UK head of Manchester art gallery forced out over Palestine solidarity row
The director of an art gallery run by the University of Manchester has been asked to leave his job following a row over the inclusion of a Palestinian solidarity statement in one of the exhibitions.
Alistair Hudson, head of the university-run Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery, is set to be forced out after pressure was put on the institution by the Israel advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
'His sacking is the last in a series of bullying actions by the University of Manchester, which initially aimed at silencing our solidarity with Palestinians '
- Eyal Weizman, Forensic Architecture
Sources told the Guardian that an exhibition put on by Forensic Architecture, a London-based investigative organisation that uses open-source information, was at the centre of the controversy.
The group put on an exhibition in August that detailed the impact of pollution, chemical weaponry, and the fallout from explosions - titled "Cloud Studies" - in places such as Syria, Beirut, Indonesia and Palestine.
However, UKLFI complained at the time that the exhibit contained “inflammatory language and representations” owing to the inclusion of a statement of solidarity with Palestine. They argued it could violate the university's public sector equality duties over its potential impact on Jewish people in Manchester.
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The exhibit was then removed, prompting Forensic Architecture - itself founded by Eyal Weizman, a British-Israeli - to demand the closure of the whole exhibition.
In response, the university restored the pro-Palestine statement. However, according to the Guardian, UKLFI “suggested that the university should take appropriate disciplinary action” against Hudson after the end of the exhibition and his sacking is understood to be directly linked to the controversy.
Weizman, who has served on the board of Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, slammed the move as "bullying" aimed at silencing pro-Palestinian activism.
“Alistair turned the Whitworth into an art space where the important questions of our time could be asked," he told the Guardian.
"His sacking is the last in a series of bullying actions by the University of Manchester, which initially aimed at silencing our solidarity with Palestinians, then at stifling open debate and taming political art more generally. This move will shrink the space for art and artists.”
The University of Manchester told the paper that while they didn't comment on individual staffing matters, they were committed to upholding "academic freedom".
The row is just the latest in a series of controversies that pro-Palestinian campaigners say are increasingly seeking to marginalise and delegitimise their activism across the UK.
On Tuesday, a Conservative MP put forward an amendment to the Public Service Pensions Bill in the UK House of Commons to ban public sector pensions from allying themselves with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“Were this amendment to pass, it should merely be the beginning of a wider effort to tackle BDS within the private sector, and that we as a government make good on our manifesto commitment to a full BDS bill," Robert Jenrick told parliament.
In a series of tweets, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign described the amendment as "dangerous" and warned it sought to "prevent local authorities from exercising their legal right to make ethical investment choices."
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