[15/09/25 IG Repost]
WEEKLY SUMMARY #4 OF #SMASHTHEMATCH CAMPAIGN — BIG WINS!
So much has happened in the last week! from our previous Wednesday picket (10/09) when we got the Aichi Triennale page to take down posts TWICE to another blast of e-mails, we kept the pressure up internationally…but our organisers on the ground were busy too!!
We disrupted the Triennial opening ceremony (slide 5), took the mic during the livestream & politicised the whole exhibition, raised money with donated entry tickets for @sawsa.n2017 , our Bi-Weekly Campaign Highlight (slide 6), and most importantly–with the help of internal & external pressure–secured the RESIGNATION OF a key liaison to the Aichi-Israel Matching program from the Triennale Organising Committee, President Hideyuki Tomita of Toho Technologies!! They could see the writing on the wall and tried to resign ahead of the Triennale but we STILL showed up with force!
What’s more, we managed to get local & global artists to unite to resist this attempt at art-washing by the Aichi government (also on slide 6)!
We could not have done this without the combination of relentless on-the-ground organising in Aichi AND the support of our beautiful international community. Thank you to everyone who posted a comment or submitted an e-mail up to this point. BUT WE AIN’T DONE YET!
We have 4 basic demands (slide 8). Until they are met, WE WILL NOT STOP WE WILL NOT REST!
Our next Wednesday picket action on 17/09 is the SAME DAY that the Nagoya Mothers for Palestinian Children will be handing in their petition (slide 10)–sign on while you still can, we NEED global organisations to support! We will drop instructions for the next action on Wednesday; we ask our global community to really SHOW UP for the Nagoya Mothers and more importantly for Palestine to #SMASHTHEMATCH and make the Aichi-Israel Matching Program HISTORY!!
AICHI, PICK A SIDE: JUSTICE OR GENOCIDE?!
Slide 1: AICHI PREFECTURE:
WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?
Aichi’s tourism logo: a ninja jumping in the rain with an umbrella with a rainbow in the background in watercolour style.
愛知県-
何を隠しているのか？
Slide 2: For six weeks we have supported comrades in Japan by waging a weekly digital picket against the Aichi prefectural government to support the campaign to CANCEL its genocidal ‘tech’ partnership, the
AICHI-ISRAEL MATCHING PROGRAM.
Two activists holding a large hand painted banner that says CANCEL AICHI ISRAEL MATCHING PROGRAM, MAKE ART NOT WAR, #SMASHTHEMATCH. The same text is written in Japanese.
Since 2022, millions of yen from tax revenues are wasted on this program which directly and indirectly supports the “Israeli” tech sector, inseparable from the settler-colonial military complex that sustains the genocidal apartheid state.
Slide 3: This last week we focused our actions on the ‘Aichi Triennale’–we posted so many comments on the @aichi_triennale page that they took down the targeted posts TWICE!
As usual, our comrades saved all the comments and brought them to Aichi’s doorstep…
Three screenshots of comments left on the @aichi_triennale page in English & Japanese with a large stamp that says DELETED on top.
We also sent over 125 letters to the Triennale and Aichi government in the lead-up, bringing the total amount of solidarity e-mails to 1,276!
A picture that says 128 letters sent, only 472 more until we recah our goal of 600.
But that’s not all…
Slide 4: Organisers circulated a ‘demands’ letter which 8 Triennale artists and 76 global artists signed in solidarity. With the support of the art director themself–who refused to let the exhibition ‘artwash’ the prefecture’s complicity in genocide–they pressured the Aichi Triennale Organising Committee, leading to to the FIRST MAJOR VICTORY of the #SMASHTHEMATCH campaign:
A picture of an Instagram post that says “WIN! AICHI Triennale Organizing Committee Member w/ ties to ISRAL RESIGNS” with the same text in Japanese, and another picture showing the official announcement with the resignation sentence underlined.
Due to local and international presure, just two days before the exhibition opening, the President of Toho Technology, Hideyuki Tomita–one of the companies that is part of the Aichi-Israel Matching Program–RESIGNED from his role as Vice Chair of the Aichi Triennal Organising Committee!
But that’s not all…
Slide 5: Maybe they thought that would be the end of it. But we had more in store for them…
On opening day (13/09), our people disrupted the ceremony before being ejected by museum security, in an escalation Aichi wasn’t expecting!
A video filmed from far away of activists disrupting the Aichi Triennial, with two big emoji eyes on the side pointing to where they are standing in the large exhibition hall.
Slide 6: By then, with the art director and Triennale artists on board in alliance against the government’s artwashing, many artists turned over their space to the #SMASHTHEMATCH campaign, with posters & information distributed everywhere about the genocidal Aichi-Israel Matching Program!
Pictures of a concert where people are singing with lyrics about resistance projected on the walls, people standing together with kuffiyyehs and protest signs, an exhibit with a poster on the wall which is a re-make of an old Godzilla movie poster about the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a picture of activists speaking as they took over the livestream, and stickers/zines distributed at the event.
And once again to Aichi’s dismay, local BDS campaigners were even able to get on the microphone during the exhibition livestream to expose Aichi’s complicity in genocide and the main sponsor, Obayashigumi!
Extra VIP ‘tickets’ outside were also sold to raise money for our current current Campaign Highlight recipient, @sawsa.n2017, raising ¥22,500 ($152) for her!
Slide 7: The result was nothing less than the THOROUGH POLITICISATION of the event–already a tall order in Japan’s seemingly ‘apolitical’ art world–and the first step towards CANCELLING THE AICHI-ISRAEL MATCHING PROGRAM with the resignation of the Vice Chair of the Triennale Committee, who was tying the Triennale to the Matching Program through his company’s relationship with the Zionist Entity.
Meanwhile, organisers raised more awareness amongst attendees about the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, solicited more Triennale artist signatures, and developed a new borderless solidarity network around the Triennale actions to continue pressuring Aichi until we SMASH THE MATCH!
Because we don’t just want one symbolic resignation…
Slide 8: WE WANT IN WRITING:
A commitment to immediately cease operations of the Aichi-Israel Matching Program
A full report on the historical details of Aichi’s tech ‘partnerships’ since 2022 re: money/knowledge/product exchanged with the Zionist Entity
A formal apology to the citizens of Aichi for wasting taxpayer money and ignoring international humanitarian law
A written commitment to no longer work with Israeli companies under any circumstance, under this or any other framework in the future
Slide 9: UNLESS THESE FOUR DEMANDS ARE MET, we won’t stop organising!
Pictures of solidarity from Hawaii, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Nagoya, Detroit, Hiroshima, London, New York
So PLEASE keep sending more solidarity photos in, and joining our weekly actions until we SMASH THE MATCH!
Slide 10: On September 17th, the Nagoya Mothers’ Association for Palestinian Children and allies will formally hand in their international petition…
Picture of a calendar with September circled
…so if you are a collective/trade union/organisation of any size, please endorse with this QR code. International support has been KEY in this campaign so far!
Picture of a QR code, with the words “International signatories welcome!!” on either side
tinyurl.com/CancelAichiMatching
Slide 11: Our next day of action:
17/09 circled in red
This is the same day that the Mothers hand in their petition! We will therefore be supporting them on that day with an e-mail blast from around the world urging the Aichi government to ACCEDE TO THE FOUR DEMANDS and CANCEL THE AICHI-ISRAEL MATCHING PROGRAM!
A string of Palestinian flags hanging below