BDS | KADAITCHA

August 19, 2013December 11, 2020

To Salif Keita from Friends in South Africa

DEAR MR SALIF KEITA,

“The temptation in our situation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine…we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others faces. Yet we would be less than human if we did so. It behoves all South Africans, themselves erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice…we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” – Nelson Mandela, December 4 1997

You may not know me, nor of my work or the organization that I am part of (and am writing on behalf of), BDS South Africa (www.bdssouthafrica.com). However, I (together with millions of South Africans and Africans), of course, know of you. We know of you through your contribution to making this world a better place through, for example, the work of the Salif Keita Global Foundation, being one of our continent’s best ambassadors, and of course, for sharing your “golden” music with so many. It is with this admiration and affinity that we write to you.

With that, kindly receive the warm greetings of BDS South Africa, a South African Palestine solidarity and human rights organization advancing the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign in South Africa. We are writing to you with much concern, concern that you are scheduled to perform in Israel. But, we also write to you with hope, hope that you will heed the call from your fellow artists, Malians who have approached you, French activists, and, most importantly, the Palestinians (with their principled and progressive Israeli allies) who have all called on you in the last few weeks to respect the boycott of Israel, cancel your trip and, in essence, not to support racism and Apartheid. We respectfully offer some background to our position:

ISRAELI RACISM AND “APARTHEID”:

“I never tire of speaking about the very deep distress in my visits to the Holy Land; they remind me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like we did when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. My heart aches…Palestinians have chosen, like we did, the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Separate roads[1], separate buses[2], having a law that allows one ethnic group automatic citizenship but prevents another group (millions of whom are refugees in neighboring countries) citizenship and access to their previous homes are just some of the ways in which Israel discriminates against Palestinians [3]. We will not go through the details of the legislation, practices and acts of racism and apartheid that Israel is enforcing against the Palestinians, those are well documented by Amnesty International [4], Human Rights Watch[5] and, in fact, our own South African government, in 2009, commissioned our official state research body, the South African Human Sciences Research Council to answer the question whether Israel is guilty of practicing apartheid. The HSRC, in its subsequent 300-page report found Israel to be guilty of the crime of Apartheid as well as colonialism. That report can be found here: http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/media-briefs/democracy-goverance-and-service-delivery/report-israel-practicing-apartheid-in-palestinian-territories

This position, that Israel practices Apartheid and racism against the indigenous Palestinians, was then confirmed by the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which sat in Cape Town in November 2011[6]. In March 2012 the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination made similar findings[7]. Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC), an official structure of the UN, released a scathing report in Geneva, Switzerland, on the state of human rights in Israel, reporting that there is “institutionalised discrimination” in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Beyond the case that is being made by human rights organisations, UN structures and other bodies, there is also a comparison that has been made by senior South Africans, former anti-apartheid activists and others that what the Palestinians are experiencing is akin to (and in some respects) far worse than what we black South Africans experienced in the 1980s under Apartheid. Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of Apartheid (in South Africa), in 1961 already, was one of the first high-profile South Africans to have compared racial supremacy in Apartheid South Africa to that in Israel. Verwoed did not mince his words: “Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state”. However it was really Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu who, in 1987 and then again in 2002, began to make the serious case as to why Israel is guilty of practicing racism against the indigenous Palestinian people. Tutu, in a paper delivered at a conference of Palestinian Christians said: “I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at [Israeli] checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.”

Since then there have been several senior –and more appropriate, than Verword– South Africans, all veterans of our liberation struggle, who have compared Apartheid South Africa to current-day Israel, including: personal friend and fellow prisoner to Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada; Rivonia Trialist, Denis Goldberg; anti-apartheid icon, Kader Asmal; former South African Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils; Current Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande; and, Winnie Mandela. Most recently, the African National Congress (ANC) Chairperson, Baleka Mbete, at the ANC’s 2012 International Solidarity Conference, also shared this position. And, our own South African Deputy President, Kgalema Mothlante, has gone even further in stating that: “the current situation for Palestinians…[under Israel] is worse than conditions were for Blacks under the Apartheid regime”. The South African Government itself has on two separate occasions (statement 1[8], statement 2[9]) condemned Israeli practices that are reminiscent of “Apartheid”.

ISRAELI XENOPHOBIA AGAINST AFRICANS:

“The ANC abhors the recent Israeli state-sponsored xenophobic attacks and deportation of Africans and request that this matter should be escalated to the African Union” – African National Congress, Resolution 35 (j), Mangaung, 2012

As was widely reported, in June last year Israeli anti-African protests turned into full-fledged race riots . The Israeli racism and xenophobia against Africans[10] is shared and even encouraged by Israeli politicians including the Israeli Prime Minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said: “If we don’t stop their [African immigrants’] entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence…and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity”. Israel’s Minister of Interior, Eli Yishai, has said that African immigrants “think the country doesn’t belong to us, the white man!” And the Israeli parliamentarian, Miri Regev, has publicly compared Sudanese people to “a cancer”.

Late last year, Israeli officials initially denied but then in January this year admitted that Ethiopian women immigrating to Israel are coerced into taking long-term contraceptive shots[11]. Israeli activists together with human rights activists around the world condemned the practice as another form of racism, discrimination and xenophobia that Israel practices against Africans.

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL (BDS):

“The abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank 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.” – Roger Waters, Pink Floyd

Israeli racism, toward indigenous Palestinians and Africans, is not a question, or matter of opinion, it is a fact. The question, then, is how does one respond. What is to be done? How do peace-loving peoples of the world not be complicit in Israeli racism and, for some of us, how do we contribute to supporting the oppressed (and their allies from within the oppressive society)?

In 2005, inspired by the successful boycott and isolation of Apartheid South Africa, Palestinians — after having engaged for years in mass protests, popular uprisings, the armed struggle as well as a seemingly endless negotiation process — called on the international community to play a decisive role in their struggle for self-determination and an end to Israel’s Apartheid policies. Palestinians called on global civil society, artists and multi national corporations to impose a program of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The Palestinians laid out three demands that Israel needs to respect for the boycott to be called-off. Firstly, an end to the illegal Israeli Occupation. Secondly, allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. And, thirdly, for Israel to ensure full equality for Palestinian citizens living inside Israel. The three demands – all based in international law and numerous UN resolutions – ward off fears (or false-accusations) that the BDS campaign is a malicious, blunt and punitive one which is out to punish Israelis. Its not; the BDS campaign is a practical, non-violent, goal-orientated and focused campaign that is uncompromisingly entrenched in international law and human rights – also, one that is increasingly supported by (progressive) Israelis themselves!

Just some of the artists and intellectuals who have publicly lent their support and respected the boycott include: award-winning musician, Stevie Wonder; Jazz artist, Cassandra Wilson; Roger Waters of Pink Floyd; musician, Elvis Costello, author, Alice Walker; intellectual, Stephen Hawking and most recently, the film director, Mira Nair.

We hope that you too, will join this list of artists. We, as South Africans, expected this from the international community in the 1980s and the Palestinians now expect this from us – to support their boycott and not cross the picket line.

