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PACBI Slams Nadine Gordimer for Participation in International Writers' Festival during Israel-60 Celebrations

September 11, 2008
In an open letter penned by Omar Barghouti and Dr. Haidar Eid, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) strongly criticized South African author Nadine Gordimer for ignoring calls to boycott the Israeli-hosted International Writers' Festival.

In an open letter penned by Omar Barghouti and Dr. Haidar Eid, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) strongly criticized South African author Nadine Gordimer for ignoring calls to boycott the Israeli-hosted International Writers' Festival. The letter states “Imagine what your reaction would have been if a liberal international writer, of your stature, had accepted an invitation by some group of Afrikaner writers -- most of whom not opposing apartheid itself, but only supporting of a subset of rights for blacks under apartheid -- to a festival in apartheid South Africa that took no public position against the system of racial discrimination there... we are utterly disappointed and saddened by your insulting attempt to "balance" your act of complicity by promising to visit a Palestinian university or some venue in Ramallah! Was visiting a Bantustan ever a moral or rational excuse for participating in a largely pro-apartheid gathering in South Africa?”

The full text of the letter can be seen at http://www.pacbi.org/letters_more.php?id=725_0_3_0_C

September 11, 2008
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