Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Israel

Lawrence

Back in the day browser (since November 1997)
I just came across this just now, the fact that Moz has written an excellent song in the past about living under occupation ('This Is Not Your Country' - originally a B-side off 'Satan Rejected My Soul'), yet is still prepared to play in a land presently under occupation is sad.....really sad. :-(

http://refrainplayingisrael.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/morrissey-say-yes-to-human-rights-no-to.html

Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Israel

Human rights advocates ask Morrissey to abandon his plans for a gig in apartheid Israel this July, in favor of human rights. Four years ago, Morrissey chose to violate the boycott call, and he plans to play Apartheid Israel for a second time on 21 July, 2012. Today, this letter to him from the PACBI is more pertinent than ever for the avowed vegan and animals rights advocate Morrissey.


Morrissey: Celebrating Apartheid in Tel Aviv? An Open Letter from PACBI

(April 16, 2008) Today, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed your video message to the Israeli public, confirming your performance in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2008 [1]. You end your message with the words "God bless Israel, stay nice!" This message and your planned Israel gig are indicators of either a serious lack of understanding of what Israel is or a conscious bias towards Israel, despite its colonial and apartheid reality. Celebrating Israel, as you plan to do, at a time when it is persistently committing war crimes and other grave breaches of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, is an act of complicity in maintaining Israel's illegal occupation and regime of racial dscrimination against the people of Palestine.It is ironic that your persistent affection for outsiders and misfits has often driven you to write in their voices. Someone hated, rejected and violently attacked by a racist, nationalistic society has her point of view expressed in these lyrics, which you wrote:

We're old news

All's well

Say BBC scum

One child shot, but so what?

Laid my son

In a box, three feet long

And I still don't know why

A short walk home becomes a run

And I'm scared

In my own country

Singing in Tel Aviv despite the fact that more than 800 Palestinian children have been killed -- many in a willful manner -- by the Israeli occupation army and settlers in the past 7 years alone would effectively tell us, in our faces: "One Palestinian child shot, but so what?"

This year, Israel celebrates the 60th anniversary of its establishment over the ruins of another country, Palestine. With the creation of this state sixty years ago, three quarters of a million Palestinians were dispossessed and uprooted from their homes and lands, condemned to a life of exile and destitution.

Israel at 60 is a state that is still denying Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned rights, simply because they are "non-Jews." It is still illegally occupying Palestinian and other Arab lands, in violation of numerous UN resolutions. In the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), Israel is continuing the construction of its colonies and massive Wall in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of July 2004. It is still persistently and grossly breaching international law and infringing fundamental human rights with impunity afforded to it through munificent US and European economic, diplomatic and political support. It is still treating its own Palestinian citizens with institutionalized discrimination.

In 2006, virtually all leading Palestinian artists and cultural figures have called for an international cultural boycott of Israel [2]. To date, many leading international cultural figures, including Ken Loach and John Berger, and some artists' unions, like the Irish Aosdana, have heeded the Palestinian Call and shunned Israel, just as they boycotted apartheid South Africa.

On December 3, 2007, you said "I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind and will not let this pass without being absolutely clear and emphatic with regard to what my position is. Racism is beyond common sense and I believe it has no place in our society."

It is "absolutely clear" that your performance in Israel would betray a regrettable double standard, if not a categorical negation of those noble ideals.

* The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - www.PACBI.org
 
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I just came across this just now, the fact that Moz has written an excellent song in the past about living under occupation ('This Is Not Your Country' - originally a B-side off 'Satan Rejected My Soul'), yet is still prepared to play in a land presently under occupation is sad.....realy sad :-(

http://refrainplayingisrael.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/morrissey-say-yes-to-human-rights-no-to.html











Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Israel

Human rights advocates ask Morrissey to abandon his plans for a gig in apartheid Israel this July, in favor of human rights. Four years ago, Morrissey chose to violate the boycott call, and he plans to play Apartheid Israel for a second time on 21 July, 2012. Today, this letter to him from the PACBI is more pertinent than ever for the avowed vegan and animals rights advocate Morrissey.


