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<DD>Dear Colleagues, Judith Butler has asked me to circulate this
information. Apologies for any
<DD>cross-postings.--Denis Salter.
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>Dear Colleagues, As you know, Avraham Oz is a strong peace
activist in Israel who has consistently directed theatre productions which
bring Israeli Jews and Arabs together as actors, writers, directors, and
stage directors. He writes periodic articles about the violence committed
by Israeli troops, and most recently put on a production alternately in
Arabic and Hebrew with his company, the Haifa University Theatre
Company. Apparently, the fact of an Arab-language version of the
play put the administrators over the edge, and they have now called for
his resignation as director and threatened to put the company under
suspension and receivership. Please help me oppose this. Oz is
a courageous activist and a brilliant director, offering a model of
cultural coalition at a time and in a place where there are all too few
signs of this.<BR><BR>
<DD>-Judith Butler<BR><BR>
<DD>Please sign and circulate and return your signature and identifying
title to <A
href="mailto:performative2003@yahoo.com">performative2003@yahoo.com</A></U>.
<BR><BR>
<DD>If you wish to write directly to these administrators, their addresses
are:
<DD>
<DD>Professor Aaron Ben-Zeev, Rector, University of Haifa
<DD>Fax +972-4-8342101, email: <A
href="mailto:benzeev@research.haifa.ac.il"><FONT face="Times, Times"
color=#0000ff>benzeev@research.haifa.ac.il</A> </FONT>
<DD>Professor Yossi Ben-Artzi, Dean of Humanities
<DD>Fax +972-4-8240128, email <A
href="mailto:yossiho@research.haifa.ac.il">yossiho@research.haifa.ac.il</A>
<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
<DD>Professor Aron Ben-Zeev, Rector, University of Haifa
<DD>Professor Yossi Ben-Artzi, Dean of Humanities<BR><BR><BR><BR>
<DD><X-TAB> </X-TAB>We are
a group of writers, scholars, and individuals associated with the theatre,
who are writing to express our strong opposition to the suspension
of Haifa University Theatre Company's productions for political
reasons. This unexpected closure can only be understood
as a political opposition to the Israeli-Arab cooperative productions that
have garnered international respect for the company.
<DD><X-TAB> </X-TAB>We
write as well to protest the removal of Professor Avraham Oz as the
Director of the Haifa University Theatre Company. The company has
long had a reputation as a model of Israeli-Arab cooperation, and has
assumed a stellar international reputation under the stewardship of
Professor Oz. We call upon the University to support Avraham Oz in
his current position, and to honor the extraordinarily fine work that he
has accomplished there. From our perspective, it would seem that
Professor Oz is being punished for his political views, or for the fact
that theatre sometimes foregrounds issues that have complex political
meanings, where participation has brought Arabs and Jews together.
We oppose the effort at political censorship constituted by your acts.
<DD><X-TAB> </X-TAB>These
acts can only be understood as political opposition to the Israeli-Arab
cooperative productions and for the fact that he chose to put some
productions on in Arabic as well as in Hebrew. We call upon you to
recognize the important work of this company and reinstate the director,
empowering him to run the theatre and its highly valued work as he has.
This course of action could only be a credit to you and the University of
Haifa, and restore faith abroad that Israeli educational and cultural
institutions can and do still embody principles of intellectual and
artistic freedom. </DD></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>". . . From the point of view of a villager in
Afghanistan whose family has died in a bombing raid, a villager who has probably
never heard of the World Trade Centre, the distinctions between what the US
forces are doing and what was done on 11 September [2001] will be
academic."--Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Writing in the
Dust.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke St
West<BR>Montréal <BR>H3A 2T6</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 487 2568/398 6573<BR>F: (309) 294
0444<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Home Office<BR>4965, avenue
Connaught<BR>Montréal<BR>H4V 1X4</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 487 2568/487 7309<BR>F: (309) 294
0444<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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