The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) is facing criticism after it depicted Jewish actress and JC columnist Dame Maureen Lipman with devil horns and a pitchfork.
The Aberdeen branch of the SPSC shared the graphic on Instagram, objecting to Lipman’s upcoming show, Allegra in the city – scheduled for May 26–30 at His Majesty’s Theatre – claiming that she had “openly voiced extremist Islamophobic anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views” and urging supporters to sign a petition against her.
The group further label her “an open supporter of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, which continues to commit genocide, and is ethnically cleansing the West Bank.”
However, the pro-Palestine group was widely criticised for its social media graphic, which was criticised as antisemitic.
Andrew Bowie, the shadow Scotland secretary and Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, blasted the group in a post on social media.
"Maureen Lipman depicted as the Devil and people urged to boycott her play in Aberdeen, all because…well you guessed it. Utterly abhorrent, antisemitic racists in plain sight here”, he said, adding: “Well, not in my name. Maureen is welcome to Aberdeen and the North East.”
Rosie Kay, co-founder of Freedom in the Arts, a project to tackle the culture of fear and intimidation artists are facing for expressing their legal views, said that the abuse Lipman was subject to was part of a wider attempt to intimidate artists into silence.
"Maureen Lipman is currently the target of a campaign of personal vilification and antisemitic abuse intended to secure her cancellation. For those committed to dismantling racism, it must be stated with absolute clarity that such tactics have no place within our cultural life”, she said in a post on X.
“This campaign of intimidation is an attempt to force a lawful production off the stage through organised pressure”.
Freedom in the Arts’ recent report launched in Parliament least month found that Jewish artists are facing a “wave of boycotts” triggered “not by anything they have said or done but by their identity itself”.
Kay continued: “As venues face increasing pressure to exclude Jewish artists, our research in The New Boycott Crisis demonstrates that this is part of a broader, damaging pattern of informal cancellation across the arts. We must respond with calm, lawful clarity and stand in firm solidarity against such intimidation.”
The SPSC was contacted for comment.
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