Palestinian folk dance abruptly cancelled over ‘public safety concerns’

On Monday, members of a Palestinian-Canadian group were shocked to learn that New Brunswick Day organizers had scrapped plans for them to perform the dance, just hours before they were slated to take the stage in Fredericton.

It was supposed to be a five-minute performance of the dabke, a celebratory folk dance involving synchronized steps and stomps, normally performed on special occasions such as weddings.

The performance was scheduled as part of a multicultural showcase outside the Legislative Assembly, a program that included performances from Ukrainian, Somali, South Asian and other community groups.

Despite the cancellation, some members of the Palestinian-Canadian group showed up at the event to confront the organizers and perform their dance.

Their impromptu protest led to a police intervention which ended peacefully — members of the group praised the Fredericton police officers for their courtesy — but it also triggered a racist anti-Palestinian backlash on social media.

Now, the Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society of Fredericton wants answers: who pulled the plug on their performance, and why?

“ACPS-Fredericton is still awaiting clarification from the organizers,” the group said in a press release on Tuesday. “The cancellation can be considered as discrimination against the Palestinian people and culture, which likely constitutes a form of anti-Palestinian racism.”

It’s unclear who was actually responsible for the last-minute decision.

The Multicultural Association of Fredericton (MCAF) coordinated the cultural performances as part of official New Brunswick Day events, but MCAF wasn’t in charge of the larger event.

MCAF is a non-profit group that provides a number of services to immigrants and other newcomers, with a mission to celebrate diversity and to build bridges between people of all backgrounds.

Haruka Kudo, the group’s spokesperson, acknowledged the “frustration and disappointment” caused by the eleventh-hour cancellation.

“MCAF was asked by the organizer to reach out to ethno-cultural groups and schedule multicultural performances,” said Kudo in an email.

After inviting “ALL ethno-cultural groups” and putting together a program schedule, Kudo said, MCAF sent it to the event organizer, 10 days before the event took place.

The Palestinian dance was scheduled for 1:02 p.m. on August 5, according to a program posted on MCAF’s Facebook page. But things didn’t go as planned.

“On the day of the event, August 5, in early morning, 7:30 a.m., our staff was told by the Event Organizer that the last performance needs to be cancelled for public safety,” Kudo said without naming the organizer.

“MCAF called the Event Organizer and asked for an official statement from the organizer for the cancellation. At that time, MCAF was told that it was for public safety reasons and that the decision came from a higher level, which was out of their control. On Tuesday, August 6 in the morning, MCAF emailed the event organizer and again requested an official statement.”

The unnamed organizer didn’t provide any details about the alleged public safety issue, according to Kudo. She couldn’t confirm who was responsible for the decision, or whether it came from the provincial government.

The annual New Brunswick Day celebrations fall within the domain of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

Tammy Scott-Wallace, Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, promoted this year’s celebrations in a video posted online. “This will be a day to celebrate why there is no better place to be than here in New Brunswick,” she said. “You’re all invited.”

The provincial government didn’t respond to a request for an interview with the Minister. On Thursday, the province issued a brief statement that raised more questions than it answered.

“There had not been sufficient consultation and consideration prior to the performance,” said Bruce Macfarlane, acting senior director of media relations for the provincial government, in the emailed statement.

“With the aim of keeping New Brunswick Day programming neutral, and with the safety of both the performers and the public in mind, changes to the event’s programming were made,” he added.

Rana El Hassan, head of ACPS-Fredericton, called the government statement “nonsensical.”

“It was a Palestinian dance — what exactly was unsafe about it? How is it neutral to exclude an ethnic group from celebrating their heritage and culture? This is blatant anti-Palestinian racism and discrimination by the government, and it is completely unacceptable.”

Hassan said members of the group wanted to exhibit their culture, showing off aspects of their lives unrelated to war and geopolitics. “We do have a very nice and very rich heritage that we need to highlight,” she said in an interview. “It’s not only about war.”

Her husband Marwan El Jamal, the lead dancer from the group, echoed that sentiment. “We have culture, we have life, we have happiness.”

The cancellation came one day after the same dancers performed in Saint John, an event that went off without a hitch, according to the group.

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Macfarlane, the government spokesperson, didn’t respond to any follow-up questions, including who made the decision to slam the door on the Palestinian-Canadian group.

