During a dance and music workshop led by Kuwait’s LAPA Dance Company, Palestinian performer Rawan Sameer Salamah raised the slogan ‘Free Palestine’ before performing the traditional resistance dance Dabke, wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh. The performance drew strong applause and became a focal point of the day’s events.
Earlier, Salamah had joined artists from Argentina, Kenya, Malaysia, Croatia, France, and Pakistan in an international open-mic session on ‘Creative Freedom in Art’. The discussion quickly turned towards global anxieties over technology and the erosion of human creativity, but Salamah’s remarks stood apart for underscoring the emotional cost of conflict.
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She told participants, she has seen many artworks that lacked real emotion and story’, adding that artists living under occupation face a very different reality. Her comments were met with support from fellow performers, who spoke about the responsibility of art to reflect human struggle.
Argentine musician Diana Baroni, Kenyan artists Komora and Liboi, and Croatian choreographer Dr Tina all voiced concerns that artificial intelligence threatens artistic identity, arguing that creativity, born from lived experience, cannot be replicated by machines.
The day also featured screenings of French and Pakistani short films, including Lucy, A Young Sofiane, Farishta, and Kareegar Aurat, alongside two theatre productions: the Sindhi play Ho Jamalo and the Urdu socio-political satire Kuttay, which examines systems of power and human survival.
Arts Council President Mohammad Ahmed Shah praised the festival’s growing international diversity, calling the global exchange ‘a positive sign for the future of humanity’.
The World Culture Festival — a 39-day international showcase — will continue in Karachi until December 7.