IPSC – Open Letter to Ana Moura: Don’t perform in Apartheid Israel
30 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine, Politics
Ana Moura is scheduled to perform at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv on 27th January 2012. We are asking Ana Moura to respect the Palestian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel until it abides by international law and stops its brutal occupation of the Palestinian people. This is the Facebook page asking her to cancel: Ana Moura: Please Don’t Sing for Apartheid
Raymond Deane, Cultural Boycott Officer of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC ) has penned this appeal to Ana Moura asking her to cancel her Tel Aviv performance. Open Letter to Ana Moura: Don’t perform in Apartheid Israel
Open Letter to Ana Moura: Don’t perform in Apartheid Israel
Dear Ana Moura,
Your Irish fans and the many Irish lovers of Fado music will be eager to give you a warm Irish welcome when you perform in our National Concert Hall on 19th January next.
However, if you persist with your plan to perform in Israel on 27th January, in violation of the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of the Israeli state, that welcome will be balanced by a demonstration against your indifference to the fate (= “fado”) of the Palestinian people.
In his Christmas message, the Mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh (a Roman Catholic) has called for “boycotting Israel culturally, educationally, in sports, economics and trade. This is the only way to make Israel come back to the negotiating table and make peace… It worked with South Africa.”
The Mayor is not alone in making this call, which echoes the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, issued by 170 Palestinian civil society organisations. This call has subsequently been repeated by Palestinian artists, filmmakers, and cultural organisations.
The fate of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation includes dispossession, colonisation, imprisonment without trial, torture, siege (in the case of Gaza), deprivation of the necessities for a decent existence, and the constant threat of injury or murder by soldiers and settlers. Palestinian artists and sportspeople are frequently prevented by the Israeli authorities from travelling abroad. The Israeli foreign ministry has stated that it “sees no difference between propaganda and culture.”
In 2009 Israeli police raided the Palestinian National Theatre and shut down the opening of the Palestinian Literature Festival, just one example of how Israel prevents the Palestinians of East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Territories from celebrating their culture. Palestinian artists are frequently prevented from travelling abroad. Your own Palestinian fans will be prevented from attending your Tel Aviv concert, should you persist with it.
If you perform in Tel Aviv, you will be lending yourself to Israel’s propaganda. Please do not let yourself be exploited in order to “normalise” and whitewash the Israeli state. Please ensure that your welcome to Ireland will be unconditional by cancelling your planned performance in Tel Aviv.
Yours in solidarity.
Raymond Deane
On behalf of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
BDS Is Biting
28 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
If there is any doubt that BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) against apartheid Israel is working, the sheer volume of articles and amount of effort invested in combatting it, demonstrates how threatening it is to those who support Israel’s ongoing colonisation of Palestine.
Pro-Israel organisation Stand With Us recently promoted a BDS round up aimed at “delegitimising the delegitimisers” – BDS Global Digest
This blog highlights the BDS campaign and also focuses on artists who choose to stand on the wrong side of justice by playing for apartheid. In a post about the metal band Arch Enemy, the blog makes this erroneous claim: “the BDS group Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) created a Facebook page and is trying to persuade Arch Enemy to cancel its concert in Tel Aviv. A member of the band responded on Facebook and Twitter to the activists, asking them to stop their harassment, and laying out a clear position against the BDS agenda: “we play for the innocent metal fans, not governments”; “I support freedom of expression for EVERYBODY, including Israeli citizens. We don’t discriminate by race, state, color or gender.” Music performances targeted by BDS activists
There has been NO harassment of Arch Enemy, but there have been efforts to get the band to cancel their gig in Israel and to demonstrate the true apartheid nature of the Israeli state to them. Although she claimed to have been harassed on the Facebook page, Angela Gossow never produced any evidence of this when asked to and thereafter did not mention it again.
