Activists protest 'Shalom Gala Festival' in Edinburgh

Palestine solidarity activists protested outside the ‘International Shalom Gala Festival’ which was held within the program of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Wednesday 17th August.

Organisers of the Shalom Festival claimed that it was a non-political event aimed at ‘building bridges of peace’, yet in contradictory fashion the festival website also described the event as “…probably the most significant pro-Israel event of the year in the United Kingdom”.

In a strongly worded call for mobilisation against the event, Scottish PSC called the event “…nothing more than an explicit attempt to whitewash the crimes of a state”.

SPSC went on to state that the “Edinburgh Fringe Festival should not be helping to promote… propaganda for a state that stands accused by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and other bodies of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.”

Activists from across the UK were joined by members of the international solidarity movement from France and Germany to perform political street theatre in Edinburgh’s streets in the days preceding the Shalom Festival.

On the day of the festival, attempts to cause disruption with loud protests outside the city’s Central Hall seemed to have been successful when several attendees left the event to demand police officers closed down the protest, although their demands made little difference as the protesters remained on site until the event drew to a close on Wednesday evening.

There is a long history of boycott activism around Israeli state-funded events at Edinburgh’s various festivals. A 2009 campaign in which renowned film director Ken Loach played a prominent role led to the Edinburgh International Film Festival returning funding that had initially been accepted from the Israeli Embassy. During the 2012 Edinburgh Festival activists disrupted the tour of the Batsheva Dance Company, whilst the planned 2014 Fringe Festival shows by both the Incubator Theatre company and the Pola Dance company were both cancelled following campaigning and protests.