Morrissey: Celebrating Apartheid in Tel Aviv? An Open Letter from PACBI

(April 16, 2008) Today, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed your video message to the Israeli public, confirming your performance in Tel Aviv on July 29, 2008 [1]. You end your message with the words "God bless Israel, stay nice!" This message and your planned Israel gig are indicators of either a serious lack of understanding of what Israel is or a conscious bias towards Israel, despite its colonial and apartheid reality. Celebrating Israel, as you plan to do, at a time when it is persistently committing war crimes and other grave breaches of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, is an act of complicity in maintaining Israel's illegal occupation and regime of racial dscrimination against the people of Palestine.It is ironic that your persistent affection for outsiders and misfits has often driven you to write in their voices. Someone hated, rejected and violently attacked by a racist, nationalistic society has her point of view expressed in these lyrics, which you wrote:

We're old news

All's well

Say BBC scum

One child shot, but so what?

Laid my son

In a box, three feet long

And I still don't know why

A short walk home becomes a run

And I'm scared

In my own country

Singing in Tel Aviv despite the fact that more than 800 Palestinian children have been killed -- many in a willful manner -- by the Israeli occupation army and settlers in the past 7 years alone would effectively tell us, in our faces: "One Palestinian child shot, but so what?"

This year, Israel celebrates the 60th anniversary of its establishment over the ruins of another country, Palestine. With the creation of this state sixty years ago, three quarters of a million Palestinians were dispossessed and uprooted from their homes and lands, condemned to a life of exile and destitution.

Israel at 60 is a state that is still denying Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned rights, simply because they are "non-Jews." It is still illegally occupying Palestinian and other Arab lands, in violation of numerous UN resolutions. In the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), Israel is continuing the construction of its colonies and massive Wall in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of July 2004. It is still persistently and grossly breaching international law and infringing fundamental human rights with impunity afforded to it through munificent US and European economic, diplomatic and political support. It is still treating its own Palestinian citizens with institutionalized discrimination.

In 2006, virtually all leading Palestinian artists and cultural figures have called for an international cultural boycott of Israel [2]. To date, many leading international cultural figures, including Ken Loach and John Berger, and some artists' unions, like the Irish Aosdana, have heeded the Palestinian Call and shunned Israel, just as they boycotted apartheid South Africa.

On December 3, 2007, you said "I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind and will not let this pass without being absolutely clear and emphatic with regard to what my position is. Racism is beyond common sense and I believe it has no place in our society."

It is "absolutely clear" that your performance in Israel would betray a regrettable double standard, if not a categorical negation of those noble ideals.

* The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - www.PACBI.org


I read this a while ago - good idea to post it here for all to see. I wonder if the thought of BDS has ever occurred to Morrissey ?
 
Of course, because punishing the citizens of a country for actions the government are responsible for (that YOU don't agree with) makes perfect sense. Sounds about as useful as his bullshit boycott of Canada.
 
Of course, because punishing the citizens of a country for actions the government are responsible for (that YOU don't agree with) makes perfect sense. Sounds about as useful as his bullshit boycott of Canada.


Israel is, internally at least, a democracy. Therefore, to some extent or another, the citizens there are responsible for the actions of the state. To what extent ? I can't be sure. But I think a ( for want of a better term) cultural boycott is relatively benign in its effects and useful in drawing attention to the Palestinian issue.
 
I just came across this just now, the fact that Moz has written an excellent song in the past about living under occupation ('This Is Not Your Country' - originally a B-side off 'Satan Rejected My Soul'), yet is still prepared to

Jesus. Northern Ireland was not "under occupation" and This Is Not Your Country is a f***ing ridiculous song.
 
Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter [an Irish Jew] criticised the IPSC with an unusual intensity:

The Irish Palestinian Solidarity Group’s action in directing its members to ‘target’ the website of the musical group Dervish in order to intimidate the group into cancelling their planned concerts in Israel is nothing other than cyberbullying. [...]

