Calls grow to boycott Santo Domingo International Book Fair over plan to honor Israel

A call to boycott this year’s Santo Domingo International Book Fair (FILSD 2023), scheduled for August 24th to September 3rd, is gaining momentum as the right-wing government under President Luis Abinader is set to honor the State of Israel. This tribute clearly serves to culture-wash the apartheid regime in Israel. More than two hundred writers, academics, intellectuals, and activists have signed the joint statement, launched by leftist, anti-racist, and anti-Zionist activists and writers.

Diplomatic ties between the Dominican state and Israel go back to the establishment of Israel in 1948. In the 1950s, for example, the nascent Zionist state sold weapons to the brutal Rafael Leonidas Trujillo dictatorship. Then again in the 1970s, the State of Israel sold weapons to  Joaquín Balaguer‘s repressive regime.

As of this writing, both the Puerto Rican poet and novelist Mayra Santos-Febres and the US-born Dominican author Angie Cruz have signed the statement in support of the boycott and canceled their participation in the FILSD 2023. Other key signatories are author, scholar, and feminist political activist Angela Davis, public intellectual and philosopher Cornel West, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, US-born Palestinian scholars and authors Rashid Khalidi and Steven Salaita, as well as Dominican authors Julia Alvarez, Elizabeth Acevedo, Nelly Rosario and Junot Díaz among others.

Following in the footsteps of Trujillo, Balaguer, and the subsequent regimes led by the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (1996-2000; 2004-2020), President Luis Abinader has created a climate of fear and racial hatred by embracing right-wing nationalist rhetoric, building a wall on the Dominican-Haitian border against the so-called “Haitian menace” and enacting anti-Haitian racist laws to further segregate  Dominicans of Haitian origin and Haitian immigrants who, since the early 20th century, have represented an important source of cheap labor for foreign and local capitalists exploiters. Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent represent around 8% of the Dominican Republic’s population.

In May 2022, at the end of a book fair marked by censorship and neo-fascist threats against LGBTQ and black Dominican artists and authors, the Ministry of Culture announced with great fanfare that Israel would be the guest of honor at the 2023 book fair. The announcement sparked outrage and widespread condemnation among leftist activists and authors already fed up with state censorship during the book fair and beyond. Dominican activists see the tribute to Israel’s apartheid regime as sending an insulting political message in the context of its internal policies of racial profiling and persecution and outright disregard for Palestinian rights. Calls to boycott the FILSD were accompanied by statements of support for the Palestinian people. In November 2022, feminist, anti-racist/black conscious, and socialist organizations sent an Open Letter to the Minister of Culture to express their outrage:

“We are concerned that a cultural event is being used by the Dominican government to pay homage to an apartheid state, as recognized for decades by Palestinian human rights organizations, and also denounced by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and even by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.”

Disturbed by rising death threats against activists and writers during the previous Book Fair, several cultural organizations met in January with representatives of the Ministry of Culture to demand that the Book Fair organizers address the issue of safety and free speech. However, their demands fell on deaf ears, prompting cultural workers and writers to withdraw their participation in the annual literary festival.

In January 2023, echoing Dominican activists, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) released a statement calling “on the Dominican Republic Ministry of Culture to cancel its planned tribute to apartheid Israel at the Santo Domingo International Book Fair.”

Certainly, by now, the Santo Domingo Book Fair has lost whatever luster it claimed to have in the past. Since the mid-1980s, the event, took place in April to celebrate the World Book Day. April also holds historical significance for Dominicans due to the commemoration of the 1965 April Revolution and a subsequent U.S. military invasion. As such, the Book Fair became a rare cultural event each year in a country with no centralized public library system and fewer bookstores. It served a public good, celebrating literary works and fostering reading among the youth. Over the past decade, however, writers, artists, and cultural workers have criticized the event as no longer centered on books, literature, and creative writing but as turning into a camouflaged propaganda vehicle for the state. The arrogant and anti-democratic decision by the Dominican elite to honor a colonialist state coincides with the Dominican state’s own increasing apartheid practices. In 2013, it stripped Dominicans of Haitian origin of their birthright to citizenship, rendering them stateless, and, over the past few years, it reinforced its persecution of Haitian migrants. These are not isolated incidents, but a byproduct of intrinsic government policies carried out systematically by the Dominican state.

