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Open Letter to Pink Floyd's Roger Waters
Open Letter, Various undersigned, 18 March 2006
Dear Mr. Waters,
The Palestinian arts community received in disbelief the news of your upcoming performance in Tel Aviv in June, at a time when Israel continues unabated with its colonial and apartheid designs to further dispossess, oppress and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland. We strongly urge you to cancel your plans to perform in Israel until the time comes when it ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and respects the relevant precepts of international law concerning Palestinian rights to freedom, self-determination and equality.
Upon learning of your planned tour, Palestinian as well as several international artists asked in shock: How can the artist whose name around the world was for many years associated with breaking walls of injustice be in any way complicit with the monstrosity of Israel's Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague? Not too long ago, you lent your good name to the War on Want's effort to collect signatures of public figures against Israel's Wall. At the time, you rightly stated, "The poverty inflicted by the wall has been devastating for Palestinians. It has kept children from their schools, the sick from proper medical care and continues to destroy the Palestinian economy. I fully support War on Want's campaign, and hope that as many people as possible sign the wall - as a strong message to the UK government that immediate action is essential."
This same Wall has grown substantially since. It now divides many more Palestinians from their livelihoods and vital health and educational services. The support it garners in Israeli society has also grown - close to 90% of all Israeli Jews support the Wall despite its devastating repercussions on Palestinians under occupation.
Furthermore, as you may know, Palestinian civil society has almost unanimously called upon international civil society to engage in acts and campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with international law and recognizes the fundamental human rights of the people of Palestine. The Church of England, the US Presbyterian Church, a group of top British architects, among many other groups and institutions in the West, have all heeded the Palestinian distress call and considered applying effective pressure on Israel to promote peace and justice in our troubled land. Is it too much, then, to expect conscientious international artists to uphold the values of freedom, equality and justice for all?
Ironically, when you were invited last year to perform in the Palestine International Festival 2005, the theme of that festival was "Another BREAK in the Wall!" The following lyrics for a song which was to be performed by school children were inspired by your timeless song:
We don't need no occupation
We don't need no racist wall
No more siege and no more curfews
Soldiers leave us kids alone
Hey! Soldiers! Leave us kids alone!
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all we've just made another BREAK in the wall
These words still express our collective view of the Wall, of our oppressors, and are still inspired by you. Do they still mean the same to you?
We appeal to your moral compass, your record of standing up for principles of human dignity and equality. And we sincerely hope that you shall be another brick in the bridge to liberty and justice, not another concrete slab in Israel's Wall of shame.
Truly,
The Undersigned
Arts, Cultural and Civil Society Organizations:
Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine
Forum of Music Conservatories in the Arab World (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Tunis, Morocco and Palestine)
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) – umbrella coalition of approx. 100 Palestinian NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramallah, Palestine
Yabous Productions Jerusalem, Palestine
Popular Art Centre Al-Bireh, Palestine
El-Funoun dance group Al-Bireh, Palestine
League of Palestinian Artists Ramallah, Palestine
Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) Ramallah, Palestine
Theatre Day Productions Palestine
Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center Aida Refugee Camp, Palestine
Al Urmawi Center for Mashreq Music Jerusalem, Palestine
Oriental Music Ensemble Palestine
Sakakini Cultural Center Ramallah, Palestine
Yafa Cultural Centre Balata Refugee Camp, Palestine
Tyre Festival Tyre, Lebanon
Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-based Organizations Haifa, Israel
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Bethlehem, Palestine
Palestine Right of Return Coalition (Palestine, Europe, North America, Arab host countries)
The Committee for Defence of the Palestinian Refugee Rights
Alternative Tourism Group Bethlehem, Palestine
Golan for Development Golan Heights, Syria
The East Jerusalem YMCA-YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative Beit Sahour, Palestine
Defense for Children International-Palestine Palestine
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Project Care Jerusalem, Palestine
Women's Coalition for Palestine London, UK
Arab Media Watch London, UK
Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace Jerusalem, Palestine
