As reported by Richie Assaly in the Toronto Star yesterday, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre—the largest queer theater company in the world—is among 18 theater and performing arts organizations that have joined a “cultural and academic boycott” of Israel:
On Wednesday, Buddies—the world’s largest queer theatre company—and other organizations including Theatre Centre, Aluna Theatre and New Harlem Productions, said that they had collectively joined the international Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel (PACBI). As part of the boycott, the organizations said they won’t accept funding from the Israeli state or any institutions that they say are complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories or other violations of international law.
The endorsement was organized by Theatre Artists for Palestinian Voices (TAPV).
In an email to the Star, ted witzel, the artistic director of Buddies since 2023, said: “(The violence in Gaza) has affected many members of our team deeply. We’ve tried to make Buddies a space for conversations and solidarity. We want to be part of a larger conversation about the way that art and cultural production are never apolitical.”
Witzel said that the decision to endorse the cultural boycott of Israel comes as the organization revises its values.
“Liberation means liberation for all,” witzel said. “There is no queer liberation without the liberation of Palestine.”
Launched in 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics, PACBI is the cultural arm of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), an international, non-violent movement that demands Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
This collective boycott by Canadian theater companies marks another significant development in the Canadian literary sector’s ongoing response to the war on Gaza.
Last October, Canadian authors Miriam Towes, Rupi Kaur, and Dionne Brand were among thousands of writers and publishing professionals who signed an open letter pledging to boycott complicit Israeli cultural institutions.
In February of this year, the Giller Prize ended its decades-long partnership with Scotiabank, following months of sustained pressure from protesters, authors and publishers who pledged to boycott Canada’s most prestigious literary prize over its ties to Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
The pressure on the Giller Prize is likely to continue, however, as the Giller Foundation has yet to cut ties with Indigo Books (Canada’s largest book retailer, whose owners, Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, fund scholarships for foreign soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces) or the Azrieli Foundation (the charitable counterpart to Israeli real estate company The Azrieli Group, which has investments in West Bank settlements deemed illegal under international law).