Angela Gossow did not ask us to stop harassing her on twitter, she engaged but there was no mention of harassment as there had been none. This interaction is all recorded here: Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow refuses to HEAR Palestinian voices, claims Amnesty will be at Tel Aviv gig
ZazaFLZazaFL
Joker (Dubstep) cancels gig in apartheid Israel – receives threats from Israelis
20 Dec 2011 3 Comments
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
Joker (Dubstep) was due to play in Tel Aviv on 20th December 2011. He was contacted by fans on Facebook asking him to cancel his performance and not support Israeli apartheid, there was also much interaction on Twitter between Joker, other musicians, and supporters of apartheid Israel as well as those working for equality for the Palestinian people. More details here: Thank you Joker for not playing with Israeli Apartheid and here: Joker to Refrain Playing Israel UPDATE
Since this decision was announced, there has been a huge amount of comment on the Joker Official Facabook page. From the exponents of BDS, it is supportive and respectful, from the supporters of Israeli apartheid, it is threatening and often obscene. As with the recent situation with Arch Enemy and their Israeli fans, the oppressors of the Palestinian people show their true colours yet again. Despite repeatedly proclaiming that: music is above politics, it’s about the music, music is for people not governments- the minute Joker announced his cancellation, the Israeli apologists for apartheid went into overdrive and posted repeatedly about politics…no truth in their campaign.
Some examples of the abuse directed at Joker and those congratulating him follow below, this reply to a poster condemning the illegal siege of Gaza is amongst the most vile but is by no means unrepresentative: Jeruzalem Massiive “wow. yael you are one piece of shiaaat. go and fuck yourself twice, maybe than ull stop beeing such a cunt ass bitch. really. you are one of the most nasty ass bitches i met in my lifetime. stop hate yourself and start spreading love you stupid lil woman. he decided to perform and you cunt cant respect it ??
i wish a piano will fall on you in the middle of the street than maybe youll start understand what music is all about,
stop the hate woman. go and find someone that will agree to fuck you. beside ahmadinjad. you nsty nasty stupid bitch. really im fockn annoyed !!!! damn. fuck. tits.”
More posts below.
Click on image to enlarge
Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow refuses to HEAR Palestinian voices, claims Amnesty will be at Tel Aviv gig
13 Dec 2011 5 Comments
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
The metal band Arch Enemy is scheduled to play apartheid Israel on 24th January, following their Khaos Over Europe Tour in conjunction with Amnesty International’s freedom of expression campaign.
The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) created a Facebook page to support the Palestinian call for BDS and to try to persuade Arch Enemy to cancel the gig, in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.
As a member of DPAI, I have been tweeting Angela Gossow and Arch Enemy about the censorship of their official FB page, the racism that many of their Israeli fans displayed in posts on our page and, most importantly, reiterating the Palestinian call to boycott apartheid Israel.
(Further info here: Arch Enemy, freedom of speech and BDS Apologists for Israeli war crimes support for Arch Enemy on BDS page )
Angela Gossow (@AGossow), a self-proclaimed proponent of freedom of expression has finally engaged with me on Twitter – here is the ‘conversation’. Note, this is after several tweets from me.
@StandWithUs Thank-you for fighting for the good cause and against sexual discrimination! We play for the #HumanRightsFighters in Israel!
This tweet has since been deleted but is screenshotted below.
22nd December: Despite tweeting her support to Stand With Us on 15th Decemer, Angela tweeted this today, stating she doesn’t support them. Much obfuscation, little clarity, little truth. She also stated that amnesty International will be present at the show in Tel Aviv, an astonishing claim, especially given how AI withdrew from Leonard Cohen’s Israel concert fund in 2009.Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen’s Israel Concert Fund
Like this:
OPEN LETTER to Red Hot Chili Peppers: Please cancel your gig in Israel
11 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
The boycott call by Palestine has become a global movement, and with good reason. The tragic plight of Native Americans parallels the plight of the indigenous people of Palestine. In the case of Palestine, approximately 4.2 million people are subjected to Israel’s harsh form of apartheid. Israel’s Jewish population is about 5 million. The collective punishment of 1.5 million people in Gaza and 2.7 million people in the West Bank/Occupied Jerusalem is a crime against humanity.
Imagine if the population in the US of 312 million existed side-by-side with 262 million “other” people that were subject to military control. Moreover, Israel’s policy is based on the “other” person’s lack of a privileged ethnoreligious identity, so those (who through no choice of their own) who are not born into the state-designated religion must endure the tragic life of occupation, racism, and discrimination.
