November 15, 2023

Pieter Performance Space is a home for all people to dance, create and heal together. We center justice, community, care & reciprocity. Rooted in these values, we stand in solidarity with the people of occupied Palestine’s right to freedom, safety and equality. We are committed to body sovereignty and the right of all people to move or to stay. We condemn the ongoing genocide and state violence against Palestinians being waged by the Settler State of Israel, with the support and complicity of the United States, under a system of settler colonialism. 

Pieter demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and commits to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to end Israeli occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid. Led by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), BDS upholds the principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity. Pieter joins in refusing funding or subsidies from Israeli institutions at the national and international levels, disinvestment from the state of Israel, and refusing to participate in events sponsored by the Israeli government or complicit Israeli institutions. As the PACBI guidelines describe, this is a boycott of Israeli institutions and is not a boycott of artists or individuals based on their nationality, ethnicity or religion. 

As artists, healers, and body-based movement practitioners, we align ourselves with those who have been working for generations for Palestinian freedom, with movements for Black Liberation, Disability Justice movements, Anti-Zionist Jewish movements, Indigenous People’s movements, LGBTQIA+ movements, anti-capitalist movements and all others who seek freedom and sovereignty.

From Palestine, to Hawaii, to the Congo, to Sudan, to Tigray, to Myanmar, to Los Angeles and beyond: May all Beings Be Free. 

Pieter Performance Space encourages our community to engage in direct actions, to participate in the BDS movement, to demand a ceasefire - to do whatever their capacity and skills allow in support of Palestinian Freedom and humanity. We also encourage everyone to support offerings centering Palestinian voices and experiences.

As part of our commitment, Pieter would like to offer our space, resources, and skills as artists and organizers to materially support local actions in solidarity with and in service of Palestinian liberation. If you would like to request support or collaboration, please contact us at pieterpasd@gmail.com. 

For information on BDS: www.bdsmovement.net.

For information on calling for a Ceasefire: uscpr.org/StopGazaGenocide @uscpr

For movement information: @palestinianyouthmovement @palestinianfeministcollective 

Journalists on the ground in Gaza: @wizard_bisan1 @hindkhoudary @motaz_azaiza