PHILISTINES FOR PALESTINE…THE UNCONSCIONABLE BEHAVIOR OF THE ANTI-ISRAEL CROWD
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/
Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/philistines-for-palestine/story-e6frg71x-1226128429189
Anti-Israel Activists Target The Yardbirds
“It may be that music calms the savage beast, but some of the most sublime music in the civilised world could not tame the brutish, selfish arrogance of an ill-mannered, unrepresentative minority. Their action represents a dark moment in public culture and civility and does nothing to further their cause. We have said before that, given the history of Nazi Germany, there is something deeply offensive about targeting Jewish businesses. That is equally the case for these latest attacks on an Israeli orchestra that adds to the extraordinary contribution Jewish musicians and composers have made to classical music. The terrible events of May 1933, when more than 25,000 books were burnt on huge public bonfires in Berlin, were directed at Jewish intellectuals and the culture they had helped build in Germany. That night, and the cultural “cleansing” that followed, remains a deeply distressing reminder of the collapse of the basic values that must underpin a civilised society. To see culture, which should be above partisan politics, attacked as it was in London is alarming. That it should happen at the Proms, perhaps the world’s best-known classical music festival, dating back to 1895 and with broad appeal, is doubly upsetting. The Proms represent the tolerance and inclusion that are the best hope for world peace.”
Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/philistines-for-palestine/story-e6frg71x-1226128429189
“As ancient geezers ourselves, we support the principle of keeping going. So, the Yardbirds still playing gigs – excellent. The Yardbirds playing a gig in Israel, which illegally occupies Palestinian land and shows no sign of withdrawing – surely not.
Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty, founder members of the band – when you were enjoying such success during the 1960s, the British Musicians’ Union had a policy of boycotting apartheid South Africa. We’ve been looking on-line for evidence that the Yardbirds broke that ban, and we’re happy to say we can’t find any. The world famous Yardbirds appear to have respected the South African liberation movement’s call for artists and musicians to assist them by denying legitimacy to the racist state.
Have you thought through the implications of your appearance at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv on October 29? …. [Y]our performance at the Barby will in effect tell … that you side with the Israeli military occupation, that you don’t mind helping to airbrush the cruelties of racism and ethnic cleansing, and that you’re happy to behave as if there isn’t a Palestinian struggle for liberation and justice….
There’s a wave, Yardbirds – a whole international wave of people supporting justice for the Palestinians via consumer boycotts, academic boycotts, cultural boycotts. You can cancel your gig and ride that wave – or you can let one night at the Barby dash you on the shore. Please think again. Please don’t go.”
Read it all: http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2011/09/yardbirds-for-israel.html
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