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Blunderov
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PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« on: 2009-08-03 00:39:36 » |
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[Blunderov] Over 70 yrs old and in straitened circumstances due to the dishonesty of his agent, Leonard Cohen finds himself constrained to continue working. Disappointingly, he has elected to perform in Israel. I hope he changes his mind.
http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1006
PACBI | 16 May 2009
PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
Healing Israeli Apartheid, not its Victims?
PACBI -- Ramallah, Occupied Palestine, 16 May 2009
Last month, prominent academics from the British Committee for Universities of Palestine, BRICUP [1], urged you not to perform in Israel, arguing: “If you had just emerged from three weeks of unfettered bombing from land, sea and air, with no place to hide and no place to run, your hospitals overwhelmed, sewage running in the streets and white phosphorous burning up your children, what would the news that the great Canadian musician Leonard Cohen had decided to play for your tormentors say to you?” Citing a line in your famous poem, Questions for Shomrim, where you exclaim, "And will my people build a new Dachau and call it love, security, Jewish culture," a recent letter by mostly Israeli activists who support the cultural boycott [2] against Israel urged you not to cooperate with “continued Israeli defiance of justice and morality.” [3]
Today, after exhausting all attempts to convince you to apply your avowed humanistic principles in a morally consistent way by refusing to entertain Israeli apartheid and whitewash its still-fresh crimes, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all supporters of a just peace in our region to shun your concerts and CDs and to protest your appearances everywhere. We consider your performance in Israel a form of complicity in its grave violations of international law and trampling on human rights principles.
Your planned gig in Israel would come merely months after its bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip which left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, of whom 431 were children, and 5380 injured. [4] The 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the overwhelming majority of whom are refugees who were expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948, were subjected to three weeks of relentless Israeli state terror, whereby Israeli warplanes systematically targeted civilian areas, reducing whole neighborhoods and vital civilian infrastructure to rubble and partially destroying Gaza’s leading university and scores of schools, including several run by the UN, where civilians were taking shelter. This criminal assault comes after 18 months of an ongoing, crippling Israeli siege of Gaza which has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. International human rights organizations and UN organizations are now calling for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
For the last 41 years, Israel’s army has been occupying the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Despite the “peace process” which began 16 years ago, Israel routinely violates the Palestinians’ most fundamental human rights with impunity, as documented by local and international human rights organizations. Israel extra-judicially kills Palestinian leaders and activists; keeps over 11,000 Palestinians imprisoned, including numerous members of parliament; subjects all Palestinians under occupation to daily humiliation, intimidation and military violence; and continues to construct its colonial Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague in 2004.
You claim that your performance in Israel will somehow have a healing effect. Your message of healing cannot be more misdirected – those who need healing and solidarity the most are the Palestinian victims of Israel apartheid and colonial rule who are struggling to end oppression and injustice and to establish a just peace. By violating the Palestinian boycott against Israel you would bring back the ugly memory of artists who violated the boycott against apartheid South Africa and insisted to perform at Sun City, drawing condemnation and revulsion by people of conscience the world over.
As far back as 1984, Enuga S. Reddy, Director of the UN Centre Against Apartheid, responded to criticism that the cultural boycott of South Africa infringed the freedom of expression, saying [5]:
“It is rather strange, to say the least, that the South African regime which denies all freedoms ... to the African majority ... should become a defender of the freedom of artists and sportsmen of the world. We have a list of people who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism. They need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime.”
Entertaining any apartheid regime is morally wrong. No true humanist should disagree.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
www.PACBI.org
PACBI@PACBI.org
[1] http://www.bricup.org.uk/
[2] See the Palestinian Call for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel at: http://www.pacbi.org/campaign_statement.htm and the call by Palestinian filmmakers and cultural figures for a cultural boycott at: http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=315
[3] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084665.html
[4] http://www.ochaopt.org/gazacrisis/index.php?section=3
[5] http://www.anc.org.za/un/reddy/cultural_boycott.html
Posted on 16-05-2009
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Hermit
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #1 on: 2009-08-03 05:20:03 » |
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A Ballad for Leonard Cohen
On the Occasion of his Visit to Israel
After Operation Cast Lead 2009
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
Would not just dry,
They were wet and they tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart.
