Human Rights

July 3, 2014August 24, 2022

Talib Kweli – Solidarity with those who live it is a stronger statement

After investigating the Palestinian-led call to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, US rapper artist Talib Kweli announced on twitter that he would respect BDS. Kweli was supposed to appear in an international hip-hop, funk and groove festival planned for mid-August at Hadera.

“As much as I want to play Israel, I have decided not to in solidarity with Palestinians who will not have access to my show. After days of discussions with many, I’ve decided to try & visit Israel & Palestine with those who fight to end the state of apartheid rather than use my art to force the issue on those who would rather not deal with it.”

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157171332960257
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157612817010688
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157780257828864

Further, Kweli added:

“at the end of the day, whether I agree with boycott or not, it is my duty to respect it as a tactic. Hopefully it works…”

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484384292793896961

Kweli, who is well-known for the political content of his work, proved unresponsive to the usual calls from Israel’s propagandists that ‘music isn’t political’ and that ‘music is above politics’.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484372093883015168

Other Israeli hasbara agents wondered why Talib would support the Palestinian-led boycott but not boycott Russia or the US.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484356303980998656

Talib identified three main reasons why he decided to support BDS:

(1) Discussions with members of DAM, Palestinian Israeli rap group.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484383577610539008

(2) ‘the responses on twitter from BDS supporters were compassionate, measured, informed an respectful for the most part’
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484383811149365248

(3) ‘reading abt Paul Simon recording Graceland in SA in defiance of boycott & how he thought Mandela was a terrorist back then…’
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484384012828278784

Ultimately, Kweli decided “being in solidarity with those who live it would be a stronger statement…”

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484351043308748800

Talib Kweli’s thoughtful, principled solidarity with Palestinians and their call for boycott of Israel is deeply appreciated, particularly at this time when Israel is engaged in a racist rampage of collective punishment against Palestinians, incited by Israeli leaders.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484367953526153217

The Sinking of the H.M.A.S. Grabbit

Late night thoughts of Morriscum
set adrift in a leaky boat
with Australians online taking bets
how long he can stay afloat.

Abbott’s lashed firmly to the mast
Bishop’s locked in the hold
When the boat sinks we’ll all cheer
and divvy up the gold.

Brandis burnt international law
to please his zionist mates,
It won’t keep him warm 10 fathoms down
When he meets his watery fate.

Cormann’s whining on his mobile
calling up the crony banks
Too late for party kickbacks
the ocean gives us thanks.

For in all Australia’s history
there’s never been rogues as these
Corrupt and heartless brigands all
may they drown on the open seas.

Alas, the dream is but a dream
still the scurvy wretches spout
from their padded thrones in Parliament
We’ll have to vote them out.

Jinjirrie, July 2014.

Mariza Plays at the Mediterranean Festival in Apartheid Israel

Palestinians expelled in the Nakba — Palestinians flee invading Israeli forces in 1948

Today, May 27th 2014, Portugese fadista Mariza played at the Mediterranean festival in Ashdod despite a petition and letters from supporters of the BDS movement asking her to respect the Palestinian-led boycott of Israel. Sadly, Mariza’s performance will be utilised as propaganda to obscure Israel’s abuses of Palestinian people and colonisation of their lands. Israel unashamedly uses all culture as propaganda to represent itself and its torment of Palestinians as ‘normal’, operating a sophisticated global network controlled by the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel. This Hasbara Apparatus strenuously attempts to prevent the attainment of basic rights, freedom and justice for Palestinians and sabotage actions which support these such as BDS.

Mariza sang in Ashdod, which before all its Palestinian inhabitants were expelled to Gaza by invading Israelis in 1948, was called Isdud or Asdoud. Israeli forces surrounded the town during Operation Pleshet, shelling and bombing it from the air. For three nights from the 18th October, the Israeli Air Force bombed Isdud. With the exception of its two schools, its crumbling mosque, and one of its shrines, Isdud was obliterated when Israel occupied it in on the 28th October, 1948. Most of the Palestinians who were driven from their homes then are corralled by Israel’s apartheid fence in Gaza now, only 40 kms (25 miles) south of their homes in Isdud. Along with their descendants, they are besieged and subjected to ongoing collective punishment by Israel.

