From the British Committee for Universities for Palestine (BRICUP), Feb. 2010:
OPEN LETTER TO ELTON JOHN
Like much of the world, we think you’re a good bloke. You came out when it was difficult; you admitted your addictions were stronger than you were; you’ve poured money into AIDS research. Oh, and then there’s the music – not bad at all.
But we’re struggling to understand why you’re playing in Israel on June 17. You may say you’re not a political person, but does an army dropping white phosphorus on a school building full of children demand a political response? Does walling a million and a half people up in a ghetto and then pounding that ghetto to rubble require a political response from us, or a human one?
Jews sans Frontieres
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He should cancel.
ReplyDeleteIt would be cool if instead of just boycotting Israel, some top-or medium-name entertainers would do a benefit concert to help with humanitarian needs in Gaza and other Palestinian places. The only two acts I can think of who would be part of such an effort are Rage Against the Machine and Steve Earle. Can anyone think of other entertainers who would be brave enough to endure charges of antisemitism or raising funds for terrorists?
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know who Steve Earle is, he was a fairly successful country singer who pretty much destroyed his career, except for anti-war rallies because of songs like this after 9/11:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISFNTRaXRiI
<span>Pink Kloyd's Roger Waters?</span>
ReplyDelete<span>Roger Waters Refuses to be Another Brick in Israel's Wall</span>
<span><span>The former member of Pink Floyd and the writer of its timeless song "Another Brick in the Wall" called off his Tel Aviv gig, heeding an appeal by many Palestinian artists and cultural organizations and their supporters around the world who feared such a performance, particularly by a respected and progressive artist like Waters, would have given legitimacy to Israel's colonial Wall, condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in July 2004. </span></span>
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4649.shtml
<span><span>Pink Floyd's Roger Waters?</span>
ReplyDelete<span>Roger Waters Refuses to be Another Brick in Israel's Wall</span>
<span><span>The former member of Pink Floyd and the writer of its timeless song "Another Brick in the Wall" called off his Tel Aviv gig, heeding an appeal by many Palestinian artists and cultural organizations and their supporters around the world who feared such a performance, particularly by a respected and progressive artist like Waters, would have given legitimacy to Israel's colonial Wall, condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in July 2004. </span></span>
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4649.shtml</span>
Pink Floyd´s Roger Waters on Palestinian Rights
ReplyDelete<img></img> Pink Floyd´s Roger Waters on Palestinian Rights <span>Roger Waters has been an outspoken proponent of Palestinian rights and joined the Gaza Feedom March in December 2009.</span>
ReplyDeletehttp://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=15556
<span>http://www.evtv1.com/images/watersgaza.jpg </span>
ReplyDelete<span>Pink Floyd´s Roger Waters on Palestinian Rights</span>
<span><span>Roger Waters has been an outspoken proponent of Palestinian rights and joined the Gaza Feedom March in December 2009.</span></span>
A video
I think the rap group, Public Enemy, is still around. They could be a possibility. Here's Fight The Power:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YODyFhxafYk&feature=related
Imagine Waters reforming Pink Floyd for a concert in Gaza...
ReplyDeleteUnimaginable but what a whopper event that would be.
Besides raising funds to help rebuild Gaza, a concert like this would help move concern for Palestine into the mainstream and help make people not so frigging afraid to speak out on this issue. I wonder what the response would be from these entertainers if some Palestinian relief organization contacted them. It most likely couldn't be held in Gaza, but maybe in Europe?
ReplyDeleteJoe
ReplyDeletePink Floyd would be the greatest musical event since Woodstock!! A concert in front of the wall..Another in Gaza!
Bono is another draw card but he's totally insensitive to the Palestinian issu. I don't know why..
Yeah, The Wall would be very appropriate under the circumstances...but anything requiring cooperation from Israel or Egypt(if they performed on Egyptian side) won't happen, probably. If a benefit concet was to go on, it would have to be in far away from the scene of the crime, somewhere like Paris....Also Bruce Springsteen speaks out on a lot of issues, but they tend to concern American issues. To get to these big stars, though, you'd have to break through the wall of assistants and managers who surround them. I don't even know how these things are put together, but it would be pretty exciting.
ReplyDelete<span>Bono is another draw card but he's totally insensitive to the Palestinian issu. I don't know why..</span>
ReplyDeleteMaybe he has the same kabbalist as Madonna. Probably he is reluctant to lose the respectability he has earned as a humanitarian by getting involved in the P/I conflict. He probably feels he could do just as much good speaking about safer issues-and if he was seen as being antisemitic or consorting with terrorists, it would damage his work in safer issues...so the Palestinians are paying the price for AIDS in Africa, just like they are paying for the Holocaust.