In years gone by
You could make me cry
You would draw the tears
Despite my shallow years
The wisdom in your voice
Flowed over me
Inimitable harmony
Inspiring deep philosophy
And I, I did not see
That you would one day betray
The trust I placed in you
That I would come to rue
The awakening that accompanied you
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
Would not just dry,
They were wet and they tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart.
For you sang a brave song in the morning
Of ethics, caring, joy and love at dawning
For those of us who long
For meaning in life's song
For a purpose, an aim, a goal
A completeness, a oneness, a whole
A song that isn't merely
An echo of the sea
The words you sang to me
Were such words
Words that plucked at my soul
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
Would not just dry,
They were wet and they tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart.
I thought then that you
Were one of those who
Could see pent up feelings inside
Who while you might make jokes
Like philologist blokes
You could also tell
Of an exit from hell
Of a hedonist dance
Or a sad nihlist trance
Of men whose tears they did not hide
Of women who could smile as they lied
A song rejecting those who lay down and died
Never dreaming of yielding to wrong
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
Would not just dry,
They were wet and they tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart.
When we were young
We'd talk right through the night
About our feelings
Sometimes engaged in passionate reelings
To the rhythm of your guitar
To the voice you were from afar
About the inspiration you provided
About the society that you derided
About the fire wrenched from our minds
The word pictures you seared into our souls
As you drew us away from dismal holes
And the smell of stale cigarettes and spilled beer
To ascend renewed on the wings of dawn
Accompanied by your voice forlorn
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
In years gone by
The tears you teased from us
Would not just dry,
They were wet and they tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart.
And now in your evening
As hair turns grey
You seem to be seeking an easier way
A way that leaves ethics and morals aside
And treads in the blood of the children who died
Because their parents are in the way
Of a "Greater Israel" that some people say
Will be a reality some fine day
When everyone else learns to ignore
The apartheid in Israel, the unequal war
As Israel from the Palestine tore
A few hectare here, an acre there
Generations of families, why should we care
After all who gives a shit about a few dusky folk
Their right to life - a merry joke
Millions scattered in dismal camps
Who cares if they suffer starvation's cramps
It doesn't affect us, why should we care
Besides a stylist can tint our hair
And your voice hasn't changed
Just your ethics, your passion
But age teaches everyone how to ration
Those excesses of mispent youth
Like feelings, exertions and even truth.
The dust, the dust, you flung into my eyes
The dust, the dust, the million lies
But in years gone by
The tears you teased from me
Would not just dry,
They were real and tasted of salt
They were wet and came from the heart
But now the time for tears is through
As you scrabble for shekels
In the Palestine's sands
Consider those eliminated to
Make Israel safe for the wandering Jew
And I wish you'd found a way to remain true
To the ideals you inspired and now seem to eschew.
First Draft
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MoEnzyme
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #2 on: 2009-08-03 13:17:11 » |
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I may be misinformed on something here, but I come down on the side of the artist. I don't think performing in a venue necessarily equates with support for its political regime. We sent an orchestra to North Korea, and few considered that unconscionable. I think most people still consider a live performance to be an interaction between the performer and his audience, not the performer and the current political regime.
I certainly think its a fair question to the performer how he intends to address the sitution and we will be watching for this, but to prematurely insist he must close his show down I find a bit insulting. There are plenty of ways to address the situation . . . he could give a portion of his profits to a legitimate Palestinian charity, he can make a statement through his performance critical of recent events, he can arrange Palestinians to attend his concert as well, or give a perfomance in the West Bank, or even Gaza. Yes, he could even cancel the event altogether, but I personally think of that as his call to make. I'd wait to see what actually happens before grabbing the stones to cast.
This ballad isn't finished yet, so I'd hold off on that final draft.
ps.
Leonard Cohen's Israel concert sells out in a day
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjkuZIXk1Rn6UaFiY21qSeRMwW1QD99QTSS81
excerpt:
Quote:Adding Israel to his current world tour brought complaints from Palestinian sympathizers, and British fans posted a plea on the social networking site Facebook asking him to cancel the date in response to Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip in December and January.
Cohen's manager, Robert Kory, said the singer instead decided to make the concert a fundraiser for Palestinian and Israeli groups working for reconciliation.
