We demand Outset and its directors close its Israeli chapter, end their financial and ideological ties with militarised settler-colonialist operations in Palestine, and withdraw the social, infrastructural and media assistance they give to Netanyahu and the Israeli apartheid regime. They must clearly condemn and oppose apartheid and genocide, turning their cultural capital to new ends. Unless they can do this, they should not be enabled to continue, and individuals and institutions globally must boycott them, full-stop.
Until Outset internationally stops using art to normalise a genocidal regime via the existence of Outset Israel, lending it de facto personal and institutional legitimation, they are not fit partners for artists, artworkers, or institutions. As such we call on all members of the international artistic and cultural community to:
STRIKE OUTSET - MAKE ART, NOT WAR!
In January 2024, the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, affirmed the plausibility that Israel is committing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Over a year after this affirmation, and despite a growing expert consensus around the reality of the genocide, Israel has continued to escalate its violence in Gaza and the West Bank with apparent impunity, killing thousands as Western states continue to support Israel militarily, financially, and ideologically. Under these intolerable conditions, it is essential that we escalate our efforts across our workplaces and civil society to stand up for global freedoms and human rights.
As the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) states, ‘cultural institutions are part of the ideological and institutional scaffolding of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people.’ To meet the urgency of the current moment and respond appropriately to the ICJ ruling, it is vital that artists and artworkers apply collective pressure to break cultural links complicit with Israel’s regime of apartheid and emerging genocide.