​DOUBLE STANDARDS ON FREE PALESTINE BANNER at WdKA/Piet Zwart Institute/Hogeschool Rotterdam

5 years ago Featured

I was an external examiner on student dissertations and admire the activist spirit of students, it is a shame to see this blocked on what is one of the most pressing global issues of out time

re-posting Diana's comment as some of you couldn't find it anymore. here it is: Diana May 19, 2021 Dear Florian, First of all, thank you for signing the petition, second of all I find it problematic that you as a tutor come with an enormous accumulation of academic and scholarly background and voice publicly your critiques on the student’s terminology, instead of approaching us and challenging our terminology, or educating us otherwise. But since this is the dynamic I have asked scholars for help and here what I have constituted in reply to your points: - The concept of Friend/enemy by Carl Schmitt you referred to, is not how we see what is happening in Palestine, for us, it is a duality of colonizer/colonized, two sides of a barrier wall that constitutes an apartheid. So questioning this duality means questioning the legitimacy of the liberation of colonized nations after 1945. - As for your comment “voicing support of a nation-state instead of the people” Palestine is not a nation-state. Unfortunately, it is not recognized as a state in the UN and it is just an observing member, it has no right to vote on anything. So how can we defend a nation-state when the state isn’t recognized in the first place? We are nonetheless, defending national minorities, who under modern law are not recognized as nations, and are in danger to their right to live. - As for the term ‘genocide’, we apologize if it triggered any traumatic memories to Jewish communities and other ethnicities all over the world, our intent though is to show the following facts: “Between 1947 and 1949, at least 750,000 Palestinians from a 1.9 million population were made refugees beyond the borders of the state. Zionist forces had taken more than 78 percent of historic Palestine, ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed about 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres.” And to stress that if a term under the internati

#freePalestina

Greetings to all hope to speak to you soon irl.

WdKA: No double standards! What's art without free expression? Free Palestine!

Over the years, many artists have created famous pieces of fine art that remain relevant to this day, in large part due to their political nature. I wonder what's the best way for students and teachers to create a place to present an artwork. We allow them to put it on instagram, twitter, other media but not on the “canvas” of the building. But is this fair? Is this about ownership of the building or censorship? Is this about that it is impossible to put up signs? Than it is a formal discussion about not to hang a banner on the building, instead of censorship by the Academy. Signs have a key role in activism. As well as being useful on demonstrations or at events, banners can in fact be the centre-piece of creative actions and stimulate debate when displayed within the art school and outside the art school. https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/political-art/face2face-project

Over the years, many artists have created famous pieces of fine art that remain relevant to this day, in large part due to their political nature. https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/political-art/face2face-project

It saddens me to see the blatant censorship on campus when all the students are asking for is acknowledgment of human rights

Debate, don't muffle

!!!!!!!!

It’s such a shame that instead of discussing the (meaning of the) work presented. Or the societal issue tackled we get sidestepped again on bureaucratic processes and corporate considerations. We should have backed our students in their process and make the conversation about their work and about the issue they are addressing. See comment from Florian. He actually challenges the work and the statement critically, to challenge the students thought processes, to addresst the topic in a meaningful way. That’s the school pedagogy I signed up for. I don’t need to agree fully on all statements made in student works but I do think we should back our students when they actually walk the talk.

Wdka suck my balls

if killing 200 people is genocide... we than have to start making a daily list of genocide's around the world. Traffic in India: GENOCIDE

I am mostly annoyed by the blatant banality of the sign. Firstly the Arabs and the Jews all have their own responsibility for peace. It's not Israel, it's not the Palestinians. Blaming is so Bourgeois. This whole ordeal is all so predictable. BE F***** ORIGINAL... THIS IS AN ART INSTITUTE!!!

boohoo cry baby

Do I really need to explain myself for standing up for basic human rights and against a genocide ?

I agree with Florians comments about this petition, but nonetheless sign it because the Wdka’s statement about not wanting to be involved in political matters does not support the efforts of both staff and students over the past few years to be critical involved in this world as artists and designers.

This is indisputable selective activism, institutions should give their students a voice not silence them.

Vell said. Nov lets gaz zome zjevs togezzer and zend me zeir zkinz pleaze ;)

If ze zjevs get to keep zeir ohn country, zhen vho can I uze in my ekzperimenz??