Hey CanCulture readers and community members, we wanted to provide an update and correct a mistake we made during the print publication of our fourth annual issue, After Dark. 

On January 9, a writer on our team conducted an interview with Angel Nayyar, aka Angelphroot, for a print piece on disability justice and raving called Cripping the dance floor. Later that month, after the piece was complete and its layout finalized, our team became aware that Nayyar had performed at Boiler Room Toronto — an organization that is actively boycotted by Palestinian and Indigenous community members & leaders due to its acquisition by KKR. KKR is the world’s second largest private equity firm which holds investments in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and Coastal Gaslink Pipeline.

As Boiler Room Toronto went on, the artists who decided to continue to play that night engaged in performative, harmful actions. Keffiyehs were waved on the dance floor, “Dammi Falastini” could be heard on speakers and signs that read ‘Free Gaza’ were held up by participants inside. The hypocrisy in the rave contended with Indigenous land defenders, Palestinian people and activists who protested outside, critiquing the DJs’ and ravers’ shameful actions. Two other stories in the issue, including “Dancing the line” and “Toronto’s Trans techno takeover” touched on the Boiler Room boycott, with the former honing  in on the commitment to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in Toronto nightlife.

Nayyar’s decision to play that night along with her actions trivializing thoughts & criticism raised by Palestinian people ignited conversations about the inclusion of her in CanCulture’s overall print issue due to the themes discussed and our publication’s commitment to boycotting all Israeli cultural institutions. However, our team decided to allow the piece get to print, ultimately contributing to the passive nightlife scene we have criticized in this issue. This decision was deeply contradictory and a malpractice on our part — we want to apologize for this mistake.

Removing her as a source meant that the story would be cut and we wrongfully allowed the potential of deplatforming other sources outweigh the harm Nayyar has perpetuated on Palestinian and Indigenous peoples in our community, stories and across the globe. There’s no excuse for this huge editorial oversight that slipped right by us — we could blame it on the time crunch or the pressures of getting an issue to print with a volunteer-based team but in all honesty, it was a step that we did not take. 

We are extremely sorry to our Palestinian and Indigenous readers who were looking forward to having this issue in their hands or seeing their words represented on our pages and to every other person who was hurt by this decision. We contributed to a culture where complacency is rewarded, people continue to see no repercussions for their actions and Palestinian voices are disregarded.

In order to correct our mistake and uphold our commitment to Indigenous & Palestinian sovereignty, we have decided to unpublish this story online and in print. We understand it is difficult to correct a mistake made in print, but we are proactively ensuring this correction is reflected in all online traces of our After Dark magazine as well as the remainder of the physical copies we hold.

To the other sources in the unpublished story, we’re sorry for our flawed decision-making from the start and for putting you in the middle of this mess.

Moreover, we want to make sure something like this never happens again. CanCulture Magazine is officially committed to PACBI, which is now stated on our website. This will be reflected in an official mandate stating our journalistic standards & practices which will be finalized and available to view in the Fall. It is our priority to ensure that no one we platform has any complicity with or connections to Israeli cultural institutions or occupational forces — this is something that will be strictly upheld by the entire masthead team. Witnessing the systemic, state-sanctioned genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, including our fellow Palestinian journalists on the ground, has deepened our critical responsibility to dismantle the hegemonic zionist entity in all aspects of reporting and to tell our stories through the lens of Palestinian liberation.

We will emphasize once and for all, one person is not the end all be all of disability justice. Disability justice and Palestinian liberation are inextricably linked. Genocide is a disabling force. From Turtle Island to Palestine, we will continue to tell stories foregone and resist colonialism & apartheid through our written word.