Faced with the extreme violence and inhumanity of crimes perpetrated in Palestine, we feel profound shock mixed with a sense of powerlessness. Refusing any cultural collaboration with a state engaged in mass crimes is a clear gesture, aligned with our values, and immediately achievable. We are nonetheless aware of the symbolic scope and limitations of this type of action: a cultural boycott does not end violence but is a refusal to participate in strategies of political legitimization through art (art washing). It is
about not endorsing, even indirectly, propaganda that uses culture to polish the image of a state by normalizing its crimes.
We do not claim perfect coherence: PACBI guidelines are complex to apply in their entirety, notably because Sursaut receives public funding from the Canadian government, a complicit state that does not recognize the existence of Palestine.

Our boycott decision is not based solely on the financial ties that an organization may maintain with an oppressive state. We choose to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that refuse to position themselves clearly against the colonial policies and crimes of their government. Silence, in this context, amounts to a form of complicity.

We recognize that culture can sometimes contribute to legitimizing state violence, but that it can also become a space of refusal, reparation and emancipation.
For more than 40 years, Sursaut has dedicated itself to dance for young audiences with the profound desire to transmit values of openness, solidarity, love and hope to young people around the world. True to these principles, we recognize our responsibility as an artistic organization and our duty to acknowledge the realities that surround us. With reason and determination, we choose not to be complicit in legacies of injustice by striving not to perpetuate them and to contribute to work towards reparation, both
historical and current.

Sursaut’s sensitivity to the Palestinian cause is not new; In 2022, we highlighted this culture during the Fudge festival by organizing a traditional Dabké dance workshop and programming the show "Salam" by choreographer Hervé Maigret, created partly in Gaza. This work, which questions the notion of borders, features Palestinian performers.

By rendering our adherence to the PACBI campaign public, we wish to make a meaningful artistic and political gesture. We are well aware that art alone cannot transform geopolitical realities, but we believe in its capacity to awaken consciousness and echo struggles for freedom. It is with humility, but also with firm conviction, that we will continue on our path, in dialogue with those who, everywhere in the world, refuse to let art be used to silence injustice.