NOT ENTERTAINING APARTHEID:

“While human beings are being wilfully 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 [to Israel] that this is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’. It’s neither and I cannot support it.” – Maxi Jazz of Faithless on why his band cancelled on Israel

We understand how difficult it would be for you to reject an opportunity to share your music with others. People like you are the reason other artists want to exist. Your music motivates beyond concert stages, penetrating into the intimate personal spaces of individual human lives and transforming them forever, the way only true art can. Unhappily, matters are not so simple in this context (just as how they were never simple during apartheid in South Africa). Art does not simply take place in a vacuum. The belief that cultural activities are “apolitical” (or that one is simply performing music, not getting involved in politics) is a myth. Performing in Israel will be a slap in the face of Palestinians but it will also be tacit support for the Israeli regime and its practices of apartheid.

One might wonder what purpose refusing to perform in Israel might serve? As a people whose parents and grandparents suffered under (and resisted) Apartheid in South Africa, our history is testament to the value and legitimacy that the international boycott had in bringing an end to the Apartheid regime in our country. When artists and sportspeople began refusing to perform in Apartheid South Africa, the world’s eyes turned to the injustices that were happening here. This then created a wave of pressure, which ultimately contributed to a free, democratic and non-racial South Africa. The same is not only possible for Palestine-Israel, but also inevitable. The question is: On which side of history does one want to be? Performing in Apartheid South Africa — in violation of what us oppressed black South Africans and our white allies asked for — during the 1980s was to be on the wrong side of history. Today, performing in Israel — in violation of what the oppressed Palestinians and their progress Israeli allies have asked for — is choosing to be on the wrong side of history. We hope that you will choose to be on the right side of history and not entertain Apartheid.

IN CONCLUSION:

“The issue of a principled commitment to justice lies at the heart of responses to the suffering of the Palestinian people and it is the absence of such a commitment that enables many to turn a blind eye to it…. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We have penned this letter a mere few days before your performance. Perhaps, we should have written earlier, however, we do trust that you have read the several letters already sent to you as well as engaged with those that have tried making contact with yourself and your management.

We hope to make this letter available to media that have contacted us as well as several of your South African and international fans who made inquiries with us, particularly with your performance in Johannesburg recently for our beloved Madiba. We hope that we will receive a response before then as we would love to communicate to your fans and others here in South Africa of your decision. We look forward to hearing from you, that is, hearing the good news that you will not be entertaining (Israeli) Apartheid.

With hope,

Professor Farid Esack
Head of Religion Studies at the University of Johannesburg and Chair of BDS South Africa’s Management Board

BDS South Africa is a registered Non-Profit Organization. NPO NUMBER: 084 306 NPO
BDS South Africa is a registered Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A status. PBO NUMBER: 930 037 446

1. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/12/israeli-bypass-roads-separate-but-unequal.html
2. http://mondoweiss.net/2013/03/palestinians-after-montgomery.html
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/opinion/not-all-israeli-citizens-are-equal.html?_r=1&
4. http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/guest-writers/3825-the-multiple-strands-of-racism
5. http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal
6. http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa/south-africa-session-%E2%80%94-full-findings/cape-town-session-summary-of-findings
7. http://electronicintifada.net/content/un-body-appalled-israels-racial-segregation-policies/11065
8. http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2009/09112415151001.htm
9. http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2010/isra0422.html
10. http://www.davidsheen.com/racism/
11. http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/contraceptive-injections-ethiopian.html

August 18, 2013December 11, 2020

Robin D.G. Kelley : Empire State of Mind

“half of y’all won’t make it”

–Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”

In the face of creeping disfranchisement, unbridled corporate power, growing poverty, an expanding police state, 2.3 million people in cages, vigilantes and cops taking our children’s lives, a presidential policy of assassination-by-drone, global environmental disaster, attacks on reproductive rights, a war on trade unions, a tidal wave of foreclosures, and entrenched racism camouflaged beneath a post-racial myth, why do we care if Harry Belafonte and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter have “beef”? Do social movements need Mr. Carter’s money or power or influence? Is justice a matter of charity or wealth? So what if Carter believes—as he retorted in response to Belafonte’s skewering of navel-gazing black celebrities—“my presence is charity”?

Let me say at the outset that I am not interested in spats between celebrities or on expending precious energy on conflict-resolution for the Negro one-percent. Anyone familiar with the dictionary definition of “charity” will find the statement ridiculous, just as anyone familiar with Jay-Z’s philanthropic work will wonder why he would say such a thing. He has been a high-profile giver: he and his mother started the John Carter Foundation ten years ago to help fund college-bound at-risk youth; he tossed a million dollars into the Red Cross’s coffers after Hurricane Katrina; he is a partner in the Global Citizen Tickets Initiative—the brainchild of the Global Poverty Project meant to hip pop music fans to world poverty and compel them to act (via sharing on social media, writing elected officials, donating money) while dropping big bucks on concert tickets. And there was “The Diary of Jay-Z: Water For Life,” the 2006 MTV documentary that raised awareness of Africa’s water crisis. Carter met with policy makers, advocates, and poor, water-starved families in Angola and South Africa, and committed to building 1,000 clean water pumps in Africa. Two years later, the United Nations honored his work with a special humanitarian award.

Does this mean Belafonte was wrong? Or Jay misspoke? Or that we need to place ‘Hova’s’ philanthropy and activism on a ledger against Bruce Springsteen’s, the celebrity Belafonte deemed more socially responsible? What does any of this do to advance a truly progressive agenda?

Focusing on the personal obscures what is really at stake: ideas, ideology, the nature of change, the realities of power, and the evisceration of our critical faculties under the veil of corporate celebrity culture. I use corporate here not as an epithet but as an expression of the structural dimensions of how celebrity is made and its ideological function. Celebrities endorse products; like any commodity, they have become “brands.” They may say and do very nice, uplifting, philanthropic things, but rarely do celebrities stand against the policies and ideas of neoliberalism and U. S. Empire. More often than not, they embody the ideology of neoliberalism (valuing wealth, free markets, privatization over human needs) and Empire (U.S. military and economic dominance over the world).

Words and deeds of high-profile individuals do matter, but too often we pay attention to the wrong words and the wrong deeds. Returning to Mr. Carter’s reply, it is what he says immediately after his charity line that should concern us. Applying his claim—that greatness alone is in-and-of itself a magnanimous gift—to the President, he adds: “Whether [Obama] does anything, the hope that he provides for a nation, and outside of America is enough. Just being who he is. You’re the first black president. If he speaks on any issue or anything he should be left alone.”

That Mr. Carter believes this is less important than the fact that his “brand” promotes it, and I’d venture to say that most African-Americans fundamentally accept its logic. The mere fact that Obama is the first black president, so the argument goes, should grant him immunity from criticism. The relentless attacks on Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and others for their relentless critique of the Obama administration conform to this logic. Rather than address their specific criticisms on their own terms, detractors dismiss West and Smiley by repeating the well-worn claim that they are motivated by personal slights or potential monetary gain, blame an intransigent right-wing Congress for Obama’s worst policies (foreign and domestic), respond to criticisms with a laundry list of accomplishments, or simply assert that critics of the president are “haters,” race traitors, who fail to appreciate the historic significance of a black man in the White House.