It is absolutely understandable that the group, in the face of an ‘avalanche of negativity’ and ‘venom’ on social media websites took the decision to cancel their concerts — but it is a great pity that the bullying tactics of the IPSG worked.

If the IPSG were in any way interested in promoting peace and reconciliation in a troubled part of the world they would recognise the value of cultural and artistic exchanges and the contribution such events make to fostering understanding and tolerance. But, unfortunately, IPSG’s interest is not in peace and reconciliation.

It is particularly extraordinary that the orchestrated campaign targeted at Dervish occurred at a time when thousands have lost their lives in Syria and the IPSG have remained silent about the crimes against humanity being committed there...

Gerald Donovan [novelist and poet Gerard Donovan targetted for beign scheduled to appear at the International Writers Festival in Jerusalem recently] wrote an excellent response to Deane [Irish head of PSC], where he humorously describes the IPSC’s ilk as the "perfect" humans:

EVERY GENERATION creates the right monsters to destroy itself… Now let me suggest the monster of our time is a device that creates the perfect human. This human hears what he wants to hear, sees what he wants to see and already knows everything he needs to know. The machine’s primary attribute is a shield through which nothing can penetrate that suggests what our man hears and sees may not be the whole truth.

In short, this machine provides him certainty in a world that, if left unfiltered, is otherwise an arbitrary, capricious and infuriating place. Behavioural economists call this phenomenon the psychology of denial, and it can result in an uncompromising and sometimes dangerous delusion that brooks no interference.
Donovan pointed to the irony of Deane receiving a substantial Irish tax payers grant each year, whilst intimidating Irish artists. He referred to Deane’s hypocrisy in having his music performed in Hong Kong when under the rule of China. Donovan related to how Deane criticised the Irish Times for a "steady campaign of defamation of human rights activists", a comically thin-skinned remark made in relation to a critical letter published in the paper some years ago that led Deane to threaten legal action. In fact the Times is known as perhaps the most pro-Palestinian mainstream newspaper in Ireland, often giving the IPSC, IAWM etc. an unduly positive hearing. It even misrepresented the Six Day War as an aggressive act on Israel’s part in the photo caption for Donovan’s article.

These and more examples here - http://eirael.blogspot.ie/2012/05/another-notch-in-bully-boy-bedpost-of.html
 
Bully for you. I agree...Moz debases himself when he joins the likes of Madonna and Elton John and performs in Israel. Israel controls the lives of 4 million Palestenians who live next to Israeli only settlements. The Israelis born in the settlements outside of Israel have full rights as citizens but the Palestenian babies because of ethnicity...because of their religion do not. Israel is aparthied and its about time the people of the world do what our governments will not and say enough is enough.

In South Africa the aparthied they practiced was legal. All the governments of the world, the un included were happy to support the racist government of SA...it was only when the people mobilized and the world made a pariah of them that finally goverments were forced to act and the system of privilige given to one group of people came to an end.
 
I can't stand these boring wankers.

Morrisey will play where he likes, and the only democracy in the middle east, despite it's many flaws, is as good a place as any.

He played a f***ing great gig there a few years ago, which he seemed to absolutely love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ylV3tqie9g
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world

Bully for you. I agree...Moz debases himself when he joins the likes of Madonna and Elton John and performs in Israel. Israel controls the lives of 4 million Palestenians who live next to Israeli only settlements. The Israelis born in the settlements outside of Israel have full rights as citizens but the Palestenian babies because of ethnicity...because of their religion do not. Israel is aparthied and its about time the people of the world do what our governments will not and say enough is enough.

In South Africa the aparthied they practiced was legal. All the governments of the world, the un included were happy to support the racist government of SA...it was only when the people mobilized and the world made a pariah of them that finally goverments were forced to act and the system of privilige given to one group of people came to an end.