Nidal center for Community development Jerusalem, Palestine
Ashtar Theatre Ramallah, Palestine
Artists and Intellectuals: (partial list – tens more on record)
Marcel Khalife (Composer) Lebanon/France
Hanan Ashrawi (Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council) Jerusalem, Palestine
Peter Herbert (Contrabassist) Vienna, Austria
Suhail Khoury (Musician, General Director of ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine
Khaled Jubran (Musician) Jerusalem, Palestine
Don Bustany (Radio Host, Co-creator of American Top 40) USA
Salwa Tabri (Director, Jerusalem Choir) Jerusalem, Palestine
Gabi Baramki (President, Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace) Jerusalem, Palestine
Rania Elias-Khoury (Director, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine
Iman Hammouri (Director, Popular Art Centre) Al-Bireh, Palestine
Adila Laidi-Hanieh (Lecturer, Birzeit University) Birzeit, Palestine
Sliman Mansour (Visual Artist) Jerusalem, Palestine
Rania El Yousef (Cultural Programs Coordinator, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine
Jan Willems (Artistic Director Theatre Day Productions) Palestine
Juliette S. Touma (Human Rights Advocate) Jerusalem, Palestine
Fadya Salfiti (Educational Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
Mohammad Yacoub (Administrator, ESNCM) Ramallah, Palestine
Ragheda Andoni Isaac (Cultural Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
Adah Kay (Professor) Palestine
Annemarie Jacir (Filmmaker) Ramallah, Palestine
Suzy Salamy (Filmmaker) New York, USA
Jeff Sacks (Professor, Columbia University) New York, USA
Tariq Shadid (Director, The Musical Intifadah http://www.docjazz.com)
Faten Farhat (Director, Sakakini Cultural Center) Ramallah, Palestine
Lina Jarad (Advising Assistant, AMIDEAST) Ramallah, Palestine
Siham Rashid (Director of Public Relations, Palestinian Counseling Center-PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Nancy Harb Almendras (Blogger) Wiesbaden, Germany
Greta Berlin (Human Rights Activist) Los Angeles, USA
Anne Selden Annab (Poet) Pennsylvania, USA
Rana Bishara (Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
MOROCCAN ARTS UNIONS IN SOLIDARITY:
Moroccan Writers Union Morocco
National Union of Theater Professionals Morocco
Moroccan Syndicate for Music Professions Morocco
National Union for Production and Arts Distribution Morocco
Moroccan Chamber of Film Producers Morocco
Chamber of Video Film Producers and Distributors Morocco
Moroccan Union of Television Directors Morocco
Union of Film Writers, Directors and Producers Morocco
Moroccan Association for Visual Arts Morocco
Association of Cinema Critics Morocco
Association of Radio and TV Professionals Morocco
Moroccan Association for Photographic Art Morocco
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4565.shtml
The Palestinian arts community received in disbelief the news of your upcoming performance in Tel Aviv in June, at a time when Israel continues unabated with its colonial and apartheid designs to further dispossess, oppress and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland. We strongly urge you to cancel your plans to perform in Israel until the time comes when it ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and respects the relevant precepts of international law concerning Palestinian rights to freedom, self-determination and equality.
Upon learning of your planned tour, Palestinian as well as several international artists asked in shock: How can the artist whose name around the world was for many years associated with breaking walls of injustice be in any way complicit with the monstrosity of Israel's Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague? Not too long ago, you lent your good name to the War on Want's effort to collect signatures of public figures against Israel's Wall. At the time, you rightly stated, "The poverty inflicted by the wall has been devastating for Palestinians. It has kept children from their schools, the sick from proper medical care and continues to destroy the Palestinian economy. I fully support War on Want's campaign, and hope that as many people as possible sign the wall - as a strong message to the UK government that immediate action is essential."
This same Wall has grown substantially since. It now divides many more Palestinians from their livelihoods and vital health and educational services. The support it garners in Israeli society has also grown - close to 90% of all Israeli Jews support the Wall despite its devastating repercussions on Palestinians under occupation.
Furthermore, as you may know, Palestinian civil society has almost unanimously called upon international civil society to engage in acts and campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with international law and recognizes the fundamental human rights of the people of Palestine. The Church of England, the US Presbyterian Church, a group of top British architects, among many other groups and institutions in the West, have all heeded the Palestinian distress call and considered applying effective pressure on Israel to promote peace and justice in our troubled land. Is it too much, then, to expect conscientious international artists to uphold the values of freedom, equality and justice for all?