The idea that the President transcends all worldly criticism corresponds with a different sort of “Empire State of Mind.” Empires dating back to Egypt, Rome, Ancient China and Japan have depended on an “imperial cult,” the notion that an emperor is to be worshipped as a messiah or a demigod. Even modern empires, like the U.S., often fall back on hero worship, adoration of strength and might over the rule of law and justice. This is why cops and soldiers are “heroes” and dissenters and the civil disobedient are troublemakers or enemies of the state. The cult of Obama has the added dimension of being the tale of a singular black man overcoming historic obstacles, breaking the color line and achieving the highest office in the land. Such representation masks the fact that it wasn’t his achievements but our achievements, our tireless mobilization on his behalf, the work of nameless millions who elected him to office to serve the people. We have an obligation in a democracy to hold government accountable to the rule of law (that includes international law) and to protect the interests of the whole of the people.

And what about deeds? I find it remarkable that Jay-Z’s four little words could set off global outrage, but revelations that Rocawear, the Hip Hop apparel company he co-founded with producer Damon Dash, employed sweatshop labor barely registered a blip in the black blogosphere. Ten years ago, anti-sweatshop activists revealed that Rocawear, along with Sean Combs’s “Sean John” label, contracted with Southeast Textiles International S. A. (SETISA) in Choloma, Honduras, to manufacture their very expensive clothing lines. SETISA sewers earned between 75 and 98 cents an hour, worked 11 to 12 hour shifts with no overtime, and had excessive production goals (T-shirt makers, for example, had to complete a little over 18 shirts per hour, and they could not leave until they met their quota). Talking was prohibited. Permission from a supervisor was required for bathroom breaks. Drinking water (found to be contaminated with fecal matter) was rationed. All employees were subjected to body searches, and female employees were required to take pregnancy tests. Those who attempted to unionize were fired. After refuting reports, Combs was ultimately pressured into making some improvements in factory conditions, but Carter had little to say and never issued a public apology. In 2007, Carter sold the rights to Rocawear to Iconix Brand Group for the princely sum of $204 million, while retaining his stake in the company and overseeing marketing, licensing, and product development.

If we praise celebrities for wealth accumulation, then Rocawear is an unmitigated success. Jay-Z has done what most successful entrepreneurs do in the age of neoliberalism—seized upon the massively oppressive labor conditions produced by free trade policies, the creation of U.S.-backed free trade zones, deregulation, and the weakening of international labor standards.

And why not? Capitalists want to “live life colossal.” Milton Friedman Baby! Then again, who wants to tweet that their favorite celebrity made millions off of sweated labor, thereby perpetuating global poverty? Knowing fans tend to look the other way; the vast majority of acolytes are kept blissfully ignorant by the corporate image machine.

Enter MTV and the release of “The Diary of Jay-Z: Water For Life,” following on the heels of Rocawear’s sweatshop revelations. I doubt it was a cynical ploy to defuse the controversy, mainly because for the Jay-Z consumer there was no controversy. His brand escaped pretty much unscathed. And yet, while Carter’s concern for the 1.2 billion people without access to clean water is genuine, the film’s explanation of the crisis is problematic. “Water for Life” blames civil war and the disruptions of military violence, urbanization, and poverty, and suggests that philanthropy and visionary entrepreneurs can solve the problem by providing clean water pumps and digging wells. How so many Africans became “poor” in the first place, the legacy of colonialism, not to mention water privatization, don’t really figure in the story. When asked about privatization at a U.N. press conference upon the film’s release, Carter appeared oblivious: “that’s just bureaucracy, I don’t have any expertise in that.” He didn’t know if water was being privatized, but he did notice that in the houses he visited, the families “paid fifty cents a bucket for [water].” He then went on to praise his long-time sponsor Coca-Cola for providing money for play pumps in Southern Africa (small manual merry-go-rounds that pump water as children play). At the time, Coke was targeted by protestors in India and Colombia for depleting scarce local water sources for its bottling plants, and releasing toxic waste water into the ground, damaging farm land and leaving residents with a variety of skin and stomach ailments.

To be clear, I am in no way criticizing Shawn Carter for lacking a sophisticated critique of the ravages of privatization. To expect as much is unfair, unrealistic, and beside the point. Most Americans share his view; neoliberal logic normalizing Empire and its exploitative practices is today’s common sense. However, it is the use of his brand to sell this new common sense, to promote corporate interests and obscure the real sources of inequality, that matter.

Alicia Keys – Home Wrecker?

Ironically, it has been the Alicia Keys brand–the angelic half of the Empire State duo—that has shown a particularly egregious disregard for human rights. On July 4th of this year, Keys performed in Tel Aviv, Israel, in spite of urgent pleas by Palestinian and Israeli activists, human rights advocates, and nearly 16,000 petitioners from around the world, to respect the global boycott of Israel for its illegal occupation of the West Bank and apartheid policies toward Palestinians. Personal appeals from writer Alice Walker and Archbishop Desmond Tutu did nothing to dissuade Keys or her handlers from accepting the invitation. In response, she issued the following statement: “I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.”

The statement is as ridiculous and ingenuous as “My presence is charity.” How can music unify an audience when policies of occupation and apartheid exclude the vast majority of Palestinians? What good are homilies about love and peace in a land where Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are prohibited from even entering Israel, contained by a massive concrete wall, economically starved, and living under military occupation? Where thousands of Palestinians are locked away in Israeli prisons—including hundreds of minors convicted of throwing rocks at tanks and well-armed soldiers and settlers? Where Israel continues to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank, displacing Palestinians, demolishing their homes, uprooting their olive trees—all in violation of international law. Where, on more than one occasion, Palestinian mothers were forced to give birth on the side of the road or watch their severely ill children die in their arms for want of emergency care because they were held up at an Israeli checkpoint. Where the apartheid wall has turned a fifteen-minute walk to school into a two-hour ordeal for thousands of young children. For young Palestinians living in Israel who are not incarcerated, few could afford the $62.00 ticket to hear Keys. Nearly half of all Palestinians in Israel live in poverty. Most are legally excluded from residing in non-Arab communities based on their “social unsuitability,” attend severely underfunded schools, and are denied government employment.

The point of the non-violent global boycott, of course, is to apply economic pressure on Israel to change these policies: to end the occupation, dismantle the “apartheid” wall which violates international law; recognize the fundamental rights of all Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel and other non-Jews for full equality, and grant the right to return, as stipulated by United Nations resolution 194. The boycott is an act of tough love to achieve justice through peaceful means. Alicia Keys’ concert, on the other hand, served to legitimize and normalize Israeli policies of violence, occupation, incarceration, segregation, and settlement. Keys and her handlers knew this, as they were inundated with materials from organizations supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS)–including the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Boycott from Within. Activists hoped that Keys’ role as lead supporter of “Keep a Child Alive,” an NGO dedicated to helping HIV-infected children in Africa and India, would make her more sensitive to the lives of Palestinian children. The organization’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Twyman, and co-founder Leigh Blake received pages upon pages of material documenting the daily abuses of children at the hands of the Israeli military and settlers.