Proceeds will be channeled into a special charitable fund in partnership with London-based human rights organization Amnesty International, Kory said.
Initial beneficiaries include a peace group made up of the parents of Israelis and Palestinians killed in the conflict called the Parents Circle-Family Forum.
Others are a children's health program run by the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv, an organization that brings together Israeli army veterans and former Palestinian fighters and a center for special needs children in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #3 on: 2009-08-03 14:34:28 » |
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North Korea may be poor and much of the poverty may be self inflicted, but it is not divided by race, religion and culture into those deserving everything and those deserving nothing, neither is it built on stolen ground.
Apartheid is always a very special class of evil and given Israel's repeated (and false) claims to moral superiority, I think that boycotting them on intellectual, cultural and sporting grounds is appropriate as it will let Israelis on both sides of the divide know that Israel's claims are seen as specious by people who can see for themselves. While we act against people funding Palestinian charities - and ignore the funding and supply of arms to the apartheid Israeli government - in wilful breach of US law (which makes the Obama administration and Democratic government as guilty of war crimes as the Bush maladministration), just as occurred with South Africa, influential individuals can bypass their government's complicity in apartheid Israel's crimes and send a message directly by refusing to allow Israel to enjoy their work or interacting with them.
As for aiding joint organizations, it is worth recalling that the US alone provides an average of $US 6 billion a year to Israel, and after operation cast lead provided under $300 million to the much more populous Palestinians - and even then, to add insult to injury, via the Fatah quislings which the US supports.
This disparity in aid benefits only apartheid Israel, but individuals can make a difference. For example, we object - loudly to being offered oranges or olives from Israel - on the grounds that these are probably grown on stolen land, held in violation of many UN resolutions including US supported Security Council resolutions, and definitely grown using water stolen from the Palestinians - which is why there will not be any equitable settlement in the Palestine until Israel collapses, as it inevitably will, under the weight of demographics and the opprobrium it is earning for itself leads to the cessation of International financial support.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #4 on: 2009-08-04 10:07:13 » |
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Leonard Cohen's Israel concert sells out in a day
Leonard Cohen show to benefit Israel, Palestinian peace groups sells out in less than a day
Source: AP News
Authors: Steve Weizman
Dated: 2009-08-03
Tickets for a Leonard Cohen concert to benefit Palestinian and Israeli peace groups sold out in less than a day, an Israeli ticket agent said Sunday.
The 47,000 tickets for the Sept. 24 concert at a stadium near Tel Aviv went on sale at 8:30 Saturday evening, and by Sunday afternoon they were all gone, ticket agent Avi Messing told Israel's Channel 2 TV.
"All of Israel is coming to watch Leonard Cohen. It's really great," Messing said.
Prices ranged from $90 to $315.
Cohen entertained Israeli troops during the 1973 Mideast war and last performed in Israel in 1975.
Adding Israel to his current world tour brought complaints from Palestinian sympathizers, and British fans posted a plea on the social networking site Facebook asking him to cancel the date in response to Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip in December and January.
Cohen's manager, Robert Kory, said the singer instead decided to make the concert a fundraiser for Palestinian and Israeli groups working for reconciliation.
Proceeds will be channeled into a special charitable fund in partnership with London-based human rights organization Amnesty International, Kory said.
Initial beneficiaries include a peace group made up of the parents of Israelis and Palestinians killed in the conflict called the Parents Circle-Family Forum.
Others are a children's health program run by the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv, an organization that brings together Israeli army veterans and former Palestinian fighters and a center for special needs children in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #5 on: 2009-08-06 23:04:47 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2009-08-03 14:34:28
While we act against people funding Palestinian charities - and ignore the funding and supply of arms to the apartheid Israeli government - in wilful breach of US law (which makes the Obama administration and Democratic government as guilty of war crimes as the Bush maladministration) |
I didn't think this had anything to do with the US government. Cohen is a Canadian and he certainly isn't supplying weapons to the evil-doers.
Quote:| As for aiding joint organizations, it is worth recalling that the US alone provides an average of $US 6 billion a year to Israel, and after operation cast lead provided under $300 million to the much more populous Palestinians - and even then, to add insult to injury, via the Fatah quislings which the US supports. |
again. See above.
