[Peace-discuss] Fw: Elvis Costello Cancels Concerts in Israel

[unionyes]

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From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
To: <PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG>
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 6:48 PM
Subject: Elvis Costello Cancels Concerts in Israel


> Elvis Costello Cancels Concerts in Israel in Protest at
> Treatment of Palestinians
>
>    Singer says he acted on 'conscience', as he joins a list
>    of performers who have boycotted Israel for political
>    reasons
>
> May 17, 2010, Guardian (UK)
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/18/elvis-costello-cancels-israel-concerts
>
> Elvis Costello has cancelled two concerts he was scheduled to
> play in Israel in protest at its treatment of Palestinians.
>
> Costello, one of the most gifted British songwriters of his
> generation, was due to play on 30 June and 1 July but says
> his "conscience" dictated that he pull out of the
> performances.
>
> He joins a list of performers who have decided not to play in
> Israel, including Gil Scott-Heron and Santana.
>
> On his website, Costello wrote: "Then there are occasions
> when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may
> be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than
> anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one
> has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.
>
> "I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts
> would have contained many people who question the policies of
> their government on settlement and deplore conditions that
> visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian
> civilians in the name of national security.
>
> "I am also keenly aware of the sensitivity of these themes in
> the wake of so many despicable acts of violence perpetrated
> in the name of liberation.
>
> "It is a matter of instinct and conscience.
>
> "I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in
> Israel, which is a matter of regret, but I can imagine a
> better time when I would not be writing this.
>
> "With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello."
>
> Sarah Colborne, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign,
> welcomed the decision: "We are increasingly seeing artists
> taking a stand against allowing themselves to be used by the
> Israeli state to normalise their occupation and apartheid
> policies against Palestinians. Principled artists understood
> it was unacceptable to play under the apartheid South African
> regime in Sun City."
>
> Other artists have cancelled Israeli tours in recent months,
> including Santana and Gil Scott-Heron, who was also active in
> the anti-apartheid movement. In one song written to protest
> against the racist regime in South Africa, Scott-Heron wrote:
> "The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East,
> I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh." Leonard Cohen
> played in Israel last year, despite a similar campaign from
> the boycott movement asking him to stay away.
>
> "This is not boycotting the Jewish people, or the Israeli
> people, it is boycotting the occupation," said Mustafa
> Barghouti, an independent Palestinian MP. "More and more
> people are convinced that something should be done and the
> peaceful and non-violent way to do it is by boycott,
> divestment and sanctions."
>
> It comes as Palestinian officials have begun a new effort to
> boycott products made in Israeli settlements. Last month
> Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a law banning
> Palestinians from working in settlements in the occupied
> territories and banning the sale of settlement goods,
> including fruit and vegetables. Hundreds of volunteers in the
> West Bank today distributed lists of 500 Israeli settlement
> products they want shoppers to boycott.
>
> Israel's culture and sports minister, Limor Livnat,
> criticised Costello. "An artist boycotting his fans in Israel
> is unworthy of performing here," Livnat was quoted as saying
> by the Ynet news website.Israel itself has banned people from
> entering its territory because of their views about its
> actions. Israeli authorities prevented the Jewish American
> academic Noam Chomsky from entering the West Bank on Sunday
> to give a lecture at a Palestinian university near Ramallah.
> Chomsky was told that the Israeli authorities did not like
> his political views.
>
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