Ironically, when you were invited last year to perform in the Palestine International Festival 2005, the theme of that festival was "Another BREAK in the Wall!" The following lyrics for a song which was to be performed by school children were inspired by your timeless song:
We don't need no occupation
We don't need no racist wall
No more siege and no more curfews
Soldiers leave us kids alone
Hey! Soldiers! Leave us kids alone!
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all we've just made another BREAK in the wall
These words still express our collective view of the Wall, of our oppressors, and are still inspired by you. Do they still mean the same to you?
We appeal to your moral compass, your record of standing up for principles of human dignity and equality. And we sincerely hope that you shall be another brick in the bridge to liberty and justice, not another concrete slab in Israel's Wall of shame.
Truly,
The Undersigned
Arts, Cultural and Civil Society Organizations:
Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine
Forum of Music Conservatories in the Arab World (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Tunis, Morocco and Palestine)
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) – umbrella coalition of approx. 100 Palestinian NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramallah, Palestine
Yabous Productions Jerusalem, Palestine
Popular Art Centre Al-Bireh, Palestine
El-Funoun dance group Al-Bireh, Palestine
League of Palestinian Artists Ramallah, Palestine
Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) Ramallah, Palestine
Theatre Day Productions Palestine
Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center Aida Refugee Camp, Palestine
Al Urmawi Center for Mashreq Music Jerusalem, Palestine
Oriental Music Ensemble Palestine
Sakakini Cultural Center Ramallah, Palestine
Yafa Cultural Centre Balata Refugee Camp, Palestine
Tyre Festival Tyre, Lebanon
Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-based Organizations Haifa, Israel
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Bethlehem, Palestine
Palestine Right of Return Coalition (Palestine, Europe, North America, Arab host countries)
The Committee for Defence of the Palestinian Refugee Rights
Alternative Tourism Group Bethlehem, Palestine
Golan for Development Golan Heights, Syria
The East Jerusalem YMCA-YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative Beit Sahour, Palestine
Defense for Children International-Palestine Palestine
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Project Care Jerusalem, Palestine
Women's Coalition for Palestine London, UK
Arab Media Watch London, UK
Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace Jerusalem, Palestine
Nidal center for Community development Jerusalem, Palestine
Ashtar Theatre Ramallah, Palestine
Artists and Intellectuals: (partial list – tens more on record)
Marcel Khalife (Composer) Lebanon/France
Hanan Ashrawi (Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council) Jerusalem, Palestine
Peter Herbert (Contrabassist) Vienna, Austria
Suhail Khoury (Musician, General Director of ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine
Khaled Jubran (Musician) Jerusalem, Palestine
Don Bustany (Radio Host, Co-creator of American Top 40) USA
Salwa Tabri (Director, Jerusalem Choir) Jerusalem, Palestine
Gabi Baramki (President, Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace) Jerusalem, Palestine
Rania Elias-Khoury (Director, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine
Iman Hammouri (Director, Popular Art Centre) Al-Bireh, Palestine
Adila Laidi-Hanieh (Lecturer, Birzeit University) Birzeit, Palestine
Sliman Mansour (Visual Artist) Jerusalem, Palestine
Rania El Yousef (Cultural Programs Coordinator, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine
Jan Willems (Artistic Director Theatre Day Productions) Palestine
Juliette S. Touma (Human Rights Advocate) Jerusalem, Palestine
Fadya Salfiti (Educational Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
Mohammad Yacoub (Administrator, ESNCM) Ramallah, Palestine
Ragheda Andoni Isaac (Cultural Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
Adah Kay (Professor) Palestine
Annemarie Jacir (Filmmaker) Ramallah, Palestine
Suzy Salamy (Filmmaker) New York, USA
Jeff Sacks (Professor, Columbia University) New York, USA
Tariq Shadid (Director, The Musical Intifadah http://www.docjazz.com)
Faten Farhat (Director, Sakakini Cultural Center) Ramallah, Palestine
Lina Jarad (Advising Assistant, AMIDEAST) Ramallah, Palestine
Siham Rashid (Director of Public Relations, Palestinian Counseling Center-PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine
Nancy Harb Almendras (Blogger) Wiesbaden, Germany
Greta Berlin (Human Rights Activist) Los Angeles, USA
Anne Selden Annab (Poet) Pennsylvania, USA
Rana Bishara (Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine
MOROCCAN ARTS UNIONS IN SOLIDARITY:
Moroccan Writers Union Morocco
National Union of Theater Professionals Morocco
Moroccan Syndicate for Music Professions Morocco
National Union for Production and Arts Distribution Morocco
Moroccan Chamber of Film Producers Morocco
Chamber of Video Film Producers and Distributors Morocco
Moroccan Union of Television Directors Morocco
Union of Film Writers, Directors and Producers Morocco
Moroccan Association for Visual Arts Morocco
Association of Cinema Critics Morocco
Association of Radio and TV Professionals Morocco
Moroccan Association for Photographic Art Morocco
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4565.shtml
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Never much of a Pink Floyd fan, but I am now.
"Being Israeli doesn't disbar from being human." -- Roger Waters
I'd even buy a copy of Radio KAOS to support Roger Waters' decision.
For more information:
http://dcindymediawatch.blogspot.com
Goodbye, Nelson Mandela.
Goodbye, Steven Biko.
Let's rock!
Goodbye, Steven Biko.
Let's rock!
"I have a lot of fans in Israel, many of whom are refuseniks. I would not rule out going to Israel because I disapprove of the foreign policy any more than I would refuse to play in the UK because I disapprove of Tony Blair's foreign policy." -- Roger Waters
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1726698,00.html
@%<
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1726698,00.html
@%<
A GALLUP POLL released last month puts American support for Israel at near-record levels. When asked for their views on the Middle East, 59 percent of Americans say they sympathize with the Israelis, while just 15 percent favor the Palestinians. Pro-Israel sentiment rises with increased knowledge -- 66 percent of those who follow international affairs "very closely" support Israel, compared with 52 percent of those who don't pay close attention to foreign news.
Other findings are comparable. More than two-thirds of Americans say their overall view of Israel is favorable. Only 11 percent, by contrast, have a favorable opinion of the Palestinian Authority. While 22 percent of the public wants Washington to conduct diplomatic relations with the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government even if it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state, 44 percent say recognition of Israel must be a precondition to relations with the United States. Another 25 percent -- one American in four -- oppose any US dealings with Hamas at all.
Staunch American support for Israel is nothing new. In February 2005, Gallup reported similarly lopsided findings -- 69 percent of the public viewed Israel favorably, 25 percent unfavorably. In 2004, when Israel was being denounced in Europe and the United Nations for its assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, 61 percent of Americans said Israel was justified in killing him. In 2002, when a CBS News poll asked whether Israel's actions against Yasser Arafat and his forces were equivalent to US actions against Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, 59 percent agreed that they were.
In short, solidarity with Israel is an abiding feature of American public opinion. Because the American people are pro-Israel, the American government is pro-Israel. And because Americans so strongly support Israel in its conflict with the Arabs, American policy in the Middle East is committed to Israel's defense.
Only someone far outside the American mainstream, then, would insist that "Israel's past and present conduct offers no moral basis for privileging it over the Palestinians." Or that US policy is engineered through a Zionist "stranglehold on Congress." Or that "neither strategic nor moral arguments can account for America's support for Israel," leaving only one possible explanation: "the unmatched power of the Israel Lobby."
Those aren't the words of American neo-Nazi David Duke -- though Duke has ringingly endorsed them. They aren't the words of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the granddaddy of Islamist radicalism -- though a top Brotherhood official praises them. They aren't the words of the PLO -- though the PLO is actively distributing them.
The source of those words, and many more like them, is a bitter anti-Israel screed masquerading as academic scholarship. Co-authored by Stephen Walt, academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" was released last week as a "working paper" on the Kennedy School website. But so slipshod is the paper's research and so extreme its bias that within days the Harvard and Kennedy School logos were stripped from the title page. "It clearly does not meet the academic standards of a Kennedy School research paper," said Marvin Kalb, one of the school's best-known scholars.
The idea that the American public and US policy makers dance to a tune played by an all-powerful "Israel Lobby" is an old canard. Neo-Nazis like Duke have long described Capitol Hill as part of the ZOG, or Zionist Occupation Government. Right-wing nativist Pat Buchanan notoriously charged "the Israeli defense ministry and its 'amen corner' in the United States" with "beating the drums for war" in 1990.
If the truth be told, it isn't hard to understand why America's ardent support for Israel might strike some people as odd, or even suspicious. In so much of the world -- Europe, the Middle East, the UN General Assembly -- Israel is despised. Even if Americans don't share the anti-Semitism that is rife in other lands, wouldn't it be more practical for them to stop taking Israel's side? After all, there are 500 million Arabs in the world, and they control one-third of the world's oil supply. Why should Americans alienate them by continuing to support Israel, a country with no oil and just 6 million people?
As a matter of plain economic common sense, the United States has every reason to turn against the Jewish state. What accounts for its refusal to do so? If it isn't an "Israel Lobby" pulling hidden strings, what on earth can it be?
Something more powerful than economics: the kinship of common values.
Other findings are comparable. More than two-thirds of Americans say their overall view of Israel is favorable. Only 11 percent, by contrast, have a favorable opinion of the Palestinian Authority. While 22 percent of the public wants Washington to conduct diplomatic relations with the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government even if it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state, 44 percent say recognition of Israel must be a precondition to relations with the United States. Another 25 percent -- one American in four -- oppose any US dealings with Hamas at all.
Staunch American support for Israel is nothing new. In February 2005, Gallup reported similarly lopsided findings -- 69 percent of the public viewed Israel favorably, 25 percent unfavorably. In 2004, when Israel was being denounced in Europe and the United Nations for its assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, 61 percent of Americans said Israel was justified in killing him. In 2002, when a CBS News poll asked whether Israel's actions against Yasser Arafat and his forces were equivalent to US actions against Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, 59 percent agreed that they were.
In short, solidarity with Israel is an abiding feature of American public opinion. Because the American people are pro-Israel, the American government is pro-Israel. And because Americans so strongly support Israel in its conflict with the Arabs, American policy in the Middle East is committed to Israel's defense.
Only someone far outside the American mainstream, then, would insist that "Israel's past and present conduct offers no moral basis for privileging it over the Palestinians." Or that US policy is engineered through a Zionist "stranglehold on Congress." Or that "neither strategic nor moral arguments can account for America's support for Israel," leaving only one possible explanation: "the unmatched power of the Israel Lobby."
Those aren't the words of American neo-Nazi David Duke -- though Duke has ringingly endorsed them. They aren't the words of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the granddaddy of Islamist radicalism -- though a top Brotherhood official praises them. They aren't the words of the PLO -- though the PLO is actively distributing them.
The source of those words, and many more like them, is a bitter anti-Israel screed masquerading as academic scholarship. Co-authored by Stephen Walt, academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" was released last week as a "working paper" on the Kennedy School website. But so slipshod is the paper's research and so extreme its bias that within days the Harvard and Kennedy School logos were stripped from the title page. "It clearly does not meet the academic standards of a Kennedy School research paper," said Marvin Kalb, one of the school's best-known scholars.
The idea that the American public and US policy makers dance to a tune played by an all-powerful "Israel Lobby" is an old canard. Neo-Nazis like Duke have long described Capitol Hill as part of the ZOG, or Zionist Occupation Government. Right-wing nativist Pat Buchanan notoriously charged "the Israeli defense ministry and its 'amen corner' in the United States" with "beating the drums for war" in 1990.
If the truth be told, it isn't hard to understand why America's ardent support for Israel might strike some people as odd, or even suspicious. In so much of the world -- Europe, the Middle East, the UN General Assembly -- Israel is despised. Even if Americans don't share the anti-Semitism that is rife in other lands, wouldn't it be more practical for them to stop taking Israel's side? After all, there are 500 million Arabs in the world, and they control one-third of the world's oil supply. Why should Americans alienate them by continuing to support Israel, a country with no oil and just 6 million people?
As a matter of plain economic common sense, the United States has every reason to turn against the Jewish state. What accounts for its refusal to do so? If it isn't an "Israel Lobby" pulling hidden strings, what on earth can it be?
Something more powerful than economics: the kinship of common values.
"the kinship of common values"
otherwise known as the Old Testament
fundie Christians are far more about the fire and brimstone Old Testie than they are about the supposed compassion of the New version
little wonder they fawn for eachother
otherwise known as the Old Testament
fundie Christians are far more about the fire and brimstone Old Testie than they are about the supposed compassion of the New version
little wonder they fawn for eachother
It's called the influence of AIPAC and a compliant pro-israel media.
I am honored to present scholarly research on the lyrics of Roger Waters at the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association's annual conference in Baltimore, MD this fall. **Mr. Waters, if you see this, thank you for a great semester of study!
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