Bonobo Don't play Apartheid Israel

Dear Mr. Simon Green,

We are excited to learn that you will be performing in Lebanon on February 24. We would love to welcome you to our country, but we would like to talk with you about your planned performance in Israel, a few days earlier on February 21. Please hear us out: we urge you to cancel your performance in Israel.

We, both in Lebanon and in occupied Palestine, are united in a common struggle to end Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, including the occupation of parts of Lebanon and Syria. We uphold the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees who were ethnically “cleansed” from their homeland in 1948.

No matter what your intentions are, Israel’s regime of oppression will use your name, as the South African apartheid regime used artists’ names, to whitewash its crimes. Israel has imposed a system of apartheid against all Palestinians, be they citizens within “Israel” or living under military occupation in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel continues to dismiss international laws and human rights standards throughout its policies, most powerfully against children.

Since US President Trump decided to move the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem on Dec 6, 2017, Israel has injured almost 3,000 Palestinians, and killed 18, including four children. More than 600 Palestinians have been detained without fair trail since, including 170 children; Ahed Tamimi, the girl who welcomed her 17th birthday in detention, is only one of the hundreds. Israel is the only country in the world that automatically prosecutes children in military courts thus denying them basic and fundamental fair trial.  Between 500 to 700 children are arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system every year; a large number of these children face torture. As further evidence of the discriminatory system, it is critical to note: no Israeli child comes into contact with the military court system.

Today, millions of people from around the world stand opposed to the Israeli government’s policies of oppression, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations, occupation and apartheid. As part of this struggle, an economic, intellectual and artistic boycott was born to become an effective way of organizing against these crimes. The boycott worked very effectively against apartheid in South Africa, and it is our belief, that it can be successful in working for peace and justice in our region as well. 

We ask you not to cross the picket-line. We ask you to stand alongside the hundreds of artists from around the world who chose not to perform in Israel, the most recent of whom is the New Zealander artist Lorde. When Lorde learned about the oppression and occupation and discrimination imposed by the State of Israel against Palestinians, she chose not to perform there.  In response, more than a hundred writers and actors and directors and musicians, including Peter Gabriel and Roger Waters, pledged their support for her.

Roger Waters reminded us all when he wrote, “lest we forget, "To stand by silent and indifferent is the greatest crime of all.”  

We ask you: please do not stand by silent to these crimes.

When Lorde realized that “ playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if you make no comment on the political situation. Such an effect cannot be undone by even the best intention and the best music,” she cancelled her performance. 
We ask you to join her, and to join Roger Waters, Massive Attack, Tindersticks, Leftfield, Faithless, Gorillaz Sound System, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, Bono/U2, Devandra Banhart, and Snoop Dogg and hundreds of others, who have cancelled their Israeli performances or refused, to start with, to lend their good names to whitewash Israeli crimes and human rights violations.

Simon Green, in your latest album, Migration, you use the voice of folk legend Pete Seeger. Pete Seeger sang for justice, equality, and resistance. Pete Seeger asked us all: Which Side are You On? 

Which side will you be on?

Stand with justice, equality and peace. Stand together with the hundreds of hundreds of artists worldwide. Stand with the children fighting for justice, and not with the soldiers and propaganda makers seeking to cover their crimes

We await your response and look forward to welcoming you in Lebanon as an ally in a just and worthy cause. Please do let us know if you would like to talk further about this critical issue.

Sincerely,

Campaign to Boycott Supports of ‘Israel’ in Lebanon

11/02/2017

Update: Palestinians urge Bonobo to cancel his gig in Tel Aviv.