Stop with the crap, will you? Arab babies born IN the state of Israel have full citizenship, exactly like Jews and Christians. Those "Palestinians babies" are not full citizens because they weren't born in Israel. Simple as that. Why should they get full citizenship??? they are free to have full citizenship in the 1001 countries the Arabs took in their occupations, along the hundreds of years of ethnic cleansing they've done to any one who is not a Muslim or an Arab.
Is Israel to be blame for the current state of Egypt? Ask the Copts who are the REAL Egyptians and were occupied by the Arabs and till to this day suffer from the hands of the Muslims, the real colonists.. how about Syria? Hundreds of children are murdered there brutally by both Assad's regime AND the opposition ... how about in Turkey, where Arduan bombs his own citizens, many Kurd villages without the UN saying a word.
Muslims occupy everything that moves, even their own poor women. So don't bullshit with humanity, 'cause the Arabs and Muslims are the last of all people to cry about justice and rights. They are bloody hypocrites. Literally.
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world

Stop with the crap, will you? Arab babies born IN the state of Israel have full citizenship, exactly like Jews and Christians. Those "Palestinians babies" are not full citizens because they weren't born in Israel. Simple as that. Why should they get full citizenship??? they are free to have full citizenship in the 1001 countries the Arabs took in their occupations, along the hundreds of years of ethnic cleansing they've done to any one who is not a Muslim or an Arab.
Is Israel to be blame for the current state of Egypt? Ask the Copts who are the REAL Egyptians and were occupied by the Arabs and till to this day suffer from the hands of the Muslims, the real colonists.. how about Syria? Hundreds of children are murdered there brutally by both Assad's regime AND the opposition ... how about in Turkey, where Arduan bombs his own citizens, many Kurd villages without the UN saying a word.
Muslims occupy everything that moves, even their own poor women. So don't bullshit with humanity, 'cause the Arabs and Muslims are the last of all people to cry about justice and rights. They are bloody hypocrites. Literally.

Hmmm....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8524723.stm
 
Nothern Ireland is not under occupation, and the democractically expressed wish of the people of Nothern ireland is to remain British
 
Jesus. Northern Ireland was not "under occupation" and This Is Not Your Country is a f***ing ridiculous song.

Really? Northern Ireland "was not under occupation"? You've obviously not listened to 'Irish Blood, English Heart' and picked up on the reference to Oliver Cromwell, who ruthlessly put down a Catholic rebellion in the north of Ireland, thus kickstarting the Troubles in the process (it'd be interesting to see what sort of reaction your comment would get in a bar in Boston).
 
I got to say something...
I live in Israel, I love music, I don't hate anyone and politics = my ass.
And there are many people like me, here. Don't believe what you read. It is only the governments, people are the same everywhere, we are just want to live.
So why Morrisset should say No to us?
 
Really? Northern Ireland "was not under occupation"? You've obviously not listened to 'Irish Blood, English Heart' and picked up on the reference to Oliver Cromwell, who ruthlessly put down a Catholic rebellion in the north of Ireland, thus kickstarting the Troubles in the process (it'd be interesting to see what sort of reaction your comment would get in a bar in Boston).

I spent the first thirty years of my life living in Northern Ireland - during what you euphemistically refer to as "the Troubles" - so the romanticised conception of history, that some "Irish American" f***wit in Boston might have really is of little concern to me.

Incidentally, Oliver Cromwell's involvement with Ireland predated "the Troubles" by more than three-hundred years, you clueless dolt. Here's a tip: instead of taking lessons in politics from a pop star, try a book. For those that have no first-hand experience, they're usually a good place to work your way into a subject.
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world



Oh, isn't that nice you're running from the subject when being confronted by the hypocrisy of the Arab world.

