In a recent diary, simone daud introduced us to a new UK song, "Freedom for Palestine".
The song was written by Dave Randall of the UK dance band, Faithless, and has been promoted by Coldplay and Billy Bragg. The song opens with strong lyrics:
So many years of catastrophe/
more than six million refugees/
it could be you and your family/
forced from your home and your history.
This song made Glenn Beck cry on national TV. I never watch this guy...is he always this bad an actor?
Dave Randall and his band support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)including a cultural boycott of Israel until it abides by international law.
Faithless cancelled a scheduled Israeli gig after learning about the BDS call. Randall wrote in February:
Faithless last performed in Israel in June 2005. I invited my friend, Palestinian producer and rapper Jad Abbas (aka Boikutt), to be my guest at the gig. He declined, explaining that Israeli checkpoints meant the short journey to the venue from his home in Ramallah would be almost impossible.
He added that, as a supporter of the cultural boycott of Israel, he would prefer it if our gig wasn’t happening at all. At the time, I knew of no western bands who had joined the boycott.
Since then, awareness of the true face of Israel and the suffering and humiliation to which Palestinians are subjected has become far more widespread, particularly in the wake of the siege of Gaza.
Significantly, people are coming to the realisation that Israel is an apartheid state.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was right to warn the Cape Town Opera: “Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa, in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for the Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel.”
No matter how progressive your particular fans may be, gigs do not take place in a political or economic vacuum. Beyond your fan base, a performance in Israel can only too easily be interpreted as an endorsement of business-as-usual in the apartheid state.
These artists join the growing number of international performers, such as Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, the late Gil Scott-Heron, and The Pixies, who maintain that there can be no “business as usual” with institutions complicit in apartheid.