We have been having discussions within Edinburgh Zine Library (EZL) about making a statement in support of Palestinian liberation - particularly in the context of calling on Fruitmarket to do the same. Instead of a static statement, we wanted to produce a more active documentation of our on-going understanding and discussions, to make clearer our position and, crucially, how this is informing our work, conversations and actions.

EZL is unapologetically pro Palestinian. We call for the liberation of the Palestinian people and an end to Israeli occupation of stolen land. There is an on-going genocide in Palestine, perpetrated by Israel, that extends far further than the devastating events of the last nine months. We understand there is no apolitical stance. Palestinian liberation is inseparable from disability justice, queer liberation and decolonisation.

What does this mean in practice for us, as a collective organising a zine library and zine festival? 

First we wanted to offer some context to these practical commitments: 

  • We are a collective with (currently) 10 active members and we try to make decisions via consensus

  • We aren’t funded and have no paid members of staff, all our organising is done alongside jobs, study, caring responsibilities, other organising etc

  • We have financially subsidised the zine library through facilitating paid workshops for organisations

  • We are an unincorporated association which means we are a group made up of our members.

Actions

EZF

The main aspect so far has been addressing our partnership with Fruitmarket to produce the Edinburgh Zine Festival. You can read our statement about our call for Fruitmarket to address their relationship with investment firm Baillie Gifford and for them to make a statement in support of Palestinian liberation. This has dominated our organising time recently, and it is in the wake of this that we are drafting this text. 

BDS and PACBI

We support the Palestinian people’s call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against apartheid Israel. This includes PACBI or the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. This means that we stand by the call ‘to boycott and/or work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israel, its lobby groups or its cultural institutions, or that otherwise promote the normalisation of Israel in the global cultural sphere, that whitewash Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, or that violate the BDS guidelines.’ 

Information on PACBI from Artworkers for Palestine Scotland.

PACBI Guidelines for commitment to the International Cultural Boycott of Israel

PACBI Guidelines for commitment to the International Academic Boycott of Israel

What does this mean for EZL specifically?

Firstly, PACBI doesn’t mean not working with people based on their identity or affiliation. Instead, it means we wouldn’t work with Israeli cultural and academic institutions. The relevance of this to us isn’t huge — let's be realistic, Israeli cultural and academic institutions aren’t falling over themselves to work with us. 

Normalisation is one area that is more relevant to our day to day activities. This refers to:

‘cultural activities, projects, events and products that involve Palestinians and/or other Arabs on one side and Israelis on the other (whether bi- or multi- lateral) that are based on the false premise of symmetry/parity between the oppressors and the oppressed, or that assume that both colonisers and colonised are equally responsible for the “conflict.” These cultural activities are intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible forms of normalisation, and they ought to be boycotted.

Far from challenging the unjust status quo, such projects contribute to its endurance. Examples include events, projects, publications, films, or exhibitions that are designed to bring together Palestinians/Arabs and Israelis so they can present their respective narratives or perspectives, or to work toward reconciliation, “overcoming barriers,” etc., without addressing the root causes of injustice and the requirements of justice. Other factors that PACBI takes into consideration in evaluating such products and events are the sources of funding, the design of the product or event, the objectives of the sponsoring organisation(s), the participants, and similar relevant factors.’

Collection Development

We will include zines by Palestinian makers, and zines around Palestinian liberation, history, art and culture, or other topics, in our collection priorities. We will also add ‘Zionism’ as a disqualifying criteria for zines in our collection, and evaluate zine submissions through the lens of PACBI (this is where the concept of normalisation is particularly relevant). Our zine collection is not a neutral repository for all zines, and it is shaped by us. Although we have many zines that we may not, individually or collectively, agree with, and a zine being in the collection is not an endorsement of it, we will actively exclude zines which involve:

Palestinians and/or other Arabs on one side and Israelis on the other (whether bi- or multi- lateral) that are based on the false premise of symmetry/parity between the oppressors and the oppressed or that assume that both colonisers and colonised are equally responsible for the “conflict”. 

In the past, on the rare occasion we do not include a zine in the collection, we have had extended internal discussions and taken care and consideration. This will remain the case.

Ethical Funding

We have received two pieces of funding in the last 7 years: Creative Scotland’s Go See Share fund, and Edinburgh City of Literature’s Community Fund. We also received a £50 donation from Lincoln Zine Fest towards EZF2023, which we then passed on after the fest. 

The zine library’s costs have been covered through running paid workshops for organisations. We have also run free workshops, as well as tabling at events, and hosting pop-ups at venues like Dreadnought, Blunt Knife and The Welcoming. 

We haven’t had a particular way of filtering workshops and events before — although we had, for example, pulled out of a potential event with Out of the Blue in 2018 due to the venue (OOTB Drill Hall) hosting transphobes. Given our current needs and priorities as a collective, and particularly in relation to this blog, we’ve identified that there’s a gap in our policies around ‘ethical funding’ — where, for us, this means who we apply to and accept money from but also who we do paid workshops with or partner with. Going forward, for now, we will ask the following questions before accepting workshops: 

  • (How) has the organisation been explicit in their support for a free Palestine? (eg. have they also committed to PACBI?)

  • Where is the money coming from that pays us? 

This second question is more complex, and reflects a broader commitment to engaging with the complexity of ethical funding and making the development of a clearer and more substantial policy a priority in our organising. 

Social Media

We are not even on the periphery of organising around Palestinian liberation, so we can commit to sharing and amplifying organising that is central. We will (continue) sharing and promoting organising, marches, events and protests organised in Edinburgh and nearby. 

Safer Spaces

We will include an explicit reference to both zionism and antisemitism to our safer spaces guidance.

Future things we may want to engage with: 

We will continue to engage with this in different ways and across our organising, and this page will reflect any future developments in our discussions, commitments and actions. We are aware of several things we will want to engage with in the future when we have capacity, including who we bank with, and our email/admin systems. We are open to any other feedback or input, get in touch via zines@edinburghzinelibrary.com

Pledge card by Artworkers for Palestine Scotland.

Pledge card by Artworkers for Palestine Scotland.