Quote:| This disparity in aid benefits only apartheid Israel, but individuals can make a difference. For example, we object - loudly to being offered oranges or olives from Israel - on the grounds that these are probably grown on stolen land, held in violation of many UN resolutions including US supported Security Council resolutions, and definitely grown using water stolen from the Palestinians - which is why there will not be any equitable settlement in the Palestine until Israel collapses, as it inevitably will, under the weight of demographics and the opprobrium it is earning for itself leads to the cessation of International financial support. |
I don't see cultural exchange as necessarily in the same category as food, weapons, financial support, etc. I think cultural exchange as much more content/intentionality dependant. Once again, I think it is plenty fair to put Cohen on notice that we are paying attention to how he addresses the problem. Indeed as an artist/performer he is in a special position to encourage conversation and introspection. Maybe he will step up to the challenge, or maybe he will disappoint. But to prematurly demand that he cancel certainly seems unecessarily pessimistic.
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #6 on: 2009-08-07 13:47:54 » |
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[MoEnzyme 2] I may be misinformed on something here, but I come down on the side of the artist. I don't think performing in a venue necessarily equates with support for its political regime. We sent an orchestra to North Korea, and few considered that unconscionable. I think most people still consider a live performance to be an interaction between the performer and his audience, not the performer and the current political regime.
[Hermit 3] North Korea may be poor and much of the poverty may be self inflicted, but it is not divided by race, religion and culture into those deserving everything and those deserving nothing, neither is it built on stolen ground.
[Hermit 3] Apartheid is always a very special class of evil and given Israel's repeated (and false) claims to moral superiority, I think that boycotting them on intellectual, cultural and sporting grounds is appropriate as it will let Israelis on both sides of the divide know that Israel's claims are seen as specious by people who can see for themselves. While we act against people funding Palestinian charities - and ignore the funding and supply of arms to the apartheid Israeli government - in wilful breach of US law (which makes the Obama administration and Democratic government as guilty of war crimes as the Bush maladministration), just as occurred with South Africa, influential individuals can bypass their government's complicity in apartheid Israel's crimes and send a message directly by refusing to allow Israel to enjoy their work or interacting with them.
[MoEnzyme 5] I didn't think this had anything to do with the US government. Cohen is a Canadian and he certainly isn't supplying weapons to the evil-doers.
[Hermit 6] I am sorry that I didn't make it sufficiently clear that this was not exclusively a specific response to your assertions about Leonard Cohen, but rather was written to provide a context for my argument in favour of a cultural boycott of any apartheid government by individuals and organizations irrespective of what their own governments do. After all, as the US demonstrates on a regular basis, governments are far more susceptible to lobbying, bribery and other forms of blackmail and economic persuasion than individuals, and as I have discussed here repeatedly, economic sanctions are always a case of "starve the poor until the rich surrender," the effects of which are usually more invidious than the situations they purport to address. It ought to have been possible to recognize that I was not suggesting that Leonard Cohen controlled the US government in any meaningful sense, or that he is engaging in arms sales to supplement his meagre capital. Duh! Charitable reading should not have been required to figure this out, just a modicum of sense.
[Hermit 3] As for aiding joint organizations, it is worth recalling that the US alone provides an average of $US 6 billion a year to Israel, and after operation cast lead provided under $300 million to the much more populous Palestinians - and even then, to add insult to injury, via the Fatah quislings which the US supports.
[MoEnzyme 5] again. See above.
[Hermit 6] Again. See above. Can you spell "context?" This matters enormously here. On the one hand, no matter how much money performers contribute to Palestinian causes, hopefully avoiding being prosecuted for "aiding terrorists" which is how Israel, the US DOJ and, in turn, US prosecutors, have repeatedly portrayed providing assistance to Palestinian organizations, the total of their contributions will never amount to more than a tiny fraction of the vast amounts being channelled to Israel. On the other hand, while our society grants certain people more significance than others, and watching any news broadcast will rapidly persuade you that we do, the degree of delegitimization provided by every artist, sports person and cultural organization refusing to support apartheid states through their presence and interaction is extremely significant, because it makes a clear and unmistakable statement, "we think that what you are doing is wrong."