Rifat Kassis of Defence for Children International Palestine, and Shatha Odeh of the Health Work Committees, submitted a powerful letter appealing to Keys to cancel, outlining in devastating detail how the occupation and Israeli policies have affected Palestinian children. They reveal that since 2003, some 8,000 Palestinian children as young as 12 have been arrested, interrogated (often without access to parents and legal counsel), and detained by the Israeli army and prosecuted in military courts—some held in solitary confinement. (With a 98% conviction rate, it is no surprise that confessions obtained by coercion are rarely thrown out by military judges.) They discuss how military checkpoints and the apartheid wall have become barriers to basic and emergency medical care. And they point out that the blockade of Gaza “is the single greatest contributor to the endemic and long-lasting poverty, deterioration of health care, infant mortality, disease, chronic malnutrition and preventable deaths of children. Palestinian children in Gaza lack access to clean water, health care and are scarred by repeated Israeli military offensives and the constant fear of impending attacks.”

Keys’s decision to perform was made not out of ignorance or an abiding love for Israel or a personal mission to jump-start the peace process. It was about getting paid. The Alicia Keys brand stood to lose financially and likely feared retaliation from pro-Zionist forces. Indeed, her decision to violate the boycott earned her kudos from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its allies, who in turn placed a flurry of publicity pieces praising her “courage” in the face of BDS “bullies.” But as with Shawn Carter, I don’t blame Keys personally, nor do I question her humanitarian commitments. Alicia Keys is a corporate entity driven by profits and propelled by shareholders (backers and fans). Just as Jay-Z lovers ignored Rocawear’s callous use of sweated labor, Keys’s followers have quietly supported her Israel foray. The sad truth is that 16,000 signatures is nothing against the Keys-AIPAC alliance, and most Americans see Palestine through the official lens of the Israeli government and U.S. policy.

Had Keys paid a visit to Atta Muhammad Atta Sabah, the 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot by an Israeli soldier in Jalazoun refugee camp in the West Bank just six weeks prior to her concert, perhaps she might have changed her mind. She would have met a small, bright-eyed boy paralyzed from the waist down with holes in his liver, lungs, pancreas and spleen, and angry parents resigned to the reality that their son will never see justice. He was shot while attempting to retrieve his school bag. What if she had driven to Southern Israel to the Naqab desert and met a few of the 40,000 Bedouin whom the government plans to forcibly remove from their ancestral homeland to make way for Jewish settlements? And what if she decided to spend a few days in the West Bank after her Tel Aviv performance, meeting and playing for kids in Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem, East Jerusalem, touring the refugee camps, listening to their stories? She might have been passing through Hebron on July 9th, the day Israeli soldiers detained five-year-old Wadi’ Maswadeh for allegedly throwing a stone at a settler’s car. When Wadi’s father, Karam, complained about the arrest and treatment of his son, he was handcuffed and blindfolded and taken, along with his terrified, crying son, to the Palestinian Authority police. They were both eventually released.

Keys never met Atta Muhammad Atta Sabah or Wadi’ Maswadeh or any of the Palestinian children growing up in a world of refugee camps, home demolitions, settler and military violence, displacement, economic deprivation, and educational policies designed to literally deny their existence. The Keys brand could ill afford to expose their star to such “negativity,” lest she walk away from the machine. But here is the real tragedy: the Keys machine was never compelled to apologize or even mildly acknowledge that something is rotten in the state of Israel.

The sad truth is that Keys’s romantic involvement with producer Swizz Beatz, apparently while he was still married, was considered infinitely more scandalous than playing Tel Aviv. Twitter and Facebook and gossip columns were abuzz with accusations that Alicia Keys is a home wrecker. By contrast, neither her fan base nor the Alicia Keys “haters” had much to say about the wrecking of Palestinian homes. (This year alone, Israel announced plans to build another 2,000+ settlement houses in the West Bank.) Equally disheartening is the Black Entertainment Television (BET) poll that 59% of its on-line readers support Keys’s decision to violate the boycott. Of course, it is likely that AIPAC operatives posing as BET on-line readers skewed the results, but not by much. Most African-Americans simply don’t know a lot about Palestine, and many devout Christians among us tend to buy the argument that defending the State of Israel is tantamount to defending the Holy Land. Few vocal critics of New York’s “stop and frisk” policy, for example, know that the Israeli military version of “stop and frisk” in the West Bank means entering Palestinian homes in the middle of the night, forcing families out of bed, photographing all the boys and young men and taking their information. These routine acts are not part of ongoing investigations or require probable cause, but an official policy of surveillance and intimidation. Such outrageous policies should have generated some 1.6 million signatures rather than 16,000.

Let me repeat: I am not arguing that Jay-Z or Alicia Keys or any corporate mega-star is personally responsible for the kind of political and ethical blinders endemic to what has become a national corporate consciousness, an Empire State of Mind. Corporate celebrities, or rather their brands, are merely the messengers. The responsibility for shedding those blinders and developing an informed, global, ethical critique of materialism, militarism, exploitation and dispossession, rests with us. The absence of a broad-based, progressive black movement has not only opened the floodgates for the spread of neoliberalism as the new common sense, but it has severely hampered the ability of too many African Americans to think critically and globally about oppression and inequality—though, to be sure, this problem is not unique to the black community. Our romance with corporate celebrity culture merely fuels a persistent belief that the black one percent are our natural allies, our role models, our hope for the future. Many of us embrace black millionaires and billionaires—the P-Diddy’s, Russell Simmons’s, Jay-Z’s, and Oprah’s of the world—as embodiments of “our” wealth, without ever questioning the source of their wealth, the limits of philanthropy, or the persistence of poverty among the remaining 99%.

In the end, the difference between, say, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, and Alice Walker and the Jay-Zs and Alicia Keys of the world is not generational. It is not a simple-minded division between Old School Civil Rights and the Hip Hop Generation. Before Belafonte, Glover, and Walker became “celebrities,” they were activists first. They joined social movements and risked their bodies and futures before they even had careers. And in this respect, they have more in common with Hip Hop artists/activists such as Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli, Boots Riley, Rebel Diaz, Chuck D, Rosa Clemente, Immortal Technique, Twice Thou, Lupe Fiasco, Keny Arkana, and others. Their movement work was never about achieving wealth or success, but a commitment to fighting for a world where power rests with the people, not an oligarchy; a world where oppression, exploitation, dispossession, and caging of all people—irrespective of color, gender, nationality, sexual identity—is a thing of the past; a world where such corporate-backed philanthropy is unnecessary, and one need not buy high-priced concert tickets to fight oppression.

Robin D. G. Kelley, who teaches at UCLA, is the author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (2009) and most recently Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (2012).

(Republished with permission)

July 30, 2013December 11, 2020

Eric Burdon, Please Don’t Cross the Picket Line – Boycott Israel

Dear Eric Burdon,

It is with consternation we are aware you are booked to play Israel on August 1, 2013. We would like to inform you about the important means of resistance which has been chosen by Palestinian people to assist in their attainment of justice, rights and freedom after 65 years of oppression in the Palestinian homelands by Israel.

