The City Centre venue HOME have done a U turn and announced that they will now be going ahead with the Palestinian event, ‘Voices of Resilience’
The about turn follows over 100 Manchester artists and their helpers gathering to remove their works en masse from this year’s Home exhibition in protest at the decision to cancel and
In place of their now absent artworks, the creatives put up copies of a statement signed by over one hundred and fifty of their colleagues calling for an apology from Home & the reinstatement of Voices of Resilience among other demands.
Earlier this week artists including Maxine Peake and director Kapadia, a patron of HOME signed an open letter stating that the venue has “contributed to the silencing of Palestinian voices at a time when they most need to be heard”.
In a statement HOME said that The initial cancellation of the Voices of Resilience event was a difficult decision for HOME.
“We recognise how deeply this decision has affected communities and groups across Manchester and beyond, and we apologise for any distress or upset caused. We support Palestinian and all community voices, and acknowledge that we can learn from how this was handled. We regret that this has had such wide-reaching impacts.”
“As a result, we are now in a position to confirm that the Voices of Resilience event will take place at HOME, created and curated by CommaPress.“
The original decision followed a letter from Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester claiming that a featured writer, Atef Abu Saif, had engaged in antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
In a statement the theatre said that it was a politically neutral space, committed to welcoming the full range of artist expression.
“Our concern for the team at HOME, our audiences and artists, and their safety is paramount.”
Manchester based publisher Comma Press who organised the event said they are deeply disappointed with the decision and in a statement say that they are
“We are also deeply concerned about the baseless and libelous allegations against one of our Palestinian writers, Atef Abu Saif, issued by the lobby group, the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester (JRC), and repeated by the Manchester Evening News. The allegations include the claims that Atef Abu Saif is a ‘confirmed antisemite’ and a ‘holocaust denier’. This is utterly false.”
Over 1000 people protested outside the venue on Saturday against the decision