In the end, these developments underline the crucial need to adopt a new strategic vision that requires building solidarity between the Palestinian liberation movement and the anti-racist and anti-imperialist Left in the Dominican Republic. The current boycott campaign is an important step in that direction.

Statement with signatures below.

We Reject the Racist Persecution by the Dominican Government

Boycott the 2023 Santo Domingo International Book Fair Dedicated to Israel

The undersigned artists, writers, intellectuals, and activists express solidarity with the Haitian writer Jhak Valcourt, who was arrested on the morning of July 13 by police agents and taken to two police headquarters in the city of Santo Domingo, before being transferred to the Haina [immigrant] detention center, despite having his immigration papers in order. Valcourt has lived in the Dominican Republic for 11 years and during all these years he has forged collaborative ties with Dominican writers. His case illustrates how the policy of mass deportation against Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic is based on racial profiling and discrimination, with a de facto state of exception where no legal or constitutional guarantee is respected.

Faced with the ongoing barbaric persecution, which is reflected in thousands of weekly arrests, warrantless raids, extortion, and confinement in overcrowded places without access to water and food, among other abuses, we raise our voices in repudiation of this racist, xenophobic anti-Haitian witch hunt by the Dominican government under President Luis Abinader. Following in the same footsteps of [right-wing] peledeistas and balagueristas governments in the past, President Abinader has followed point by point the script of the most reactionary sectors of the ruling class, giving free rein to the propagation of racial hatred, while the powerful local and foreign capitalists enrich themselves on the backs of working-class Dominicans and immigrants.

We strongly reject the discriminatory immigration policy of the Dominican State, which in recent months has intensified its violence. We also reject cooperation between neo-fascist groups and the authorities, for example with the “patriotic marches” organized by an official institution, the Instituto Duartiano as well as the recent induction of the genocidal general Ramiro Matos to the Dominican Academy of History. All these facts, together with the legalization of a Trujillist party, mark the accelerated anti-democratic deterioration of the country.

Within this framework of racist violence, persecution, mass deportations, and abuse of power, the Dominican State is organizing the Santo Domingo International Book Fair (FILSD), scheduled for the end of August, and dedicated to the apartheid regime of Israel. The 2022 edition of the same book fair was the scene of acts of censorship for reasons of homophobia and racism. Both the Culture Minister Milagros Germán and the General Director of Books and Reading within the Ministry of Culture Ángela Hernández have refused to guarantee that there will be freedom of expression and protection for the safety of writers and artists at the book fair after cultural organizations made such a request in January of this year. Faced with this very serious situation, we call on writers, artists, editors, publishers, and cultural workers around the world not to attend the next Santo Domingo International Book Fair in 2023, and to continue demanding that the Dominican government respect human rights and democratic freedoms.