Wow , you're either not very bright or very manipulative.
Those immigrants are the children of illegal invaders who came to Israel to find work and a new better life than in their own countries in Africa/Asia. Only a minority of the African immigrants in Israel are actually true refugees, who are fully accepted and helped greatly by Israel.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants received from Israel license to live,work, earn money in Israel for a few years and then return (with a free flying ticket) back to their homeland. Only recently a few hundreds of the illegal workers received certificates to stay permanently in Israel because they are used to the culture of Israel and the language. At the moment, Israel offers to tens of thousands of new invaders 1000 euro, professional training in various work fields to help them in their lives back in their homeland, and a free flying ticket back to their country. All sponsored from the money of hard working Israeli citizens. It's a hell lot more than what "humane" Europe did for them.
It's a known fact that illegal African/Asian illegal workers are a global scale problem , including the USA and 'liberal' Britain and Europe.
Didn't Morrissey complained once about Britain being "flooded" by immigrants??? hmmmm...

Should Israel (with its small size and the Palestinian problem, full of security problems and dangers, surrounded by enemy countries) be the solution for European Colonists that ruined Africa and robbed its land from resources???

You want to know how Arabs treat immigrants by the way? well in contrast to Israel, Egypt has a nice solution for the immigrants - its soldiers shoots them to death!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10240699 :

In his sparsely decorated apartment, Yahya Mohamed, a refugee from Darfur in Sudan, explains how he risked everything trying to move to Israel.
"I decided to go to Israel because people who went before told me the situation was much better over there," he says.

"I left my country looking for safety and security but in Egypt I found harassment and more problems.

"Work here is difficult and they throw stones and tomatoes at me on the street. They curse at me and call me 'the black'."

"While we were crossing the border they (Egyptian forces) opened fire," Yahya recalls.

"We surrendered and sat on the ground and they started beating us and shooting all around. My wife fainted and the kids were screaming."
____________________________________________________

Many of the African immigrants are Muslims yet the famous 'Muslim solidarity for human rights' is non-existent here.
hmmmm bloody hypocrisy of the Muslims and Arabs again?

BTW funny how Palestinians are asking Morrissey to help their cause yet if he were in their territory they would have likely linched him.... Being gay is a crime according to the innocent Palestinians and its ultimate punishment equals = death sentence. That's why countless of gay Palestinians actually flee to Israel and feel much safer there than with their own families.

... But hey keep lying to yourself and to others , ignorance is bliss.
 
I spent the first thirty years of my life living in Northern Ireland - during what you euphemistically refer to as "the Troubles" - so the romanticised conception of history, that some "Irish American" f***wit in Boston might have really is of little concern to me.

Incidentally, Oliver Cromwell's involvement with Ireland predated "the Troubles" by more than three-hundred years, you clueless dolt. Here's a tip: instead of taking lessons in politics from a pop star, try a book. For those that have no first-hand experience, they're usually a good place to work your way into a subject.
:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world

Oh, isn't that nice you're running from the subject when being confronted by the hypocrisy of the Arab world.

Wow , you're either not very bright or very manipulative.
Those immigrants are the children of illegal invaders who came to Israel to find work and a new better life than in their own countries in Africa/Asia. Only a minority of the African immigrants in Israel are actually true refugees, who are fully accepted and helped greatly by Israel.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants received from Israel license to live,work, earn money in Israel for a few years and then return (with a free flying ticket) back to their homeland. Only recently a few hundreds of the illegal workers received certificates to stay permanently in Israel because they are used to the culture of Israel and the language. At the moment, Israel offers to tens of thousands of new invaders 1000 euro, professional training in various work fields to help them in their lives back in their homeland, and a free flying ticket back to their country. All sponsored from the money of hard working Israeli citizens. It's a hell lot more than what "humane" Europe did for them.
It's a known fact that illegal African/Asian illegal workers are a global scale problem , including the USA and 'liberal' Britain and Europe.
Didn't Morrissey complained once about Britain being "flooded" by immigrants??? hmmmm...

Should Israel (with its small size and the Palestinian problem, full of security problems and dangers, surrounded by enemy countries) be the solution for European Colonists that ruined Africa and robbed its land from resources???

