Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Arts without Agenda

'The Salvation Army insisted on seeing a purely cultural event with political eyes and then complained that the event was political," says Manal Swairjo, co-organizer of the concert featuring Lebanese oud (Arabic lute) composer Marcel Khalifé. The concert was scheduled to take place at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre at the Salvation Army Corps Community Center. After six months of organizing and four days before the contract was to be signed, the Salvation Army rejected Swairjo's application to use the center as a venue. "We have no problem with objections or precautions," says Swairjo. "We're always open to dialoguing. What was most disheartening was the preemptive judgment. There was an initial prejudice existing against our advocacy."

The Salvation Army objected not to the performer, who is a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Artist for Peace, but to the organization presenting him. Swairjo, a professor of biochemistry at Western University in Pomona, is active in the Arab-American community -- she advises San Diego's chief of police in this regard and is the cultural coordinator for Al-Awda, the "Palestine Right to Return Coalition."

According to Swairjo, planning for the concert began in January 2007. In February the center's theater manager accepted a $500 cash deposit and instructed Swairjo she need only pay the rest of the rental fee and submit proof of insurance for the concert to proceed. On July 31, when Swairjo's partner contacted the theater manager to request a seating chart, he was sent a rental application form and informed that it must be filled out to "formalize" the rental contract.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"[The theater manager] e-mailed my partner, saying that they were declining our application without any explanation and referred him to the Salvation Army captain John Van Cleef. He called Mr. Van Cleef and asked for an explanation. Mr. Van Cleef argued that the event was unbalanced and divisive. When he was asked to explain more explicitly, he said it was unbalanced because it didn't include an Israeli performer and that it will upset certain people. When asked what people, [Van Cleef] said the Jewish community in San Diego. Many of us are Jews in our organization."

Van Cleef communicated the center's stance to me via e-mail. "The single-focus agenda of Al-Awda placed the Army in a position that could be misunderstood as taking a political stand on a sensitive issue." He says Swairjo's claim that the center insisted that a Jewish performer be included onstage is false.

"Instead of giving us credit for hosting these artists and having someone like Marcel, who is an advocate for peace, he made a whole concert discredited or not qualified to be in his venue because of our advocacy," argues Swairjo. "It's not professional or respectful -- it's discriminatory. They are no doubt having constant cultural functions, and never did they require any one community to be inclusive of the rest."

When asked to explain what it is about Al-Awda that might cause divisiveness, Van Cleef points to the section of Al-Awda's mission statement that reads, "Al-Awda unequivocally supports the fundamental, inalienable, individual, and collective rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their original towns, villages, and lands anywhere in Palestine from which they were expelled." The implications of such an agenda, he states, "speak to a broad, historic, sensitive, and political issue. The Salvation Army -- an apolitical organization -- does not want to be misunderstood as having taken one side or the other."

"Al-Awda is basically a human rights organization," Swairjo explains. "It advocates for Palestinian refugees of war and calls for universal human rights. Several significant members of the Jewish community are involved with Al-Awda because they understand that the right of Palestinian return is essential for any peace. Just like Amnesty International works on politically controversial issues, like the rights of political prisoners, doesn't mean Amnesty International is a political organization."

According to Van Cleef, the Salvation Army directed the concert organizers to other "suitable" venues. Four weeks after being rejected by the center, the concert was rescheduled to take place at the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre. "We were more explicit this time and asked early enough for an application," says Swairjo. "But we had to start from scratch -- print tickets again, do advertising, flyers, and posters. It was a lot of work and cost." -- Barbarella

Marcel Khalifé and the Al Mayadine Ensemble Sunday, October 14 7 p.m. Birch North Park Theatre 2891 University Ave North Park Cost: $35 to $100 Info: 619-239-8836 or www.birchnorthparktheatre.net

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1

'The Salvation Army insisted on seeing a purely cultural event with political eyes and then complained that the event was political," says Manal Swairjo, co-organizer of the concert featuring Lebanese oud (Arabic lute) composer Marcel Khalifé. The concert was scheduled to take place at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre at the Salvation Army Corps Community Center. After six months of organizing and four days before the contract was to be signed, the Salvation Army rejected Swairjo's application to use the center as a venue. "We have no problem with objections or precautions," says Swairjo. "We're always open to dialoguing. What was most disheartening was the preemptive judgment. There was an initial prejudice existing against our advocacy."

The Salvation Army objected not to the performer, who is a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Artist for Peace, but to the organization presenting him. Swairjo, a professor of biochemistry at Western University in Pomona, is active in the Arab-American community -- she advises San Diego's chief of police in this regard and is the cultural coordinator for Al-Awda, the "Palestine Right to Return Coalition."

According to Swairjo, planning for the concert began in January 2007. In February the center's theater manager accepted a $500 cash deposit and instructed Swairjo she need only pay the rest of the rental fee and submit proof of insurance for the concert to proceed. On July 31, when Swairjo's partner contacted the theater manager to request a seating chart, he was sent a rental application form and informed that it must be filled out to "formalize" the rental contract.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"[The theater manager] e-mailed my partner, saying that they were declining our application without any explanation and referred him to the Salvation Army captain John Van Cleef. He called Mr. Van Cleef and asked for an explanation. Mr. Van Cleef argued that the event was unbalanced and divisive. When he was asked to explain more explicitly, he said it was unbalanced because it didn't include an Israeli performer and that it will upset certain people. When asked what people, [Van Cleef] said the Jewish community in San Diego. Many of us are Jews in our organization."

Van Cleef communicated the center's stance to me via e-mail. "The single-focus agenda of Al-Awda placed the Army in a position that could be misunderstood as taking a political stand on a sensitive issue." He says Swairjo's claim that the center insisted that a Jewish performer be included onstage is false.

"Instead of giving us credit for hosting these artists and having someone like Marcel, who is an advocate for peace, he made a whole concert discredited or not qualified to be in his venue because of our advocacy," argues Swairjo. "It's not professional or respectful -- it's discriminatory. They are no doubt having constant cultural functions, and never did they require any one community to be inclusive of the rest."

When asked to explain what it is about Al-Awda that might cause divisiveness, Van Cleef points to the section of Al-Awda's mission statement that reads, "Al-Awda unequivocally supports the fundamental, inalienable, individual, and collective rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their original towns, villages, and lands anywhere in Palestine from which they were expelled." The implications of such an agenda, he states, "speak to a broad, historic, sensitive, and political issue. The Salvation Army -- an apolitical organization -- does not want to be misunderstood as having taken one side or the other."

"Al-Awda is basically a human rights organization," Swairjo explains. "It advocates for Palestinian refugees of war and calls for universal human rights. Several significant members of the Jewish community are involved with Al-Awda because they understand that the right of Palestinian return is essential for any peace. Just like Amnesty International works on politically controversial issues, like the rights of political prisoners, doesn't mean Amnesty International is a political organization."

According to Van Cleef, the Salvation Army directed the concert organizers to other "suitable" venues. Four weeks after being rejected by the center, the concert was rescheduled to take place at the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre. "We were more explicit this time and asked early enough for an application," says Swairjo. "But we had to start from scratch -- print tickets again, do advertising, flyers, and posters. It was a lot of work and cost." -- Barbarella

Marcel Khalifé and the Al Mayadine Ensemble Sunday, October 14 7 p.m. Birch North Park Theatre 2891 University Ave North Park Cost: $35 to $100 Info: 619-239-8836 or www.birchnorthparktheatre.net

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Haunted Trail of Balboa Park, ZZ Top, Gem Diego Show

Events October 31-November 2, 2024
Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader