Joker announces what seems to be a decision to cancel Tel Aviv concer
The following report came to us from London Rhymes with Palestine, a musical group that does Palestinian advocacy:
Joker, a dubstep [electronic] musical artist from Bristol in the UK, recently announced he will be playing Tel Aviv on 20th December 2011 [A Hanukkah celebration] at Clutch (4 Ha’taarouca St.).Fans contacted Joker on his official Facebook page and created a page titled ‘Joker (Dubstep) Cancel your Tel Aviv show – Say NO to Apartheid Israel’. After seeing this page posted on his wall, Joker asks, ‘am i crazy by thinking this guy is a mad! man….or is he actually right?Within 2 hours there were over 76 messages of reply posted by fans, largely supporting the proposed ‘mad man’ and in unison, asking Joker to cancel his performance in Tel Aviv and support the Palestinian civil call for a global boycott of Israel.
[Many of the posts were informational, including the following post:]
The Russell Tribunal session held in South Africa in November 2011, found that the entire state of Israel (not just the occupied territories) is guilty of the crimes of Apartheid and persecution. Jury members included Alice Walker who met Martin Luther King Jr. as a student and credits King for her decision to return to the American South as an activist for the Civil Rights Movement. She marched with thousands in the 1963 March on Washington and volunteered to register black voters in Georgia and Mississippi; and Ronnie Kasrils, a veteran of the South African anti-apartheid struggle and a former member of Nelson Mandela’s government….A growing number of artists have refused to exhibit or play in Israel. As one fan posted on Joker’s wall – ‘Macy Gray [said]: “I had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.” http://twitter.com/#!/MacyGraysLife/status/132598638823223297The comment also included a statement by ‘Faithless: “We’ve been asked to do some shows this summer in your country and, with the heaviest of hearts, I have regretfully declined the invitation. While human beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their needs for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that this is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’.”Other Joker fans wrote of Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu’s words when supporting the recent ‘One World’ song ‘Freedom for Palestine’, where in a video he says, ‘I have visited the occupied Palestinian territories and have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinians at Israeli military check points. The inhumanity that won’t let ambulances reach the injured, farmers tend their land or children attend school. This treatment is familiar to me and the many black South Africans that who were corralled & harassed by the security forces of the apartheid government.’A fan posted to Joker’s wall similar sentiment expressed by Alice Walker [who said,] “Going through Israeli checkpoints is like going back in time to American Civil Rights struggle…I am a big supporter of BDS. I frankly think that it is the best, absolutely the best way.”After numerous posts Joker replied ‘jake i nothing of no war no nothing all i know is music i evan forget how old i am’Joker may not know about war or his age but one thing for certain, Joker fans have made him aware of the reality of Israeli apartheid. The only question left is whether apartheid is something that agrees with the Joker? We wait to see.Much to our admiration, after a heated night of fans contacting Joker by email, twitter and Facebook, Joker updated his status on his Facebook page at around 5am to say:‘ok after this crazy night finding out all this shit i have never know! no lie! i wont be going not because of every 1 telling not to but thats shit is MESSSSSSSEED UP’We thank Joker, for his solidarity, for standing with the People of Palestine and supporting their global call to ‘Boycott, Divest from and Sanction’ Israel with a view to ending Israeli Apartheid.Thank you brother, in peace and Solidarity.For more information on ‘London Rhymes with Palestine’ please find us on facebook.
Good for Joker – Whoever that is, lol.
awesome. i’d never heard of this joker dude before but now i will check him out.
I have to wonder if he was really unaware of the situation. But entertainers tend to be politically vapid (or at least present themselves that way). That’s why you’ll see them taking on such career killing subjects as Japanese whaling.
To be fair on Joker (and I’ve never heard of him until now), he’s probably been completely ignorant of the I/P conflict.
Our media here is BBC (apparently balanced) and SKY (Murdoch). The most popular newspaper is The Sun (Murdoch). Page 3 with the topless girl keeps it at the top slot. Kind of indicates the readership. Papers such as The Guardian and The Telegraph who do report the conflict are considered thinking man’s lefty papers.
We do have a great amount of intellects in this country, but the common Englishman is as much a dipshit as the common American. We tend to fall for the anti Islam crap and think Israelis are all English speaking Jews with American accents like Bibi, so they must be alright.
A sincere Japanese bow of gratitude to the Joker.
And a proverbial Italian ‘va fanculo’ hand-flick to Apartheid israel.