PrO-Gaza Protestors At Brooklyn Museum
Pro-Palestine protestors gather outside the Brooklyn Museum.KAT BROWN/ARTNEWS
As Friday afternoon turned into evening, the Brooklyn Museum became the center of one of the most passionate Gaza solidarity actions New York City has seen.
Starting at 4:30 p.m. in the museum lobby, a group of cultural workers, artists, and community members from NYC gathered with banners, drums, and whistles. Their goal? To demand that the museum condemn the killing of Palestinians in Gaza and disclose and divest any financial ties to Israel.
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Outside, a march that began in downtown Brooklyn ended at the museum's glass facade. While some protestors were barred from entering, they didn't let that stop them. They plastered posters on the doors, climbed the steps, and unfurled a banner across the museum's neoclassical cornice that read “Free Palestine From Genocide.”
Ahead of the protest, the Cultural Front for Free Palestine—a newly formed advocacy group—issued a statement criticizing major art institutions for their silence on Israel’s seven-month military campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry. The statement highlighted the ongoing offensive in Rafah, where many Palestinians had been seeking refuge.
The Cultural Front called for the museum to publicly recognize the war in Gaza as a genocide, citing evidence from human rights organizations like the International Federation for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur. They also demanded full disclosure of the museum's investments in companies that profit from arming Israel and called for divestment from these corporations.
“The Museum relies heavily on subsidies from the City of New York and the land it occupies, so its financial activities should be publicly accountable. This accountability should include disclosing funds from donors and trustees involved in the Occupation,” the statement added.
This wasn’t the first time the Brooklyn Museum has been targeted by pro-Palestine demonstrators. On December 8, around 20 protestors from Decolonize This Place and Within Our Lifetime staged a guerilla action inside the lobby, echoing calls for the museum to “disclose and divest.” The following day, hundreds gathered at the museum to start a march that crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and ended at City Hall. Both protests highlighted the museum’s corporate partnership with Bank of New York Mellon, which invests in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems and supports the Friends of Israel Defense Force Donor Advised Fund.
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Similar protests have occurred at other major NYC art institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even art schools such as Cooper Union and the Rhode Island School of Design have seen occupations and walkouts by students, faculty, and alumni frustrated by perceived apathy towards the war in Gaza. There have been many calls for a ceasefire as well.
“People are coming together in the spirit of reparation and care for communities affected by colonialism,” said the Cultural Front. “This includes both far-off places and neighborhoods close by. Land, wealth, and culture have been historically plundered, and institutions like the Brooklyn Museum have benefited.”
On Friday, police and museum security cleared protestors from the lobby by 5:20 p.m. The floor was left scattered with synthetic red poppy petals, a symbol of resistance due to the flower's indigeneity to Palestine. Protestors, holding banners with slogans like “Silence = Death,” remained peaceful. Some had even set up tents for an overnight occupation.
By 6 p.m., protestors began to disperse from the museum entrance and the atrium roof, though a crowd remained outside. Dressed in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, a group scrawled slogans on Deborah Kass’ OY/YO installation: “Fuck Bullshit Museum” and “NYPD KKK.” Eventually, arrests were made as police struggled to remove the banner amid boos from the crowd.