Expressions of Palestinian culture or national pride are sometimes met with accusations of antisemitism or implicit support for Hamas, claims which Palestine solidarity activists typically reject as a form of anti-Palestinian racism.

For example, when peace activist raised the Palestinian flag in Miramichi last December, it triggered complaints from residents who viewed the flag as an “indication of support” for Hamas, prompting the city to review its flag-raising policy.

A number of anti-Palestinian and anti-Jewish incidents have occurred in New Brunswick since Oct. 7, 2023. It’s unclear whether New Brunswick Day organizers believed that allowing the Palestinian dance to proceed would inflame those tensions.

But the last-minute cancellation sparked a protest on New Brunswick Day and attracted condemnation from at least one group that campaigns against racism.

On Friday, the Anti-Racism Program of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, issued a statement saying the “unjust exclusion not only deprived Palestinian Canadians of a platform to share their cultural heritage, but also signalled an unacceptable differential treatment compared to other cultural groups, exemplifying a continuing pattern of anti-Palestinian racism.”

The group said the sudden cancellation “is starkly contrasted with the inclusion of other ethnic performances, such as Ukrainian folk dances.”

“The fact that the celebration proceeded with performances from other nations currently facing occupation, yet singled out Palestinian expressions for exclusion, lays bare the double standards at play,” said Jamila Ewais, the group’s lead researcher.

The group called for event organizers to clarify the reasons behind the cancellation, and for the establishment of “equitable guidelines for the inclusion of all cultural groups in public events to prevent such discriminatory practices in the future.” The group also called for organizers to issue an apology to the Palestinian community in New Brunswick.

The Anti-Racism Program of the @CJPME Foundation issued a statement condemning the sudden cancellation of a Palestinian cultural performance at NB Day celebrations in Fredericton. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/js9fXWTGjF

— David Gordon Koch (@davidgordonkoch) August 9, 2024

Plans for the Fredericton performance were in the works for more than two weeks, according to a series of emails reviewed by the NB Media Co-op.

By July 23, ACPS-Fredericton’s participation had been confirmed, with an MCAF staff member writing “please make sure to prepare well for your performance,” punctuated with a smile emoji. “We are thrilled to be part of this and are so excited,” Hassan replied.

She learned about the cancellation in an email sent a few minutes before 8 a.m. on the day of the performance.

“It was a slap on the face,” Hassan said, noting that she had already promoted the event on social media. “I really felt cold at that moment, and I thought that I wasn’t reading the email right.”

Unable to get answers from MCAF about the sudden cancellation, some members of the group showed up at the Legislative Assembly.

Around 1 p.m., when they were originally scheduled to perform, the emcee moved on without any mention the cancellation, according to people who attended the event.

Video footage shows Hassan and Jamal approaching the stage, yelling “you cannot exclude Palestine” and inviting onlookers to join them for a performance of the dabke off-stage.

Amid the commotion, members of the Fredericton Police Force intervened, while a musical theatre troupe began its performance. Video footage shows police officers taking the pair aside, listening to them describe the situation.

Police also tried, though unsuccessfully, to help the couple meet with organizers, according to Hassan and Jamal, who praised the officers. “They handled it in an awesome way,” Hassan said.

Meanwhile, a local blogger filmed part of the exchange and posted it on social media, with the text: “Palestinians tried to disrupt New Brunswick Day celebrations… If things would have gotten out of control? I would have fought against them!”

The video, which lacked any background information, attracted multiple hateful comments from people saying they should be deported. “They respect our country or get the hell out, we did not ask for them to come!” one Facebook user commented.

The dancers ultimately tried to perform the dabke during a pause in the New Brunswick Day events, with music from their own loudspeaker.

But when the emcee announced the “Vice Regal Salute,” ceremonial music traditionally played in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor, they ended the performance. “I told the guys, just cut it off, because we have to respect others as well,” Jamal said.

Speaking to the NB Media Co-op, he asked for the general public to give Palestinian-Canadians a chance to express their culture.

“I really request from the people to give us a space, to show them what is Palestine,” he said. “Just give us a space.”

Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip — a military campaign widely condemned as genocidal — entered its eleventh month this week.

The death toll in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip has reached at least 39,699 since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health. That’s when a Hamas-led surprise attack claimed the lives of about 1,200 Israelis, while about 250 others were taken as hostages, according to Israeli figures.

This report was last updated on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, at approximately 10:50 a.m.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).