1. Abdul Hadi Sadoun, escritor, Irak-España
2.  Achy Obejas, escritora, Cuba-Estados Unidos
3. Adriana García, economista, República Dominicana
4. Adriana Urrea, filósofa, Colombia
5. Agrupación Cultural Titerike, Región de La Araucanía, Chile
6. Alberto Aguilera, obrero, Panamá 
7. Alberto Martínez-Márquez, escritor boricua
8. Alejandra Gutiérrez Lara, antropóloga, Colombia
9. Ali José Álvarez Suárez, coord. relaciones internacionales del Movimiento Cultural Campesino los Arangues, Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los pueblos, Venezuela. 
10. Alicia Lira Matus, presidenta de la agrupación de familiares de Ejecutados Políticos, Chile
11. Alicia Méndez Medina, actriz, República Dominicana
12. Amarilys Estrella, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
13. Amaury Pérez, profesor universitario, República Dominicana
14. Amaury Rodríguez, escritor y traductor, Estados Unidos
15. Amín Pérez, profesor universitario, República Dominicana
16. Ana Harcha Cortés, artista y académica, Chile
17. Ana María Belique, activista social en DDHH, República Dominicana
18. Ana María Ramírez, enfermera, Estados Unidos
19. Anderson Mojica, actor y cineasta, República Dominicana 
20. Angela Davis, autora, académica, feminista y activista política, Estados Unidos
21. Angélica Cuero Caicedo, España
22. Angelina Tallaj, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
23. Angie Cruz, escritora, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
24. Aniova Prandy, artista visual, República Dominicana
25. Anthony Arnove, escritor, editor, Estados Unidos
26. Antonio González-Walker, Puerto Rico
27. Antonio Isaac Salim, profesor, Puerto Rico
28. April J. Mayes, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
29. Arelis Figueroa, pastora, Estados Unidos
30. Arlene Dávila, profesora universitaria, NYU, Estados Unidos
31. Aurora Santiago Ortiz, catedrática auxiliar, Estados Unidos
32. Ayendy Bonifacio, profesor universitario de inglés, Estados Unidos
33. Beatriz Llenín Figueroa, escritora, traductora, Editora Educación Emergente, Puerto Rico
34. Bienvenida Mendoza, animadora sociocultural, anti-racista, República Dominicana
35. Blanca Carrasquillo Rodríguez, Puerto Rico 
36. Camila Ladeira Scudeler, Brasil
37. Carlos Decena, profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
38. Carlos Francisco Bauer, profesor universitario, Argentina
39. Carlos Nieves, contador, Puerto Rico 
40. Carmen Ana Dávila Torres, enfermera, Puerto Rico
41. Catherine Bourgeois, investigadora, Bruselas, Bélgica
42. Cecilia Carrasquillo, profesora, Puerto Rico
43. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos 
44. Charles Post, sociólogo, Estados Unidos
45. Charlotte Wiener, abogado, Estados Unidos
46. Christian Vauzelle, artista, Francia
47. Christina Sharpe, profesora universitaria, CRC, Canadá   
48. Claribel Díaz, poeta y psicoanalista,  República Dominicana-Estados Unidos
49. Claudio Mir, coordinador de proyectos estudiantiles, Rutgers University, Estados Unidos
50. Claudio Remeseira, periodista, Argentina-Estados Unidos
51. Claudy Delne, profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
52. Colectivo Ilé, Puerto Rico
53. Comisión Ética contra la Tortura Juana Aguilera, Secretaria Ejecutiva, Chile
54. Comité de Solidaridad con el pueblo de Haití, Puerto Rico
55. Comuna Caribe, Puerto Rico
56. Constantino, actor, Chile
57. Cornel West, philosopher, political activist, Estados Unidos
58. Cristian  Aquino-Sterling, Ph.D., profesor universitario, Educación Bilingüe & ESL – Tech University, Estados Unidos
59. Cristina Corrada Emmanuel, antropóloga, Puerto Rico
60. Dana Cloud, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
61. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, profesor de literatura clásica, Princeton, Estados Unidos
62. Dani Fresard C, publicista, Chile 
63. Daniel Huttinot, Estados Unidos-Haití
64. Daniel Infante, arquitecto, Argentina
65. Daniela González López, coordinadora Internacional del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos, México
66. Daniela Robles, estudiante universitaria, Estados Unidos
67. David Auerbach, profesor universitario, Puerto Rico
68. Deborah E.McDowell, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
69. Diana Braceras, escritora, Argentina
70. Dorothy Bell Ferrer, autora, Puerto Rico
71. Dr. Miguel Valerio, profesor, Estados Unidos
72. Dr. Rachel Douglas, scholar, Escocia/Reino Unido
73. Dra. Berta H Joubert, psiquiatra jubilada, Puerto Rico
74. Echedey Medina, escritor y filólogo, España
75. Edwin Solano, escritor, República Dominicana
76. Elena donoso, profesora, Chile
77. Elena Lorac, activista, República Dominicana
78. Elizabeth Acevedo, escritora, Estados Unidos
79. Elizabeth S Manley, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
80. Emmanuel G. Roa, Estados Unidos
81. Ensabella Guillermo Pablo, jubilado, Argentina
82. Ernesto Rivera, artista, República Dominicana 
83. Esperanza Marzouka, médico y escritora, Chile
84. Estelí Capote – arquitecta, Puerto Rico 
85. Esther Hernández Medina, socióloga y activista feminista, Estados Unidos-RD
86. Eveling Carrazco López, investigadora y feminista descolonial nicaragüense, Nicaragua 
87. Fabiola Agudelo Henao, Colombia
88. Federico Cintrón Fiallo, escritor, Puerto Rico
89. Fiona Brown, Estados Unidos
90. Flor Angel Agustín Federico, República Dominicana
91. Francisco González, arquitecto, Colombia
92. Françoise Foutou, docente, Martinica
93. Frank García Hernández, historiador y sociólogo, Cuba
94. Gabriela Rosas, docente, Panamá  
95. Genesis Lara, historiadora, Estados Unidos
96. George Lipsitz, docente, Estados Unidos
97. Gerardo R. Mercedes, artista y gestor cultural, Moca, República Dominicana
98. Ginetta E.B. Candelario, PhD., profesora de sociología, Estados Unidos
99. Gladys Cardona Torres, jubilada, Puerto Rico 
100. Gonzalo Basile, investigador en Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Argentina
101. Héctor Miolán, escritor, República Dominicana-Estados Unidos
102. Henry Morel, periodista, República Dominicana
103. Hilda Guerrero, terapia holística, San Juan, Puerto Rico
104. Hilda M. Díaz, Puerto Rico  
105. Hugo Ríos Cordero, profesor, Puerto Rico
106. Ilan Pappé, historian, Reino Unido
107. Ingrid Luciano, teatrista, escritora, activista, República Dominicana
108. Inmaculada Lara Bonilla, profesora universitaria, España-Estados Unidos
109. Isabel Amarante, académica, Lenapehoking, Turtle Island, Estados Unidos
110. Isidora Araya Carrera, estudiante, Chile
111. Ismael Rivera, poeta, Chile
112. Iván Anacarate, docente, Argentina
113. Ivanova Veras de Jesús, investigadorx, República Dominicana
114. Ivette Romero, catedrática, Estados Unidos
115. Jamila Medina Ríos, Cuba
116. Jean Lhérisson, agrimensor, Bélgica
117. Jennifer Marline Rodríguez, profesora, República Dominicana
118. Jhak Valcourt, escritor haitiano residente en República Dominicana
119. Jimmy Lam, escritor, Estados Unidos
120. Johan Mijail, escritora travesti afrodominicana, República Dominicana
121. Johanna Agustín Federico, poeta y activista antirracista, República Dominicana
122. Johanna Fernández, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos.
123. Johanné Gómez-Terrero, cineasta, República Dominicana
124. John Keene, autor & profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
125. Jordan Hernández, escritor, República Dominicana
126. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, Assistant Professor  of Latin American and Caribbean History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Estados Unidos
127. Jorge A. Montijo, neuropsicólogo, Puerto Rico
128. Jorge Rueda, jubilado, Argentina
129. Jorge Ventocilla, biólogo, Panamá 
130. José Carrasquillo Rodríguez,  maestro, Puerto Rico
131. José Cruz, profesor, España
132. José M Félix, economista, Chile
133. José Rodríguez presidente del Comité Dominicano de Derechos Humanos en Puerto Rico
134. Juan Miguel Pérez, República Dominicana
135. Juana Ramírez G, pensionada, Chile
136. Julia Alvarez, escritora, Estados Unidos
137. Julián González Beltrez, bibliotecarie/historiadore, Estados Unidos-R.D.
138. Junot Díaz, escritor, Estados Unidos
139.  Kalil Abu-Qalbein Koda, antropólogo, Chile
140. Katerina González Seligmann, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
141. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
142. Kevin Holmes, traductor y gestor cultural, Chile
143. Kiya Vega, artista, Estados Unidos
144. Koldo Campos Sagaseta, escritor, Estado Español
145. Lasana M. Sekou, escritor, San Martín
146. Lauren Derby, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos  
147. Lauristely Peña Solano, gestora cultural, República Dominicana
148. Leonardo Nin, escritor, República Dominicana
149. Lety Elvir, profesora y escritora, Honduras
150. Lissette Acosta, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
151. Lissette Rolón Collazo, profesora, Puerto Rico
152. Lorgia García Peña, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
153.  Lourdes Carrasquillo, terapeuta de masaje, Puerto Rico
154.  Lourdes M. Santaballa Mora, IBCLC, Puerto Rico
155. Lourdes Rivera Román, jubilada del gobierno de Puerto Rico
156. Lucy Carrasquillo, Puerto Rico       
157. Luis Feliz León, periodista, Estados Unidos
158. Luz María Sosa Contreras, España. 
159. Marc Lamont Hill, profesor universitario, Temple University, Estados Unidos
160. Marcelo Montagna, cerrajero y estudiante de la Lic. de Filosofía, Argentina
161. María Eva De Bartolo, narradora, titiritera, Argentina
162. María Inés Urrutia, religiosa, Chile
163. María Reinat Pumarejo, educadora y organizadora antirracista, Puerto Rico
164. María Riquelme, poeta, Prof. Artes Visuales, Puerto Rico
165. Maribel Núñez, periodista, activista afro, República Dominicana
166. Mariel Acosta, estudiante universitaria, Estados Unidos
167. Marisel Moreno, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
168. Massiel Torres Ulloa, PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literature, Harvard University, Estados Unidos
169. Mauricio Amar, académico, Chile
170. Mauricio Barria Jara, dramaturgo, Chile
171. Mayobanex Pérez, escritor, República Dominicana
172. Mayra Santos-Febres, escritora. Puerto Rico
173. Medhin Paolos, film maker, activist, Italia
174. Melissa Zamora Monge, Costa Rica
175. Mercedes Petit, ensayista socialista, Argentina
176. Mercy Carrasquillo, retirada, Puerto Rico
177.  Micely Díaz Espaillat, trabajadora social, República Dominicana
178. Michèle Hehn, docente pensionada, Canadá
179. Miguel Sorans, revista Correspondencia Internacional, Argentina
180. Milagros Sefair, escritora, Argentina-La Internacional de Escritores Insurgentes, Argentina
181. Miriam Neptune, bibliotecaria, Estados Unidos
182. Morella Ortiz, profesora, Estados Unidos
183. Narcisa Núñez, Estados Unidos
184. Natanael Disla, investigador social, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
185. Nathalie Molina, artesana, República Dominicana
186. Neici M. Zeller, profesora universitaria emérita, Estados Unidos
187. Nélida Noemí Duranti, docente jubilada, Argentina
188. Nelly Rosario, escritora, Estados Unidos- República Dominicana
189. Nelson Ricart-Guerrero, artista y escritor, Francia
