I signed the call for sanctions against the state of Israel because of Operation Cast Lead, the incursion and blockade of Gaza, which targeted hospitals, water wells and thousands of Palestinian homes, because of the F-14 and F-16 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters used against a defenseless civilian population, because of the hundreds of children killed in those attacks, because of the on-going series of targeted assassinations which are extra-judicial killings, which are simply murder, because of the Israeli refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, because of the on-going blockade of the Gaza Strip which deprives 1.5 million people of food, fuel and basic medical supplies,
It’s a tragedy that the Israelis – a people who must understand better than almost anybody the horrors of oppression – are now acting as oppressors. As the great Jewish writer Primo Levi once remarked “Everybody has their Jews, and for the Israelis it’s the Palestinians”. By creating a middle Eastern version of the Warsaw ghetto they are recapitulating their own history as though they’ve forgotten it. And by trying to paint an equivalence between the Palestinians – with their homemade rockets and stone-throwing teenagers – and themselves – with one of the most sophisticated military machines in the world – they sacrifice all credibility.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was deeply disturbed to learn that that you are scheduled to perform in Israel this coming summer. Two years ago, you were invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to attend a conference in Israel marking Israel‘s contributions to medicine, science, and conservation; we urged you then, as a prominent activist on issues of global inequality and a campaigner for basic human rights, to say no to Israel, especially since the invitation coincided with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.[1] You did not go to Israel then; we call on you now not to grant legitimacy to a state that practices the most pernicious form of colonialism and apartheid.
NAHR AL-BARED (North Lebanon) – The hip-hop beats ringing through the muddy, unlit streets of this burnt-out Palestinian refugee camp seem incongruous. But the rhymes are camp-grown – and courageous.
“I’m carrying worries / From inside a destroyed camp / I’m preparing an attack / Words that keep turning in my head / Nahr al-Bared is fenced-in with iron bars / In the newspapers they speak about suffering / Every word makes sense”.
Photo: Valerian Mazataud Lhasa de Sela performs at Artists Against Apartheid.
Music lovers around the world are mourning the passing of singer Lhasa de Sela, who died on January 1st, 2010 at home in Montreal. A beautiful voice, a beautiful spirit who’s music moved many and also actively maintained strong connections to grassroots movements for social justice.
Above is a photo taken last June at the Suoni per il Popolo festival where Lhasa de Sela performed with Esmerine at an Artists Against Apartheid concert for Palestine. Soon a recording of Artists Against Apartheid VIII featuring Lhasa de Sela will broadcast on CKUT community radio in Montreal, stay tuned for details.
My name is Roger Waters. I am an English musician living in the USA. I am writing to express my great admiration for and solidarity with the 1360 men and women from 42 different countries around the World who are gathering in Egypt, preparing for The Gaza Freedom March. We all watched, aghast, the vicious attack made a year ago on the people of Gaza by Israeli armed forces and the ongoing illegal siege. The suffering wrought on the population of Gaza by both the invasion and the siege is unimaginable to us outside the walls.
The aim of The Freedom March is to focus world attention on the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza in the hope that the scales will fall from the eyes of all, ordinary, decent people round the world, that they may see the enormity of the crimes that have been committed, and demand that their governments bring all possible pressure to bear on Israel to lift the siege.
Celebrated US poet and performer Saul Williams visited Bilin, Palestine in November 2009, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid while touring near the apartheid wall build on Bil’in village lands and visiting with the residences in Bil’in about life under the Israeli occupation.
