The Stream

Activists say #NoHipsterApartheid to Israel at SXSW

SXSW conference covers the latest in tech and culture, but Israel-Palestine? Not so much.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is always in the headlines, it typically flies under the radar at South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual music, film, and interactive festival held in the US city of Austin, Texas. But that changed this year, when local Palestinian rights activists organised against a series of events sponsored by the Israeli government at the festival.

 

A petition against the events received more than 7,000 signatures, and a small group demonstrated outside Sunday’s “Israel: SmallCountry, Big Ideas” panel. Activist Puru Shah told Al Jazeera the reaction to the protest was mixed, but mostly positive.