we relaunch the request we have been making since last year that all institutions, especially the cultural ones, find the courage to make a discard, to go beyond the protocols and to finally take a clear stand that goes beyond words, instead of continuing to let the artists and workers in the arts and cultural sectors to have to assume, at their own individual risk, the responsibility of expressing the protest and dissent in the face of the genocide of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Government of Israel. And the individual risk can be great for those who put their popularity at the service of the Palestinian struggle. We have seen it happen, in the far past, to Vanessa Redgrave when she launched her j'accuse against the zionist thugs from the Oscar podium; we have seen it happen in these years of genocide to Susan Sarandon for having publicly denounced what happened and still happens in Gaza; we see it these days with what is happening against the brave actor Mark Ruffalo, targeted by a defamatory campaign, as unjustified as it is instrumental, for expressing himself with great critical determination towards Israel: to all of them - and to the thousands of others who, despite not having the same bargaining power, have equally exposed themselves at great personal cost - to all of them goes all our solidarity, our support and our gratitude for showing us the value of certain choices.

Let’s remind ourselves once again that Zionism is not the same as Judaism, that the Government of Israel does not represent the entire Jewish population, that antizionism and antisemitism are two profoundly different things and that criticism of Israel not only is legitimate but above all cannot be interpreted in itself as an expression of antisemitism. For this reason, next Wednesday, September 9, Venice 4 Palestine will be in Rome together with all the other promoting realities for the protest and dissent marathon that will take place from 1.00 PM in front of Montecitorio and to which we invite everyone to participate: solidarity cannot be put under trial and dissent must not be silenced.

V4P