[Hermit 3] This disparity in aid benefits only apartheid Israel, but individuals can make a difference. For example, we object - loudly to being offered oranges or olives from Israel - on the grounds that these are probably grown on stolen land, held in violation of many UN resolutions including US supported Security Council resolutions, and definitely grown using water stolen from the Palestinians - which is why there will not be any equitable settlement in the Palestine until Israel collapses, as it inevitably will, under the weight of demographics and the opprobrium it is earning for itself leads to the cessation of International financial support.
[MoEnzyme 5] I don't see cultural exchange as necessarily in the same category as food, weapons, financial support, etc.
[Hermit 6] As I tried to communicate previously, I don't see them in the same "context" at all. I don't know why you seem to think that I do. Looking specifically at your examples:- food, etc: We should not be purchasing goods produced outside the borders of Israel prior to the 1967 war or using water or energy expropriated from the Palestine. We should be demanding that Israel provide sufficient documentation to make appropriate determinations as a condition of trade. "Cheating" should be dealt with with criminal sanctions and blacklisting of the supplier and producer. As I intimated before, if governments won't do this, individuals can do it and we in fact do do it and make sure that our suppliers understand that we do do this and tell others what we are doing and why.
- weapons: There are laws and treaties governing the supply and use of weapons. As an apartheid and aggressor state, Israel is in breach of these laws and treaties. It would be correct to enforce them appropriately. Where laws have been broken and treaties voided by Israeli actions, appropriate penalties should be levied against them. I say ought and should, just as all laws ought to be and should be seen to be enforced equitably against all parties or struck, lest law itself fall into disrepute with the inevitable decrease in stability. This depends on governments acting ethically.
- financial support: While Israel engages in interfering with the political process in other countries, apartheid within its borders, aggression against its neighbours and others and preventing the application of UN resolutions (e.g. the return of occupied territory, the right to return of Palestinian refugees and their offspring), we should not be permitting, never mind providing, financial aid to Israel without demanding redress of these deficiencies.
- cultural exchange: This is clearly a matter where individuals and organizations can make decisions to abstain from interaction for themselves, or a boycott may be mandated. To my mind, mandatory boycotts are much less effective than voluntary boycotts, as they have much lower impact. Every moderately aware person knows that governments frequently make bad decisions on poor and invalid grounds and sometimes prejudice, but when multiple people whose opinions are, for what it is worth, respected, say "you are acting so badly that I don't want to deal with you or your tribe" it is very difficult not to conclude that perhaps there are grounds for such statements. Conversely, when individuals acting in such an environment choose, despite awareness of the environment, to engage with the subject of a boycott, they provide or will be portrayed as providing (which has the same effect), support for the people being boycotted. In this way, any individual makes a statement through their interaction or rejection of interaction that they approve or disapprove of apartheid or other issues by engaging or rejecting to engage with people involved in such activities. Pretending that even though you might disapprove of some activity that you can choose to engage with the people engaged in it might work for venial sinners, like liars, cheats, thieves and knaves, but I am much less persuaded that the argument succeeds with either apartheid or aggression, both of which have been declared crimes against humanity. If I am correct about this, then excuses for interaction might include:
- Veniality: A lack of awareness of the serious impact of the activity.
- Ignorance: A lack of awareness of the presence of the activity.
Either of these excuses can be invalidated by education, and if education doesn't result in their rejection of interaction, then those choosing to interact with people engaged in interaction can be validly accused of supporting the activity through their interaction.
[MoEnzyme 5] I think cultural exchange as much more content/intentionality dependant. Once again, I think it is plenty fair to put Cohen on notice that we are paying attention to how he addresses the problem. Indeed as an artist/performer he is in a special position to encourage conversation and introspection. Maybe he will step up to the challenge, or maybe he will disappoint. But to prematurly demand that he cancel certainly seems unecessarily pessimistic.
[Hermit 6] Leonard Cohen has already signified that he finds apartheid abhorrent which signifies that he is aware of its terrible impact, and signalled that he is aware that apartheid is endemic in Israel which eliminates ignorance. As such, education is not required to obviate the legitimate reasons to excuse interaction and an accusation that he is supporting apartheid through his interaction with Israel is completely fair.
[Hermit 6] As you have responded to my general observations on this issue as if they were specifically addressing Leonard Cohen's situation, let me continue with a few specific responses.