The Mediterranean festival illustrates the disingenuous sanitization of Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against Palestinians, through the appropriation of Mediterranean culture and music. Similarly, Israel subsumes Palestinian and Mediterranean food like falafel, hummus and couscous.

When on Saturday 25th May, Mariza appeared in Lisboa as the musician headlining the UEFA Champions League opening ceremony, she later celebrated having a photo with Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps she will have another opportunity to learn from him why Ronaldo has expressed his support for Palestinians, such as raising money from the sale of sports shoes by his club’s charity foundation for schools in Gaza through auction, and though belated she will realise she should have not performed in Israel and will refrain from returning.

Co-authored by Yael Kahn

May 12, 2014December 11, 2020

Fado of the Gazan Fishermen

For Mariza

From Almina Port, Gazan fishermen
sail captive over turbulent ocean of loss
harvest shrinking shoals in three mile noose
run gauntlet of Israeli gunboats

For you I sing of exiled torment
and people of Gaza in 1948 expelled
from Ashdod which was Asdoud then,
where you are to play for expeller
who warps music to tighten ruthless grip
against return from prison to home shore

Waves pound Israel’s aggravation
Gazan women struggle to survive
enmeshed by colonial occupation
this cruel siege is strangulation,
humanity’s humiliation, starvation
of this ‘small, poor city which resists’
within pitiless apartheid fence
steadfast Palestinians subsist

Cast the net with us, with them, for BDS
prepare feast of freedom, rights and justice
when fishermen may trawl the coast
free as seagulls to seek sustenance

Sylvia Posadas, May 2014

‘As part of the ceasefire agreement of November, 2012, Israel agreed to allow the Palestinians to fish within six nautical miles, but unilaterally decreased the allotted area to three miles.

Last May, Israel decided to allow the fishermen to fish within six nautical miles, but the Israeli navy continued to attack them, even within the three nautical miles.‘
http://www.imemc.org/article/67725

‘“To go over six miles is death,” says Abu Nayim. Ideally he would be out at around 11 miles, in early November, with the last flush of the sardine season on. But Israel has not permitted any Gazan boat beyond six miles since 2006. Once, when he may have drifted over, an Israeli gunboat tossed a live grenade on to the nets. In the past month the fishing boats of Gaza have come under fire 10 times.‘
http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/dec/08/fishing-under-fire-in-gaza

‘There are some 4,000 fishermen in Gaza. According to a 2011 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, 90 percent are poor, a 40 percent increase from 2008 resulting
from Israeli limits on the fishing industry.‘
http://fishingunderfire.blogspot.com.au/

‘The fisherman said that since 2010, Israel has not returned any of the small fishing boats it has confiscated.

Jihad has two young children and has been a fisherman since he was ten. His family is a family of fishermen. Thirty-one people from Jihad and Shabaan’s families depended on the confiscated fishing boat. It was their only source of livelihood. Jihad’s family owns another small boat, without a motor and slightly damaged.

“Neither of them worked,” Shabaan’s father said. “There is no hope for them.”‘
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/03/soldiers-opened-fire-at-our-boat-and-engine-we-were-about-to-sink/

“Silence for Gaza” – Mahmoud Darwish

Diva Parachuting

parasites feast on underbelly
of fevered daily news cycle
self-dissections in smelly
articles whiny and spiteful
try hard toffs from dullard spires
slink to fourth and fifth estates
scribbling vanity in slimy mire
farming twitter with their mates
waspish handmaids of plutolatry
shrouded by capitalist carapace
bear bitter fruit from tortured tree
white stockings hold the winning ace
paratexting regurgitated paratext
pile-on, pile-on, bullies, who’s next

Jinjirrie, May 2013

Category: Human Rights

Talib Kweli – Solidarity with those who live it is a stronger statement

Related Links

The Sinking of the H.M.A.S. Grabbit

Related Links

Mariza Plays at the Mediterranean Festival in Apartheid Israel

Fado of the Gazan Fishermen

For Mariza

Related Links

Diva Parachuting