We are asking that you join the existing long list of performers of conscience and others [1] who respect the Palestinian-led global call to boycott until Israel

“meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”[2]

We understand you have spent time in the Negev, where at present under the vicious Prawer Plan, Israel is demolishing the homes of, and expelling more than 40,000 Indigenous Palestinian Bedouin people against their will in order to “judaize” the Bedouins’ homeland.[3] Surely you would support the boycott to protest this terrible act of ethnic cleansing.

You have been requested by Palestinians to stand against Israel’s apartheid regime, which has been described as worse than that perpetrated by South Africa by several noted South African anti-apartheidists.

Baleka Mbete, National Chairperson of the ANC, former Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa (2008-9) and former Speaker of the National Assembly at the 2012 African National Congress (ANC) International Solidarity Conference said that she has been to Palestine herself and that the Israeli regime is not only comparable but “far worse than Apartheid South Africa.” [4]

‘As a South African newspaper editor, Mondli Makhanya, put it in after a 2008 trip to the Middle East: “It seems to me that the Israelis would like the Palestinians to disappear. There was never anything like that in our case. The whites did not want the blacks to disappear.”‘[5]

Especially since your music forms part of rock and roll’s foundations, Eric, please don’t permit yourself and your important legacy to be appropriated in the service of Israel’s cynical propaganda to disguise the oppression and obliteration of Palestinian people. Join Mira Nair, internationally-acclaimed director of Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala, who stated just last week:

‘I was just invited to Israel as a guest of honor at the Haifa International Film Festival with “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” I will not be going to Israel at this time. I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone. I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over. I will go to Israel, soon. I stand with the [Palestinian Campaign] for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the larger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement.’ [6]

In order to set a principled example alongside many artists and academics who have cancelled their appearances after being made aware of the boycott [7], we hope you will be persuaded to support the boycott of apartheid Israel wholeheartedly, and at the least, cancel your performance, refuse to cross the picket line and compromise the struggle for freedom of Palestinian people.

DPAI
We are a group, of over 1000 members, representing many countries 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.

[1] http://www.bdsmovement.net/timeline
[2] http://www.bdsmovement.net/call
[3] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-bedouins-resist-israeli-plan-expel-40000-and-judaize-their-land
[4] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-far-worse-apartheid-south-africa-says-anc-chair-pretoria-conference-backs
[5] http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/israels-similarity-to-south-africas-apartheid-is-more-than-skin-deep#full
[6] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/monsoon-wedding-director-mira-nair-boycotts-israel-film-festival
[7] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=2093

SOURCE

July 30, 2013December 11, 2020

Why Has Burdon Uncancelled His Date with Apartheid?

Despite both Kadaitcha and Electronic Intifada approaching Eric Burdon’s manager for substantiation, no evidence has emerged of any alleged ‘threats’ outlined by Burdon’s support band T-Slam in the Israeli media. Now, Burdon’s August 1 gig in apartheid Israel is back on his tour calendar. This further casts into doubt the reliability of these hearsay threats.

On Burdon’s Facebook page, however, we find a sewer of abuse toward Burdon and BDS advocates, following his initial supposed cancellation. Some examples of the bigoted, bullying language used toward Burdon by zionist propaganderists include:

Michael Silverstein Guess you do not believe in your own music. You have proven that you are a Racist. You grew up in the era of peace yet you allow Racist to tell you how to run your life. Be a real man not a Racist that you have proven that you have turned into. I will be boycotting all your music and if you show up in my town we will be the one’s with signs to boycott your show

Scott Lawrence Eric-Im ashamed you canceled your Israel gig due to Muslim Fanatics threatening you I have always loved your music.

Marco de la Rosa Grow a BACKBONE already… Cringing before terrorist threats ? That craven attitude only FUELS the fanatics’ murderous impulses… Is this the same legendary artist whose music we loved ? ? Do you want Osama bin Laden and his murderous jihadi SCUM to be able to intimidate decent people with their empty threats ? Did the Navy Seals run away and hide ? or did they ELIMINATE that monster ? FACE YOUR FEAR and confront it head on… You would be SAFER in the Holy Land than almost anywhere on the planet – thanks to young women and men in IDF uniforms who have the COURAGE you lack… Shame on you… You have disappointed an entire generation…

Comm Net eric burdon is just a chicken …

Ruby Harris eric is a coward. he bowed to bds nazis. shame on you. McCartney is a hero. he didn’t! [NB McCartney’s cancellation had nothing to do with BDS]

Bobby Levit Eric Burdon is a coward…..cancels his show in Israel ….

Steve Toltz Burdon is a COWARD. Succumbing to the PHONEY BDS movement and the lies and anti-Semitic rants leveled at Israel. Where is that spirit of Rock and Roll that I grew up to with you in the 60’s? Shame on you…

Deborah Jankelle Salant You have lost another fan due to your weakness and caving to the boycott.

Cindy Zemel you are a coward! no one in the right mind would bow to these idiots.

Brian Alan I’ve destroyed and erased all your music. Shame you capitulated to terrorism. you’re a coward.

Rick Clayton Go to israel you puss.

Segev Afriat unlike my friend Barry Williams, I’m not gonna beg you to come to iisrael. if you wanna give in to terror, it only means you’re not good enough to come to israel. good luck with your music, you chicken

Nephtaly Hans Velez-Crespo Had you cancelled on matter of conviction, you would at least have something to show for it. You nonetheless cancelled because you are a straight out pussy who succumbed to threats by load mouth activist armed with a hateful agenda.

That’s how your fans in this region of the word will see you. No backbone. What a shame.

You still have the opportunity to fix this.

Scott Izes Ruth I commend you on your posts, especially considering you are talking to an ignoranus who puts the same degree of thought into her posts as she does in deciding to support 7th century barbarism over modern civilization.

Last week, Defence for Children International revealed its latest report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children in military detention. Israel currently imprisons 193 Palestinian children, 41 of whom are between the ages of 12-15. In 19% of cases, solitary confinement was used for interrogation purposes on these Palestinian children. More than half of the 193 Palestinian child detainees are held inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Further

‘Israel is the only nation that automatically and systematically prosecutes children in military courts that lack basic and fundamental fair trial guarantees. With over 8,000 Palestinian children arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system since 2000, it is an unmistakably damaging and oppressive venture. How many young kids need to be detained, arrested and ill-treated before Israeli leaders realize that the routine ill-treatment of Palestinian kids is not okay?’

Will these imprisoned children who when free dwell in another open air prison in the West Bank behind Israel’s hideous illegal apartheid wall, soon hear distant strains of western rock music denied to them on the basis of their Indigenous ethnicity, Israel’s appetite for ethnosupremacist hegemony, oppression and Palestinian land?

Because of news of Burdon’s alleged cancellation proliferated by the Israeli media, a demonstration in support of boycott of apartheid Israel organised by the Scottish PSC at his concert in Edinburgh on July 24 was called off. Thus Burdon was shielded from receiving information directly about Israel’s criminal oppression of Palestinians including those 193 Palestinian children which it incarcerates and torments, Israel’s fiendish Prawer Plan for ethnically cleansing more than 40,000 Indigenous Bedouins from their homelands in the Negev, systematic apartheid against Palestinians in Israel and many other reasons for BDS.