[MoEnzyme 2] I certainly think its a fair question to the performer how he intends to address the sitution and we will be watching for this, but to prematurely insist he must close his show down I find a bit insulting.
[Hermit 6] I am not sure why you thought that that attempting to address this issue was premature?
[Hermit 6] We have seen that Leonard Cohen has chosen interaction with Israel. For the reasons given above, this is being portrayed as providing support to Israel. The speed with which the tickets to his concert have sold to people who surveys have shown think that Palestinians should have no rights in Israel and that Israel should engage in further ethnic cleansing shows that the support is mutual. While he may yet surprise me (and the Israelis) by using his stage to make a statement, I suspect that the donation of some of the proceeds of his concert to a joint charity will be seen as sufficient of a nod to the reality of apartheid Israel to satisfy propriety. For all the reasons I have suggested, I disagree. Pigeon droppings may be claimed to add character to a monument, but no fig leaf is large enough to disguise the steaming elephant dropping in the Middle East that is apartheid Israel's behaviour.
[MoEnzyme 2] There are plenty of ways to address the situation . . .
[Hermit 6] Let me reprise by tackling these proposals
[MoEnzyme 2] he could give a portion of his profits to a legitimate Palestinian charity,
[Hermit 6] As shown above, no amount he can donate will balance the inequity, no amount he can give can compensate for the legitimizing of apartheid, and no matter how little he gives to Palestinian causes, he runs the risk of actual prosecution and the near certainty of accusations that his gift is "enabling terrorism."
[MoEnzyme 2] he can make a statement through his performance critical of recent events,
[Hermit 6] He might. We can wait to see. Almost irrespective of any statement he might make, I suspect that it will not counter the legitimizing of apartheid that this concert represents. After all, what can balance the implicit statement that here is a performer who acknowledged that apartheid is evil, has suggested that Israel is engaged in apartheid, and yet cannot be persuaded to boycott them? The inescapable conclusion that is being projected is that "evidently" Israel is not nearly as bad as it is being painted.
[MoEnzyme 2] he can arrange Palestinians to attend his concert as well,
[Hermit 6] If Israel permits it, Palestinians can afford it and seats are available. Of course, Jews in Israel have an average income of $20,410. Palestinian income averages under $1,000 (2006 data Britannica Yearbook 2008). Then again, it doesn't seem as if this is possible given that all seats are already sold out.
[MoEnzyme 2] or give a perfomance in the West Bank, or even Gaza.
[Hermit 6] Interesting idea. Currently Israel is refusing doctors access to Gaza. Do you think that Israel would facilitate this if Leonard Cohen asked for it? Do you think Leonard Cohen might do this, given how scarce money is in Palestinian areas? Do you think that if, in 1938, Leonard Cohen had given a performance in Auschwitz that it would have balanced a performance in Munich? If the comparison offends you, it was inspired by the mental stress caused to me trying to imagine how a concert given in, say, Umtata, could possibly have compensated for the support of apartheid that would have been shown by a concert in Pretoria and trying to imagine some way of conveying the differences to somebody not familiar with both these places under apartheid. Actually, given that I am not aware of Umtata ever having been likened to a concentration camp, while Gaza has - repeatedly, I think that the comparison, while odious, is perfectly fair; precluding invocation of Godwin's law.
[MoEnzyme 2] Yes, he could even cancel the event altogether, but I personally think of that as his call to make.
[Hermit 6] Well, unlikely as it may seem at this late stage, I suppose it might still be an option if enough people suggest it, but the point I was making is that it is indeed his call to make. My interpretation of his call is that he supports apartheid Israel, or at least considers the money he will make in consequence (after all, that is why he is going there, right?) makes any ethical issues moot. In any case, no matter how premature you might have considered this, I suspect that it is very unlikely to happen if nobody suggests it before the events.
[MoEnzyme 2] I'd wait to see what actually happens before grabbing the stones to cast.
[Hermit 6] I advocate that you read the interesting wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_apartheid_analogy which might provide you with the additional background information required to better evaluate a performer who has claimed to abhor apartheid and who has criticised Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, yet provides affirmation of apartheid Israel through performing there.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Blunderov
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #7 on: 2009-08-07 19:49:49 » |
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[Blunderov] (Nice ballad Hermit BTW - I can imagine singing it in my own low drone - written from the heart it is very apparent.)
