Artists in Cornwall open letter to end ‘genocide’ in Gaza

Cornish artists have come together under the banner ‘Cornwall Arts 4 Palestine’ to call for a full arms embargo and sanctions on Israel, to get food, fuel and medicine flooding into Gaza.

The organisation say over 60,000 Palestinians have already died in Gaza, over 20,000 of them children.

 The United Nations says over half a million more are now at catastrophic risk of death from starvation in the coming days, following Israeli blockades on aid in breach of the Geneva Convention.

Edward Rowe, the Kernow King, says he joined the Cornwall Arts For Palestine campaign because: “We can’t keep watching ethnic cleansing being televised live on our screens. Children, civilians and aid workers are being deliberately targeted. The death toll in Gaza rises every day that we delay.

“I want to see all of Cornwall’s MPs get behind our call for urgent Government action to stop the genocide now.”

Sue Hill, internationally renowned artist who famously made Heligan’s ‘Mud Maid’, added: “Art is the last, best tool we have to change hearts and minds. If you can, please make a shareable artwork – writing, drawing, singing, talking, photography – and post it online with the hashtag #CallToArts, to help express our rage, sorrow and frustration at our country’s complicity in the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza”.

Cornwall Arts For Palestine is publishing their open letter on the eve of the next major national protests. Following the recent arrest of eight protestors in Truro, carloads of Cornish folk are setting off for London to join the national protests taking place on Saturday, August 9.

Oliver Baines, a retired charity chief executive and local farmer arrested for silently holding a placard in Truro, alongside retired magistrate Deborah Hinton OBE and six others, said: “All of us who make up the ‘Truro 8’ have been overwhelmed by the phenomenal response from creatives across Cornwall. At a time when people are being arrested for peaceful protest, the #CallToArts campaign is a beautiful way for people to get their voices heard. I hope Cornwall’s MPs are listening and will back their call for concrete action to end the genocide in Gaza.

Over the same weekend as the national protests in London, back here in Cornwall the Boardmasters festival will feature Bob Vylan on its main stage line-up – despite the recent controversy over his Glastonbury appearance.

Boardmasters organisers said: “The ongoing genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is an atrocity, with innocent Palestinians being killed, displaced, and subjected to unimaginable suffering.

“Entire communities have been obliterated. As a festival built on community, empathy, and human connection, we feel a moral responsibility to speak out and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people”.