Eric Burdon still has time to cancel his gig, to respect the boycott and disperse the unsubstantiated allegations of ‘threats’ against him. Some may feel the burden falls upon Burdon to explain why neither he nor his manager have made the effort to clear up uncertainty. Until there is clarity, questions about unsubstantiated Israeli media reports of threats, cancellation and uncancellation will remain as a cloud above Burdon’s long, distinguished rock and roll career.

UPDATE 31/7/13

Burdon arrives in Israel, with UPI reportng Burdon disclaims his gig was ever cancelled.

“Eric Burdon, the former lead singer of the British rock band The Animals arrived in Israel Tuesday, despite initially canceling the gig due to threats.

At a press conference in Tel Aviv, the 71-year-old rock legend denied he had ever thought to cancel his Israel trip despite reports a week ago claiming otherwise, Israel Radio said.

“The fact that I am here proves the point,” he told reporters. Burdon took advantage of the press conference to praise the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington, saying while he believes and dreams for peace, “we live in a world that also knows war.”

The Israeli rock band Tislam, which will perform with Burdon Thursday, also attended the press conference.

A week ago, Tislam said Burdon’s manager had said the singer was canceling the show in Israel because of threats.

At the time a statement released by Burdon’s manager said: “We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis. I wouldn’t want to put Eric in any danger.”

Ynet now claims [Google translation, which is not a reliable translator] [Hebrew original]:

“It was not my decision to cancel the show, it’s my manager, following the threat received a lot of emails just afraid for my life. I’m not afraid to play here and very happy to return to Israel,” he said today (Tuesday) Eric Burdon, band singer “Animals” legendary in Tel – Aviv.

Bardon, appears five (1.8) Zappa Amphi difference Binyamina, canceled his appearance a few weeks ago in the wake of political pressure pro-Palestinian organizations. Now as he returned it, said he was not involved in the decision and came to Israel to make the show.

Please note that this is an exceptional case. Rare that artists canceled their attendance on political grounds and then return them. “Above all, it is important for me to convey a message that the past is not Important,” he added today, “and I came to Israel as long as I wanted. It was important to play here and I’m concentrating all my energies towards performance. We are going to give a great Israeli show.”

Burdon said the evening will be planned jointly with the band “Slam.” Wearing a shirt on which the symbol of peace, met this morning with members of the band Burdon Israel in Tel – Aviv, after he had met in London and Yair Izhar budding more last month.

. @mariannaburdon ynet story says Eric says you cancelled his gig. True? where is evidence of alleged threats? http://t.co/rKMSCIjADA

— Jinjirrie ??? (@Jinjirrie) July 31, 2013

The Independent says Burdon’s statement quoted in Ynet comes from his management:

In a statement from his management today 71-year-old Mr Burdon said he had already arrived in Israel and that the concert would go ahead as planned.

“It was not my decision to cancel the show, it was my manager’s, who as a result of lots of threating emails she received, was genuinely afraid for my life,” he said.

“I’m not afraid to preform here and very happy to be back in Israel”

He continued: “Above all, it is important for me to convey a message that the past is not important, and the most important thing is and I came to Israel, as I wished to. It was important for me to play here and I’m concentrating all my energies towards the performance. We are going to give a great show to the Israelis.”

UPDATE 31/7/13 4pm EST

Tickets in blocks of 20 are still available for Burdon’s gig at Ampi Shuni.

Zionist and other media spin, stories and bare-faced lies following Burdon’s “uncancellation”

JNS:

‘Legendary 1960s band The Animals’ musician Eric Burdon will perform in Israel after initially canceling the performance due to threatening anti-Israel emails, his manager said.’

Times of Israel:

“After caving to threats and canceling a gig in Israel, aging rocker Eric Burdon will play here after all.

Burdon flew into Israel on Monday night for the Thursday concert. “If it hasn’t go to do with music,” he declared on arrival, “it’s bullsh*t.”

Burdon, the former lead singer of ’60s British band The Animals, was last week reported to have canceled the August 1 concert in Binyamina because, his manager said, he had been receiving daily threatening emails.

However, on Monday the concert was back up on Burdon’s website and was again listed among the concerts at the Zappa Shuni Amphitheater in Binyamina. No reason was given for the cancellation of the cancellation.

Burdon, whose band’s decades-spanning career including hits such as “The House of the Rising Sun,” “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place,” “It’s My Life,” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” is once again scheduled to perform alongside Israeli legendary band T-Slam, as per the original plan.

Earlier this month, Burdon met up with members of T-Slam in Vienna and told them he was under pressure from anti-Israel activists to cancel the show. At that time, though, he seemed set on going ahead with the concert, telling the Israeli musicians, “Everyone needs music and there’s no connection to current politics. Everyone has the right to be entertained.”

But his manager later wrote to T-Slam to state that the show was off. “We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis. I wouldn’t want to put Eric in any danger,” his manager wrote, in comments released by T-Slam last week.

In a statement at the time, T-Slam said, “To appear with Eric Burdon, one of the founding fathers of rock & roll, was an almost dream come true. We’re sorry that despite his personal assurance to us, that he bowed to pressure and cancelled his concert.”

However, it seems Burdon’s reluctance to go through with the concert was short-lived and the show is back on track.”

JTA:

“Eric Burdon, lead singer of the popular ’60s band The Animals, said he will perform in Israel days after canceling a concert due to threatening emails.

On Monday, after saying last week that he had canceled his Aug. 1 concert in Binyamina, the concert appeared on Burdon’s website. It also was posted on the website of the Zappa Shuni Amphitheater, the concert site.

Burdon’s wife and personal manager, Marianna Burdon, had written to Tislam, the Israeli band with whom Burdon was scheduled to perform, about canceling the performance. “We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis,” Marianna Burdon wrote. “I wouldn’t want to put Eric in any danger.”

Performers have been under increasing pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, or BDS, not to play Israel.

…

Burdon, 72, last performed in Israel during the 1980s. He recently released a solo album.”

Forward:

“Eric Burdon, lead singer of the popular ’60s band The Animals, said he will perform in Israel days after canceling a concert due to threatening emails.

On Monday, after saying last week that he had canceled his Aug. 1 concert in Binyamina, the concert appeared on Burdon’s website. It also was posted on the website of the Zappa Shuni Amphitheater, the concert site.

Burdon’s wife and personal manager, Marianna Burdon, had written to Tislam, the Israeli band with whom Burdon was scheduled to perform, about canceling the performance.

“We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis,” Marianna Burdon wrote. “I wouldn’t want to put Eric in any danger.”

Performers have been under increasing pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, or BDS, not to play Israel.”

Arutz Sheva:

‘Eric Burdon Takes Back Cancellation of Israel Shows

Eric Burdon, lead singer of the 60s group the Animals, who created the group WAR, landed in Israel, Monday, less than a week after he announced he was pressured into cancelling his performances here.

Burdon will appear, as scheduled, with the Israeli group Tislam, in two performances Thursday at the Zappa Amphitheater in the Jabotinsky park in Binyamina, south of Haifa.’

Hayom:

‘Animals singer to perform in Israel despite criticism

Eric Burdon, former lead singer of British band The Animals, who last week canceled his performance in Israel citing political pressure, defies criticism, lands in Israel ahead of scheduled performance with Israeli rock band T-Slam.

Eric Burdon, the former lead singer in the British band The Animals, who last week canceled his performance in Israel citing political pressure, has had a change of heart.

Burdon landed in Israel on Monday evening ahead of his planned performance with Israeli rock band T-Slam at the Shuni Amphitheater in Binyamina.

In a statement released last Tuesday, Burdon’s personal assistant said, “We’ve been subjected to mounting pressure, including numerous threatening emails, daily. The last thing I intend to do is put Eric in jeopardy.”‘

Arutz Sheva again:

‘However contrary to a previous report last week, Eric Burdon’s Israeli appearance would go on as scheduled. It was previously stated Burdon would not come to the Jewish State due to threats from anti-Israel agitators.

The British singer led the 1960s group the Animals, famous for such songs as House of the Rising Sun and We Gotta Get Out of This Place. He also created the American band War, famous for ’70s hits Low Rider, Spill the Wine and more.

Burdon landed in Israel on Monday less than a week after he announced he was pressured into cancelling his performances here. He will appear, as scheduled, with the classic Israeli rock group Tislam (aslo spelled T-Slam), in two performances Thursday at the Zappa Amphitheater in the Jabotinsky park in Binyamina, south of Haifa.’

Jewish Press:

‘Another day, another BDS fail. Famous rocker Eric Burdon has rejected pressure to bow out of a performance in Israel and will appear with Israel legendary band T-Slam on August 1.

Despite the very best efforts of the very biggest haters, rock-n-roll legend Eric Burdon – star of the classic ’60?s rock band the Animals, War and solo careerist – will play in Israel. He will be performing on August 1 with the 80?s era Israeli band T-Slam.

The Israeli musician and co-founder of T-Slam, Izhar Ashdot, had personally invited Burdon to join them in a concert in Israel.

It’s been an on, then off, and now back on appearance promise by Burdon who originally announced he would be appearing with T-Slam after Ashdot personally invited him.

When Ashdot and fellow T-Slam band member Yair Nitzani met with Burdon in Vienna recently, the British musician informed them he had received messages from many people, asking him to refuse to play in Israel. But, as the Jerusalem Post reported, Burdon initially told the Israeli musicians, “It’s impossible to prevent music. Everyone needs music and there’s no connection to current politics. Everyone has the right to be entertained.”

Despite those brave words, briefly, Burdon decided to cancel his appearance after his wife and manager, Mariana Burdon, claimed there were not only requests for Eric Burdon not to play in Israel, but threats of physical violence as well.

However, as of Monday, July 29, the gig was back on.

In response to the prodding of the insatiable haters of Israel at the blog known as Mondoweiss (naturally, the creator of the blog is a Jewish anti-Zionist named Philip Weiss), Ashdot explained why, actually, no, he does not support a boycott of Israel, although he is against what he calls the “Occupation.”

The reporter Ira Glunts preened about supporting the boycott and about writing on Ashdot’s Facebook page that although he loved the Israeli singer’s huge anti-”Occupation” hit, “A Matter of Habit,” he was disappointed that the Israeli musician did not use the fact that Burdon had cancelled to “address the evils of the occupation and how it isolates Israel from the world community. In addition, I recommended that he address the occupation at the concert which was scheduled to go forward without Burdon.”

According to Glunts, Ashdot shut him down.

The singer wrote, among other expressions of disagreement with the thoughts express [sic] in my message: I am afraid that you miss the principal point. The song “A Matter of Habit” is the way in which Alona [the song’s lyricist and Izhar’s life partner] and I express ourselves in regard to the occupation and the damage that it causes our children. Burdon not coming to Israel disappoints me very much, but just as I am against the occupation, I am against boycotts. I, myself, have appeared more than once in the occupied territories, in front of settlers, they are part of my people and one day we must welcome them back without regard to their politics. [My translation, IG.]

Eric Burdon became a musician in the early 1960?s with the band which became known as The Animals. They were a hugely popular part of the “British Invasion” of the United States by British rock bands. Like the Beatles, the Animals also appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. By the latter half of the 1960?s the band fell apart due to personnel changes and financial mismanagement. Burdon had a solo career, was part of other popular bands including “War” (“Spill the Wine”) and is still performing at age 71.

Despite the name of Burdon’s second band, he is clearly not someone who embraces the concept of war. It won’t be surprising if Burdon and Ashdot decide to – or feel the need to – speak out against Israeli violence at their concert. Perhaps they’ll even mention Arab terrorism? Nonetheless, a political disagreement is not the same thing as a decision to engage in economic warfare, and Ashdot, and now Burdon, refuse to be a part of that nefarious effort.

So Eric Burdon will bring his voice and his presence to Israel, and this is another “brick in the wall” against Zionophobia.

Rather than, as some Zionophobes suggested, Burdon and Ashdot sing “I Gotta Get out of This Place,” meaning, Israel, perhaps the two will instead sing together a different one of the Animals’ best known anthems: “Don’t Let Me be Misunderstood.”

Mondoweiss:

‘According to a personal message I received yesterday (Sunday) from Izhar Ashdot, Eric Burdon will be performing in Israel despite reports that he had cancelled his scheduled appearance due to alleged threats from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists. Mondoweiss covered the reported cancellation, as well as the U.S. Campaign for an Academic and Cultural Boycott statement denying that the BDS movement uses violent threats.

Ashdot is a founding member of the popular Israeli rock group Tislam. He personally invited Burdon to appear with his group on stage on August 1 in an amphitheater in Binyamina, Israel. Ashdot wrote me that Burdon would be arriving in Israel today (Monday) and quoted the British rock legend as telling him that, “… he will stand by his promise of two weeks ago: ‘I believe in everyone’s right to music, without connection his/her politics.’” The Jerusalem Post reported that the legendary British rocker told Ashdot:

It’s impossible to prevent music. Everyone needs music and there’s no connection to current politics. Everyone has the right to be entertained.

…

I sent the Israeli rocker Annie’s post via Asdot’s Facebook page. I expressed admiration for his courage in answering the criticism of his song’s trenchant protest against the occupation and elucidation of the corrosive role of the military in its perpetuation. But I also expressed my “disappointment” that he did not use the Burdon cancellation to address the evils of the occupation and how it isolates Israel from the world community. In addition, I recommended that he address the occupation at the concert which was scheduled to go forward without Burdon.

Ashdot did not take kindly to my suggestion. The singer wrote, among other expressions of disagreement with the thoughts express in my message:

I am afraid that you miss the principal point. The song “A Matter of Habit” is the way in which Alona [the song’s lyricist and Izhar’s life partner] and I express ourselves in regard to the occupation and the damage that it causes our children. Burdon not coming to Israel disappoints me very much, but just as I am against the occupation, I am against boycotts. I, myself, have appeared more than once in the occupied territories, in front of settlers, they are part of my people and one day we must welcome them back without regard to their politics. [My translation, IG.]