I found myself havering after I posted the article. Perhaps, I mused, voice present would be better than voice off; that it might draw more attention to the issues if he donated the proceeds to an activism of a positive nature. But then I recalled our own South African experiences with the cultural boycott. It stung. We smarted most mightily. And consequently we went to Sun City at every possible opportunity to seek whatever cold comfort we could might suggest we weren't really quite as terrible as we were made out to be. Above all the sports boycott (and sports are cultural events) hurt like hell.
On balance, I think a boycott would have been more effective. (It is significant that the concert is sold out.) I think Leonard Cohen has made a mistake by performing in Israel. I don't love him any the less for it though; this mistake is very much in keeping with his bent to be wounded in love. If he has made an error at least it is not one of apathy.
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Hermit
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #8 on: 2009-08-19 16:10:33 » |
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Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen's Israel Concert Fund
The Palestinians seem to feel about it somewhat as I suggested - and Amnesty International is writing an encyclopaedia in a very few exquisitely diplomatically chosen words.
Source: The Palestine Telegraph
Authors: Not Credited (PT Editor GK)
Dated:2009-08-19
Amnesty International has announced today that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert's proceeds. A number of media accounts had reported that Amnesty International was to manage or otherwise partner in a fund created from the proceeds of Cohen's concert in Israel that would be used to benefit Israeli and Palestinian groups. Amnesty International's announcement today followed an international outcry over the human rights organization's reported involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert fund, and an earlier international call for Cohen to boycott apartheid Israel.
Omar Barghouti from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) commented, "We welcome Amnesty International's withdrawal from this ill-conceived project which is clearly intended to whitewash Israel's violations of international law and human rights. By abandoning the Leonard Cohen project in Tel Aviv, Amnesty International has dealt Cohen and his public relations team a severe blow, denying them the cover of the organization's prestige and respectability."
A statement confirming Amnesty's withdrawal has now been posted on the Amnesty International website.
After reports in late July that Amnesty International would manage a fund from the proceeds of Leonard Cohen's concert in Israel, groups in occupied Palestine and around the world mobilized to pressure Amnesty International not to participate in such a fund. The Palestinian Non-governmental Organizations' Network (PNGO) called in an August 11th letter on Amnesty International to reject management of a fund that is to be created from the proceeds of Leonard Cohen's planned September concert in Israel. The West Bank village of Bil'in had made a similar appeal to Amnesty International. An international campaign of about one thousand letters to Amnesty International called for Amnesty's withdrawal from the Cohen concert initiative. The only Palestinian organization that was claimed to be a recipient of the fund had previously announced that it was not involved in the project. Additionally, a representative of the joint Palestinian Israeli group Combatants for Peace, another previously announced beneficiary of the Cohen concert fund, had informed the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel in writing that the group had decided not to participate in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and not to accept any funds from its proceeds.
PNGO explained in their letter to Amnesty International that Israel Discount Bank, a major sponsor of Cohen's concert in Israel, "is involved in the construction and the continuation of the Israeli settlement project in the oPT [occupied Palestinian Territories]. These settlements built on Palestinian lands are illegal under international law and are considered as war crimes in the Fourth Geneva Convention." PNGO added that Cohen's "concert in Israel contributes in normalizing Israeli occupation and colonization policies." In an August 9th letter to Amnesty International, the West Bank village of Bil'in, a leader in the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement, said that, "Israel Discount Bank's trading room and other computer services are run by an Israeli company called Matrix IT. Matrix IT's trading room is located on our villages land stolen by the illegal settlement of Modiin Illit."
Additionally, nineteen groups and organizations worldwide explained in an open letter to Amnesty International that, "Being one of the world's strongest proponents of human rights and international law, you shall thus be subverting a non-violent, effective effort by Palestinian and international civil society to end Israel's violations of international law and human rights principles." The groups asserted that, "Accepting funds from the proceeds of Cohen's concert in Israel is the equivalent of Amnesty accepting funds from a concert in Sun City in apartheid South Africa." They also commented that the Peres Center for Peace, Amnesty International's announced partner in managing the concert fund, "has been denounced by leading Palestinian civil society organizations for promoting joint Palestinian-Israeli projects that enhance 'Israeli institutional reputation and legitimacy, without restoring justice to Palestinians.'"
