Sunday, February 18, 2018

Meanwhile, Back at Sydney's Holocaust Museum:

"The new Holocaust and Human Rights exhibition completes the museum's refurbishment and looks at issues of disability, refugee, Indigenous and LGBTQI rights in Australia. A space contains a series of tables focusing on human rights achievements and challenges while a timeline notes major human rights developments and violations.

"While the timeline notes the Rohingya crisis, the partition of India, the Howard government's 2001 Pacific Solution, in which asylum seekers are processed offshore, and Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generation, it makes no mention of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Project director Abril Alva said the issue was complex for the museum and the Jewish community, and a decision was taken to address it through education and public programs." (Museum defends omission at exhibition, Linda Morris, Sydney Morning Herald, 16/2/18)

And good on Fairfax journalist, Linda Morris, for raising the matter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure how the inclusion of the Palestinian Refugees in the Holocaust and Human Rights Exhibition is difficult for Sydney's Jewish community? I can see that it would be difficult for Israel's Jewish community, but why shouldn't it be included here? Isn't there a Palestinian Diaspora in Australia?
I always thought a Museum strived to present its findings objectively and accurately, especially as tax dollars support most of its work. Is this Museum perhaps a "private concern"?