Screenshots from Eric Burdon’s Facebook page wall

Why Did Eric Burdon Cancel His Gig in Apartheid Israel?

The latest major artist to cancel their performance in apartheid Israel is Eric Burdon, after a focused campaign by BDS advocacy organisations, including the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and DPAI. A facebook page and twitter campaign augmented the calls to Burdon to respect the Palestinian-led boycott.

Since the cancellation, the Scottish PSC, who provided an online facility for forwarding letters protesting Burdon’s breaking of the boycott, published a disclaimer of allegations of threats broadcast by the Israeli media. These threat allegations are second-hand, emanating from a supposed letter from Burdon’s management to supporting band, T-Slam (or Tislam). T-Slam band member Yair Nitzani served in the Israel Defense Forces as a broadcaster on Galei Zahal, and later on the show Ma Yesh (What’s Up) on Israeli Army Radio.

The US Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) has also disclaimed allegations of threats to Burdon.

‘Although we and our allies urge artists not to cross the international picket line by performing in Israel, and although we make sustained efforts to educate performers about the reason for boycott, we have not and never will issue any threats against anyone who does not heed the boycott call. Recent claims of threats from ex-Animals singer Eric Burdon in an article published by Ha’aretz are vague and unsubstantiated. We do not know if they are made up by media hostile to the BDS strategy, or by artists and/or their agents, or if they are inflated reports of remarks made by individuals who do not represent the movement. USACBI advances the BDS movement not through threats, but rather by exposing Israel’s wrongs, and promoting non-violent ways to redress them, and achieve the rights of the Palestinian people.’

Israel’s Haaretz reported:

Former lead singer of The Animals Eric Burdon on Tuesday announced he is cancelling his planned concert in Israel, citing threats. According to his personal manager Marianna Burdon, he was pressured not to perform in Israel and ultimately chose to cancel the concert, which was to take place August 1.

“We are under increasing pressure, including many threatening emails that we are receiving on a daily basis. I wouldn’t want to put Eric in any danger” his manager wrote in a letter to Israeli members of Tislam, the band Burdon was scheduled to perform with.

Burdon told two of the band members who he met with in Vienna last week that he was subject to threats not to perform, but insisted that “people cannot be denied music. Everyone needs music and it has nothing to do with current politics. Everyone has the right to entertainment, regardless of their situation or the politics of their country.”

A previous Haaretz Hebrew story does not mention ‘threatening emails’, but rather phrases the supposed written allegations expressed to T-Slam by Burdon’s manager, Marianna Burdon as “strong pressure not to perform in Israel and they chose to cancel the scheduled appearance for fear of his life.” [Google translation]

The Haaretz City Mouse appears to have published news of Burdon’s cancellation first, with a headline “Because of political pressure: Eric Burdon cancelled his appearance in Israel“. This story goes onto say:

“His manager, Mariana Burdon, wrote today that “we are under growing pressure, including a large number of emails that come to us on a daily basis, I would not want to put Eric in danger.” [Google translation]

In the same Mouse story, the support band, T-Slam issued normalising hasbara in response to the cancellation.

“To appear with Eric Burdon, one of the founding fathers of rock and roll, was for us a dream almost come true. It pains us that despite his personal promise to us, he succumbed to foreign pressure and cancelled the appearance. Continue to strive to bring to Israel musicians we appreciate and create a bridge of peace through music. [Google translation]”

A spokesperson for the Facebook group Eric Burdon: Bring Down Apartheid, Boycott Israel commented on T-Slam’s response in Mouse:

“This seems to suggest the article is not attributing any weight to the claims of threats but that it was a political pressure, thus Burdon being confronted with the facts about the Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing as well as being informed of the call for boycott.”

Later, reasons for Burdon’s cancellation were distorted further by the UK independent, who quoted Israel Radio:

‘However, in a statement, Mr Burdon’s management, said: “We’ve been receiving mounting pressure, including numerous threatening emails, daily. The last thing I intend do is put Eric in jeopardy.” The nature of the threats is unclear, but according to Israel Radio this morning, Mr Burdon was not willing to risk his life to come to Israel.’

Kadaitcha has attempted to contact Burdon’s manager for clarification, and at time of publication has received no response.

Following Burdon’s cancellation announcement, Israel’s propaganderists, Avi Mayer and Ido Daniel swiftly moved into action, maliciously attempting to smear the BDS movement by associating it with the unsubstantiated death threats.

#BDS thugs threaten 72-year-old. // @EricBurdon of The Animals cancels concert in Israel, citing threats – http://t.co/jYiHYxgwwQ

— Avi Mayer ??? ???? (@AviMayer) July 23, 2013

#BDS hatemongers can't get people to buy into their bigotry, so they just threaten them instead: http://t.co/jYiHYxgwwQ. Well done, thugs!

— Avi Mayer ??? ???? (@AviMayer) July 23, 2013

What do you do when you can't get people to sign on to your bigoted agenda? Why, you threaten them, of course: http://t.co/jYiHYxgwwQ #BDS

— Avi Mayer ??? ???? (@AviMayer) July 23, 2013

#BDS'ers' moral bankruptcy is most evident when they resort to threats if their targets don't cow to their demands: http://t.co/jYiHYxgwwQ

— Avi Mayer ??? ???? (@AviMayer) July 23, 2013

After Paul McCartney & Joy Harjo, @ericburdon also receives frightening threats upon #israel gig by #BDS hate mongers http://t.co/HBSB3r05Up

— Ido Daniel ?? (@IdoDaniel) July 23, 2013

I love when #BDS hate mongers say their campaign doesn't attack individuals, while threatening artists personally http://t.co/HBSB3r05Up

— Ido Daniel ?? (@IdoDaniel) July 23, 2013

This is not the first time unsubstantiated allegations of ‘threats’ have been used against the BDS campaign. Previous attempts by Israel’s hasbarists to dilute the impact of BDS on cancellations and performances with fictitious smears have included BDS campaigns on Paul McCartney, who played, dubstep artist Joker, who cancelled, metal band Arch Enemy, who played, Irish band Dervish, who cancelled, and Joy Harjo, who went ahead with her tour.

Ali Abunimah documented hasbarist smears against BDS attempts to persuade Joy Harjo to cancel:

‘An Israeli government-sponsored student hasbara (state propaganda) group called “What Is RAEL,” claimed victory in a tweet at what it called a “#BDSFail” and also claimed on its Facebook page, without offering any evidence, that Harjo had been subjected to “ugly threats from BDS activists – calling her to boycott Tel-Aviv University and its students.”’

Ironically, Ido Daniel, a board member from Whatisrael, and purveyor of recent smears above against the BDS campaign for Eric Burdon to cancel, has issued real threats against BDS activists.

“I believe it is time to expose the true face of anti-Semites who hide behind the guise of political correctness and other whitewashed expressions and exact an economic and personal cost from them. We must show the BDS activists that boycott and incitement have a price.”

That Israel’s propaganderists devote so much energy to attacking BDS and BDS activists is an important indicator that this Palestinian-led campaign to achieve freedom, justice and rights for Palestinians from apartheid, settler colonial Israel is succeeding.

Tag: BDS