190. Nelson Santana, catedrático, Estados Unidos
191. Nicolás Eltit Misleh, estudiante de derecho, Chile
192. Nixon Boumba, sociólogo, Haití 
193. Norberto Ganci, periodista, director del Club de La Pluma, Argentina
194.  Nuna Marcano, profesora dominicana en Estados Unidos
195. Nuriluz Hermosilla, arqueóloga, Chile
196. Ochy Curiel, feminista decolonial y profesora universitaria, República Dominicana
197. Odalys Rivera, organizadora comunitaria, Puerto Rico
198. Onesima Lienqueo, licenciada en Educación, defensora de los derechos de infancia, Chile
199. Oscar Álvarez, gestor cultural, Uruguay
200. Pablo Delano, profesor universitario, Trinity College,  Estados Unidos
201. Pablo Ruiz, periodista, del Observatorio por el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas, Chile
202. Patricio García P., profesor universitario, República Dominicana
203. Paul Joseph López Oro, assistant professor of Africana Studies, Estados Unidos
204. Paula Fernández Hernández, docente e investigadora, Islas Canarias, España
205. Pedro Cabrera, abogado, República Dominicana
206. Pedro Ureña RIB, lingüista, profesor universitario, República Dominicana
207. Quisqueya Lora H, historiadora, República Dominicana
208. Raj Chetty, profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
209. Ramón Grosfoguel, profesor universitario, Universidad de California, Estados Unidos.
210. Randol Contreras, profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
211. Raquel Virginia Cabrera, escritora, Estados Unidos
212. Rashid Khalidi, profesor universitario, Estados Unidos
213. Raúl Guadalupe, poeta, ensayista e historiador, profesor universitario, Puerto Rico, Colonia USA
214. Raùl Zecca Castel, antropólogo, Italia
215. Ricard Sánchez Andres, activista social, España 
216. Roberto Carlos García, autor y poeta, Estados Unidos
217. Robin D. G. Kelley, profesor universitario, UCLA, Estados Unidos
218. Robin Koenig, obrero, Irlanda
219. Román López, psicólogo comunitario, República Dominicana
220.  Rosa Carrasquillo, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos 
221. Rosa Maribel Ruth Mansilla, estudiante, Argentina
222. Rosa Navas, Chile
223. Rosaura Laabidi, enfermera, Estados Unidos
224. Rubén Sacchi, poeta, Argentina
225. Ruth Pión, investigadora social, activista, República Dominicana
226. Samir Eskanda, artista y organizador, Palestina-Reino Unido
227. Sandra Lema, actriz, Chile
228. Sandy Plácido, historiadora, Estados Unidos.
229. Santiago Grullón, PhD; economista, Estados Unidos
230. Saúl Nieves, activista, Estados Unidos
231. Saulo Colón, New Politics, Puerto Rico
232. Scherezade García, Estados Unidos-RD
233. Sharina Maíllo-Pozo, docente e investigadora, Estados Unidos
234. Silvio Torres-Saillant, profesor universitario, Syracuse University, Estados Unidos
235. Soledad Yañez actriz, Chile
236. Sophie Maríñez, profesora universitaria, Estados Unidos
237. Steven Salaita, Cairo, Egipto
238. Taí Fernández, artista, Puerto Rico -TT
239. Tomás Modesto Galán, poeta, Estados Unidos
240. Tomás Pérez, teatrista, República Dominicana
241. Verónica Nuñez, CPA, Puerto Rico
242. Victor Miguel Castillo de Macedo, antropólogo, Brasil
243. Victor Vázquez, artista, Puerto Rico
244. Virgilio Aran, organizador laboral, político y escritor, República Dominicana
245. Virgilio Burgos, J actor y profesor de teatro, República Dominicana
246. Yarí Taína Rodríguez Benítez, Directora Ejecutiva-Conuco Campesino, Puerto Rico
247. Yolanda Velázquez-Vélez, artista, Puerto Rico
248. Yomaira Figueroa, catedrática, Michigan State University, Estados Unidos     
249. Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso, Argentina-República Dominicana
250. Zuleika Romay Guerra, escritora, Cuba