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine recently concluded that “Israel subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalized regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law.” [1] Jeff Halper, an Israeli professor of anthropology, testified, saying: “the situation in Israel was ‘ugly’ and ‘more than just the separation of people’. “If you look at the map of the region, you can see the bantu state that has been created,” said Halper. [2]
Since the release of the Russell Tribunal’s findings, over 150 Swiss artists have signed up to respect the boycott, stating “We note that the non-violent boycott, when it gains wide popular support, is an effective means of putting pressure on those in power.”[3]
Sadly, since you already agreed to play in Israel, the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s name is already being used by a strong arm of Israeli hasbara, the CCFP, which declares that Israel is a safe haven for refugees, and is “devoted to serving as a refuge for people in need.” [4]
You probably are not aware of the arduous plight of the Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel. The Knesset plans to pass a law that would bring a minimum three-year prison term for asylum seekers and their children, and a five-year prison term for those who offer humanitarian aid to refugees. [5] The declared purpose of the amendment is to deter asylum seekers from entering Israel.
Palestinians comprise the world’s largest group of refugees, 4.7 million are registered with the UN. They are refugees as a direct result of Israel’s policy that amounts to ethnic cleansing. Native Americans and black South Africans underwent similar horrors, and it is time to approach Israel’s racist policies with bold statements, similar to when musicians sang to the tune of “I ain’t gonna play Sun City.”
The CCFP is using the good name of many of your colleagues in the music industry, reportedly without their permission.[6] Please cancel your show, so you will not be used further as part of Israel’s whitewashing campaign to make the Israeli “Brand” look deceptively enticing and alluring.
Many artists of conscience have quietly cancelled their planned gigs in the apartheid state, chosen not to book concerts when asked, and not rescheduled. They include (in 2011 alone) Jon Bon Jovi, Vanessa Paradis, August Burns Red, Marc Almond, Tuba Skinny, Eddie Palmieri, and more. Some artists have taken the bold step of speaking publicly in support of the cultural boycott of Israel, such as musical icon Roger Waters, Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack), Martha Frintzila, Natacha Atlas and Faithless.
Please cancel your gig in Israel’s Sun City, Tel Aviv. Don’t show your fans that you will let your band be used to legitimize home demolitions, illegal raids, the use of white phosphorous, political and child imprisonments, racist marriage bans, piracy and execution in international waters, collective punishment, Occupation, checkpoints, roadblocks, and the bombing and closing of all manner of educational institutions.
These lyrics of yours could be sung by the Palestinians who live within Israel and endure discrimination daily:
…I was born in a land, I don’t think you understand
God damn, what I am
I’m a native of this place, please don’t kick me in the face
My race has been disgraced…
Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer, please remain strong men of conscience, say you will stand with oppressed Palestinian people and respect their plea for you to boycott Israel.
Best Regards,
DPAI
We are a group, of over 800 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.
NOTES
[1] Full Russell Tribunal statement at http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa/south-africa-session-%E2%80%94-full-findings/cape-town-session-summary-of-findings
[2] Palestinians’ plight worse than aparthied http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/palestinians-plight-worse-than-apartheid-1.1173114
[3] Declaration of Swiss Artists, We Refuse to be Complicit http://www.bds-info.ch/fr/actualites/Declaration-of-Swiss-Artists
[4] A safe haven: refugees http://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/Israel%20Is.asp
[5] Israel jails asylum seekers, labels them “infiltrators” http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-jails-asylum-seekers-labels-them-infiltrators/10656#.Tt4f3rIk6dA
[6] CCFP uses Macy Gray sans her permission http://refrainplayingisrael.posterous.com/ccfp-uses-macy-gray-sans-her-permission
Apologists for Israeli war crimes support for Arch Enemy on BDS page
08 Dec 2011 5 Comments
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
The metal band Arch Enemy is scheduled to play apartheid Israel on 24th January, following their Khaos Over Europe Tour in conjunction with Amnesty International’s freedom of expression campaign.
The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) created a Facebook page to support the Palestinian call for BDS and to try to persuade Arch Enemy to cancel the gig, in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.