On August 5th, eleven groups launched a letter writing campaign to Amnesty International which has resulted in hundreds of emails sent. Among those urging Amnesty International to reject involvement with the Cohen concert are former Amnesty International USA board member Prof. Naseer Aruri, Amnesty International USA's former Midwest Regional Director Doris Strieter, peace activist Kathy Kelly, and a number of Amnesty International members.
The announcement of Cohen's planned concert in Israel was swiftly met by letters from British, Israeli and Palestinian organizations and protests at his concerts in New York, Boston, Ottawa and Belfast, among other cities, calling on Cohen to respect the international call for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. In response to the protests, Cohen had tried to schedule a small concert in Ramallah to "balance" his concert in Israel. However, Palestinians rejected the Ramallah concert, insisting that Cohen should first cancel his Tel Aviv gig to be welcomed in Ramallah.
With the international community failing to take action to stop Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and inspired by the international boycott movement that helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, Palestinian civil society has launched calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including an institutional academic and cultural boycott. Ninety-three artists, writers and other cultural workers have signed onto the Palestinian cultural boycott call. Palestinian boycott calls have inspired a growing international boycott movement which gained added momentum following Israel's assault on Gaza last winter.
Following the statement of Amnesty International USA
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public document
AI Index: MDE 15/025/2009
17 August 2009
Amnesty International and the Leonard Cohen Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace
Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) was approached by representatives of Leonard Cohen for
advice on setting up a fund (the Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace) to receive and
distribute proceeds from a planned concert in Tel Aviv to benefit the Parents Forum: Bereaved
Parents for Peace and Reconciliation and other Israeli and Palestinian NGOs. AIUSA was pleased to offer what help it could. Given the different requirements of AI's work and that of the Fund both have agreed that at this point AIUSA will withdraw from active involvement with the Fund. AIUSA will not be part of the Fund nor benefit financially from the proceeds of the concert in Tel Aviv.
AIUSA is impressed by Leonard Cohen's commitment to use his talent to benefit directly those
working for human rights and continues to hope that this wish will be realized.
Amnesty International has taken no position on boycotts anywhere in the world. AIUSA's participation in discussions related to this project was based firmly on the belief that setting up
such a fund could be beneficial to Israeli and Palestinian efforts on behalf of human rights."
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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letheomaniac
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #9 on: 2009-08-21 04:56:10 » |
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[letheomaniac] I am having a hard time reconciling my love of Leonard Cohen's music with my lack of respect for anyone that converts to Buddhism. Sorry Leonard, but you have lost about a million points there.
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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Hermit
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Re:PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen
« Reply #10 on: 2009-08-21 05:56:31 » |
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[letheomaniac] I am having a hard time reconciling my love of Leonard Cohen's music with my lack of respect for anyone that converts to Buddhism. Sorry Leonard, but you have lost about a million points there.
[Hermit] Given that unless he was one of the rare Jainist or Sikh Cohens that he probably started out Jewish, so converting to Buddhism is likely an improvement, given that the four things that can be said for the Buddhists is that they are less worse than any of the JudeoChristianIslamic or Hindu religions.
[Hermit] The one thing he has yet to do, unlike Bob Dylan (who goes from the "Who's Who" to the "What's that" list), is to sign up to produce a disk of Christmas music. Thus are the mighty fallen.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-ten-worst-rocknroll-career-moves-1774270.html?action=Popup&ino=1
Bob Dylan's Christmas album
Bob Dylan has taken a distinct turn for the weird lately. First there were reports that the smell emanating from a portable toilet in the grounds of his California home was distressing neighbours, then came news that the enigmatic musician had been picked up by New Jersey police for loitering outside a house in the pouring rain. Sandwiched between the bizarre incidents, Bob announced he is to record an album of Christmas standards. Fans may have stuck by him throughout the musically self destructive late 60s, the God-bothering late 70s and the Grateful Dead-collaborating-Madonna-imitating mid 80s, but surely even Bob's fans have a limit? Expect to wince as a faux-moody, Howlin Wolf-esque version of Silent Night hits the charts this December, forcing Dylan loyalists, once again, to come to terms with their hero dismantling his recent artistic success.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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