Algeria suspends all major art festivals in solidarity with Gaza

The Algerian Ministry of Culture announced, on Friday, the postponement of all major art festivals scheduled for this summer in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since October 7, 2023.

This came in a statement by the Ministry of Culture and Arts, signed by Minister Soriya Muluji. The statement said: “In light of the escalation of the horror of the massacres committed by the Zionist (Israeli) criminal forces and the genocidal war (on the Gaza Strip), the Ministry of Culture and Arts decided to postpone all major art festivals that were scheduled this summer.”

The Ministry of Culture organizes major artistic festivals every summer, attended by major singers inside Algeria and from the Arab world, such as the “Timgad” festival in Batna Governorate (east), and “Al-Kazif” in the capital, Algiers.

The Ministry stated that it “will adapt other cultural and intellectual activities to the solidarity position in support of the Palestinian cause, and strengthen cultural demonstrations aimed at consolidating local popular cultures and the components of national identity.”

She explained that the decision “comes from Algeria’s pioneering and steadfast position in support of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people in their legitimate, valiant and steadfast resistance in the face of Zionist brutality.”

The ministry’s decision also comes “in line with the efforts of the Algerian state, led by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to support the people of the oppressed Palestinians in their land,” according to the statement.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza with American support, leaving more than 126,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children.

(Anatolia)