You want to know how Arabs treat immigrants by the way? well in contrast to Israel, Egypt has a nice solution for the immigrants - its soldiers shoots them to death!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10240699 :

In his sparsely decorated apartment, Yahya Mohamed, a refugee from Darfur in Sudan, explains how he risked everything trying to move to Israel.
"I decided to go to Israel because people who went before told me the situation was much better over there," he says.

"I left my country looking for safety and security but in Egypt I found harassment and more problems.

"Work here is difficult and they throw stones and tomatoes at me on the street. They curse at me and call me 'the black'."

"While we were crossing the border they (Egyptian forces) opened fire," Yahya recalls.

"We surrendered and sat on the ground and they started beating us and shooting all around. My wife fainted and the kids were screaming."
____________________________________________________

Many of the African immigrants are Muslims yet the famous 'Muslim solidarity for human rights' is non-existent here.
hmmmm bloody hypocrisy of the Muslims and Arabs again?

BTW funny how Palestinians are asking Morrissey to help their cause yet if he were in their territory they would have likely linched him.... Being gay is a crime according to the innocent Palestinians and its ultimate punishment equals = death sentence. That's why countless of gay Palestinians actually flee to Israel and feel much safer there than with their own families.

... But hey keep lying to yourself and to others , ignorance is bliss.
It's a shame that the only way you can defend the Israeli government is by being racist. Are we to assume that the Israeli government is as anti arab as you are?
You seem to make the same mistake that many Palastinian support groups make, that is blaming the people for the actions of the state. Anti Israel is not anti semitism.
I agree with you on many points:Israel exists under intolerable pressure. On the other hand to absolve them of any wrongdoing would be crazy.
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world

It's a shame that the only way you can defend the Israeli government is by being racist. Are we to assume that the Israeli government is as anti arab as you are?
You seem to make the same mistake that many Palastinian support groups make, that is blaming the people for the actions of the state. Anti Israel is not anti semitism.
I agree with you on many points:Israel exists under intolerable pressure. On the other hand to absolve them of any wrongdoing would be crazy.

It's a shame that all you did was ignore their entire post and simply call them "a racist" because you have chose to skip over what they've referenced or to shrug it off as a lie.
 
Re: Morrissey: Say YES to human rights, No to apartheid Arab world

It's a shame that all you did was ignore their entire post and simply call them "a racist" because you have chose to skip over what they've referenced or to shrug it off as a lie.
No, no, please re read my post. Maybe I should have been clearer. Sure, I acknowledge that the governments of many Arab states have a lot to answer for (as does Israel) and I did not shrug anything off. My point was that to reduce the argument to condemning the arabs and muslims does your reasoning no favours. Arabs and muslims are just people, like the jews. Attack those who are to blame, Assad not the Syrian people for example. Come on, lets make progress here.
 
Of course, because punishing the citizens of a country for actions the government are responsible for (that YOU don't agree with) makes perfect sense.
The cultural boycott doesn't aim at the Israeli public, but at the government and its musicwash of its crimes. Just watch the photo of Netanyahu with Madonna...
Israel has stated repeatedly that they use culture for Hasbara [propaganda].

However, it is naive to imply that the ethnic cleansing and apartheid are just government policy and the Israeli public is against it.
We, as Israelis, benefit from the stolen land and resources. I grew up on stolen land.
When I found out about the Nakba, I was horrified. I shared what I discovered with my friends, but not a single one of them was outraged. To my dismay I realised they were all racists with different shades and intensity. Not one of them accepted that the Palestinians should have their right, as refugees, to return. My childhood friends were all happy to continue to live on the stolen land while Palestinians were forced into deprivation because of Israel.

Need I say how many Israelis actively facilitate the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians? I left Israel because I was disgusted that so many were directly involved and even more were complicit. I guess such a high proportion is not completely out of character for colonialists, but it was too much to bear and I was longing for a society in which there are more than a handful who are outraged by racism.

Yael Kahn
 
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