FROM ISRAELI CITIZENS MOODYMANN, PLEASE DON’T PLAY A
SET UNDER ISRAEL’S SEGREGATION,
APARTHEID AND OCCUPATION
Dear Kenny Dixon,
We are citizens of Israel who support the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel's policies of colonialism, occupation
and apartheid towards the Palestinian people. We have recently learned of your
planned gig in Israel next week, and we are therefore writing in order to urge you not
to come. Please hear us out.
Israel's attempts to mask systematic human-rights abuses and decades-long
oppression against the Palestinians, relies on its ability to maintain a progressive and
democratic image in the eyes of the international community. Israel often goes as far
as promoting itself as "the only Democracy in the Middle East". Israel's apartheid
policies, however, are inherent even to something as seemingly light-hearted and
joyous as the music played at a Tel Aviv club : Palestinian music fans living
under the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank or the Israeli
siege of the Gaza Strip will be prohibited from coming to Tel-Aviv and
enjoying your performance. These 4 millions who are being denied their
most fundamental rights include many young people who are fans of
house/techno/jazz/soul/funk (or in short,music such as yours!).
Palestinian Freedom Riders have recently challenged Israeli segregated buses
which they are not allowed to travel on. These buses carry instead Israeli settlers to
and from their homes, illegally built on stolen land.[1][2][3] The ethnic-supremacist
state of mind does not end there, unfortunately, as we have learned only yesterday of
the Tel-Aviv city councilman who appealed to the state to allocate segregated buses
for African refugees and migrant workers in the city[4].
Prominent figures, including many musicians and artists, have come here to witness
for themselves the treatment of Palestinians living under Israeli rule, and have vowed
not to lend their legitimacy to these crimes.
Alice Walker made the following comments on her visit to Palestine: "Going
through Israeli checkpoints is like going back in time to American Civil Rights
struggle...I am a big supporter of BDS. I frankly think that it is the best, absolutely
the best way."[5]
"One of the things so painful to remember about the segregated south is that no
matter what white people did to them black people were not allowed to fight back,
not even with a word or a glance, hence the expression “reckless eye-balling” which
led many a black person to be beaten or killed. The idea that the people of Palestine
are not even supposed to fight back... To collectively punish them (by bombing and
starvation) for electing their own government in a democratic election acknowledged
by most observers to have been fair, is sadistic as well as internationally condemned
as illegal."[6]
Professor Robin Kelley offers this analysis: "My last book was about [the jazz
musician] Thelonious Monk. ... And so for people of my generation, the Israel-South
Africa nexus, dispossession of Palestinians ... these were the key questions for anyone
politically active in the 1980s. … witnessed a level of racist violence that I hadn’t even
seen growing up as a black person here in the States (laughs), I have to say, and I’ve
been beat by the cops. The level of racist violence from the settlers is kind of
astounding. … The key thing was the kind of engagement that helped us better
understand why the boycott is central... And part of what the boycott does is it
delegitimizes the claim that this is a normal situation. It’s not a normal situation, it’s
a settler-colonial situation, a situation of oppression."[7]
The Palestinian people are being denied some elementary freedoms: the freedom of
movement, the freedom to access their stolen lands and the freedom to protest
injustice without facing brutal repression.[8] Those living in the Gaza strip (56% of
whom are children) live under a debilitating siege, limiting their access to water,
medical supplies, and construction material.[9] This unimaginable situation takes
place only an hour away from your scheduled performance. In the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Silwan, 40 minutes away from the scheduled venue, kids are being
abducted from their homes, in violation of international law, and taken into violent
police interrogations with no access to their parents or a lawyer.[10]
Representatives of Palestinian civil society, including over 170 different
organizations such as women, academic and workers organizations, have called for a
boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel’s policies.
International artists are asked not to perform in Israel until it abides by its
obligations under international law and reverses these policies.[11]
Many artists have come to perform here with the good will and intention to use their
art as a means of changing Israeli public opinion and spreading the message of
peace. One such example would be that of Roger Waters. These artists have later
come to realize that their performance, as well-meaning as it was, has been hijacked
and used to send a green light to the ongoing Israeli policies of oppression.
We have therefore learned that not performing is important to the promotion of
justice in this region, as Israeli policy makers are coming to understand that the
international community does not approve of their brutal policies towards the people
of Palestine. Some prominent artists have stated:
Cassandra Wilson [whose decision to cancel was announced just
yesterday!]: “As a human rights activist, I identify with the cultural boycott of Israel.”
[12]
Roger Waters: “In my view, the abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields
over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, and the Palestinians in the occupied West
Bank (including East Jerusalem), coupled with its denial of the rights of refugees to
return to their homes in Israel, demands that fair minded people around the world
support the Palestinians in their civil, nonviolent resistance. For me it means
declaring my intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine,
but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their governments
racist and colonial policies, by joining a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until it satisfies three basic human rights demanded
in international law.”[13]
Faithless: “We’ve been asked to do some shows this summer in your country and,
with the heaviest of hearts, I have regretfully declined the invitation. While human
beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their needs for their
children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending
even tacit signals that this is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’.”
Macy Gray: “I had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have
played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”[14]
Understanding that the picket line has clearly been marked and that you cannot
avoid taking a political stand on this matter, we are now asking you to take a moral
stand. We ask that you reconsider your participation in whitewashing Israeli
apartheid, please stand against oppression and for liberation, against deep rooted
racism and in favor of justice and equality for all.
Sincerely,
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within
[email protected]