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Opinion

The isolation of art's true freedom fighters

July 2, 2015 16:21
Defiant: artists should be allowed to express their work and feelings without fear of reprisals
4 min read

The cultural boycott against Israel strikes at the heart of freedom of expression. The Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement seeks to rob the world of one of its most valued treasures - freedom of expression - one artist, one performance, one exhibit at a time.

Proponents of the cultural boycott against Israel want to prevent international audiences from experiencing Israeli art and want to cut the flow of world art going into Israel. They want to bar films from festivals, silence instruments, and take canvases off walls.

Whether they wish to engage or entertain, artists must have both the freedom to create and to share in order to thrive. They want as many people as possible to see their paintings, hear their songs and laugh at their jokes. This passion to connect is as natural as the moon's pull on the ocean. Artists have been willing to go to jail rather than lose the opportunity to share their art.

In totalitarian regimes, artists are arrested to prevent them from sharing their art. In open, liberal societies getting an artist to cancel a performance or a venue to take down an exhibit requires other means.