SCOTTISH arts workers have condemned Angus Robertson’s response to their call for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel.
Art Workers for Palestine Scotland (AW4PS) sent a letter – signed by over 800 artists, arts workers, cultural organisations, freelancers, educators, and community practitioners – to the Scottish Government demanding that further action is taken amid the genocide in Gaza.
It included calls for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel and to end all cultural partnerships and collaborations with Israeli state-funded institutions.
But the response from Robertson – Scotland’s Culture and External Affairs Secretary – has been met with anger.
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“[It] fails to meet even the minimum moral and political expectations of the people he is meant to represent,” an AW4PS spokesperson said.
The response, which The National has seen, states that there are “no current plans for additional measures to be taken that would extend to a cultural or academic boycott”.
The Robertson letter goes on to say that divestment campaigns can “place immediate and existential financial pressures on our invaluable cultural organisations” and that it may “discourage future individual and corporate giving” to the culture sector in Scotland.
Robertson also describes Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “reported genocide” despite First Minister previously saying in August at an Edinburgh Fringe event: “It’s quite clear that there is a genocide in Palestine – it can’t be disputed.”
AW4PS accused the Scottish Government of repeating “long-standing political talking points while refusing any substantive action”.
“Robertson’s letter attempts to delegitimise calls for divestment by portraying them as harmful to Scotland’s cultural sector, ignoring the fact that these demands come from cultural workers, many of whom have already faced severe institutional pressure, censorship, and retaliation for speaking out,” they said.
“AW4PS recognises that Scotland does not control foreign policy. But Scotland does control its cultural relationships, public procurement, divestment decisions, and its ability to take principled stances, just as it has done in previous international struggles, including apartheid South Africa.”
AW4PS added: “We expect a government that claims to champion culture, equality, and human rights to respond with integrity, not to hide behind bureaucratic distance and reheated political positioning.
“The arts sector has spoken clearly: we do not want our labour, our institutions, or our public money used to normalise or support a state committing mass atrocities. Angus Robertson’s response fails to meet even the minimum moral and political expectations of the people he is meant to represent.”
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