Arch Enemy: Resist Playing for Apartheid Israel
The FB page was then attacked by some of Arch Enemy’s more unsavoury fans, those supporting apartheid Israel. They are very unlike the Arch Enemy fans that a DPAI representative spoke with on 6th December, who had completely different attitudes.
This is a sample of some of their posts, a flavour of the zionist fans of Arch Enemy. Some quotes: “you are missing the whole point, THERE IS NO PALASTINIAN PEOPLE, how can we occupy something that doesn’t exist? “ “fuck you asshole , go live in some non democratic muslim 3rd world country”
Click on images to enlarge.
Arch Enemy, freedom of speech and BDS
05 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
The metal band Arch Enemy is scheduled to play apartheid Israel on 24th January, following their Khaos Over Europe Tour in conjunction with Amnesty International’s freedom of expression campaign.
Amnesty International: Freedom of expression
While Arch Enemy play for ‘Freedom of Expression’, those who speak out in non-violent protest are targeted by Israel for example: Israel urged to lift Al-Haq director’s travel ban and there are many Palestinian political prisoners of conscience detained in military prisons without trial or charge. Addameer. Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) created a Facebok page to support the Palestinian call for BDS and to try to persuade Arch Enemy to cancel the gig, in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.
Arch Enemy: Resist Playing for Apartheid Israel
PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) issued a very strong plea for Arch Enemy not toplay apartheid Israel.
“Today, Palestinian civil society groups are calling on artists to shun Tel Aviv in the same way that South African activists called on artists to boycott Sun City. All we are asking is for you to refrain from crossing a picket line called by Palestinian society, endorsed by international organizations, and increasingly supported by progressive-Israelis [17]. Palestinian civil society is asking this of you as the most essential contribution to their struggle to achieve peace and justice. They are calling for nothing short of revolution, rebellion, and freedom, as echoed in the slogan of the BDS movement for Freedom, Equality and Justice. “
Arch Enemy: Stand with Revolution not Apartheid
While espousing freedom of speech, Arch Enemy engaged in censorship and deleted all posts which asked them to refrain from playing in Israel and urged them to listen to and really hear the Palestinian people from their official FB page.
On Saturday 3rd December, Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy posted this on the BDS Facebook page, as well as the USACBI page:
Arch Angela “if the constant threat, bullying and slander of arch enemy via email and online does not stop immediately, we will publish some of the threats we have recceived from your supporters, where they claim they will come to some of our shows and threaten to attack us, both verbally and physically.
i am making amnesty international aware of your criminal methods and your breach of freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom of art. it is up to us (and only us!) to chose in which countries we perform and bring our message to. it is NOT yours to tell us what to do and to force your will upon us. you are hurting our rights of freedom and you make us fear for our safety. SHAME ON YOU! Music should transcend all races, political issues and borders – we will not be instrumentalised, neither by you or any other organization or government. who are you to tell us what to do?!“
There were absolutely no threats made against Arch Enemy by BDS campaigners, rather attempts to highlight the terrible injustices that Israel subjects the Palestinians to and efforts to get the band to live up to its talk of freedom and equality and not to endorse a state which occupies, dispossesses and imprisons a people.
Today, further posts were removed from the Arch Enemy page, giving the lie to their claims of: “End repression. Allow expression!”
So, if Arch Enemy believe in freedom of expression, why do they engage in censorship? If they think there is nothing wrong in ignoring the Palestinians and playing in apartheid Israel, why not engage in discussion?
A good day for BDS, a good day for justice
01 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in Cultural Boycott of Apartheid Israel (BDS) Tags: End Apartheid, Justice, Palestine
Omou Sangaré has cancelled her performance in Tel Aviv scheduled for the 9th December.
BDS : Oumou SANGARÉ annule son concert en Israël !
This is the DPAI (Don’t Play Apartheid Israel) letter to her:
OPEN LETTER to Oumou Sangaré…Don’t close your eyes to torment
Over 150 Swiss artists pledge to boycott apartheid Israel.
Declaration of Swiss Artists Responding to the Palestinian Appeal for Solidarity
