Open Letter to Roger Waters
Mr. Roger Waters
31 Ruvigny Gardens London SW15 1JR, England 7 March 2006 Dear Mr. Waters, The Palestinian arts community received in disbelief the news of your upcoming performance in Tel Aviv in June, at a time when Israel continues unabated with its colonial and apartheid designs to further dispossess, oppress and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland. We strongly urge you to cancel your plans to perform in Israel until the time comes when it ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and respects the relevant precepts of international law concerning Palestinian rights to freedom, self-determination and equality. Upon learning of your planned tour, Palestinian as well as several international artists asked in shock: How can the artist whose name around the world was for many years associated with breaking walls of injustice be in any way complicit with the monstrosity of Israel’s Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague? Not too long ago, you lent your good name to the War on Want’s effort to collect signatures of public figures against Israel’s Wall. At the time, you rightly stated “The poverty inflicted by the wall has been devastating for Palestinians. It has kept children from their schools, the sick from proper medical care and continues to destroy the Palestinian economy. I fully support War on Want’s campaign, and hope that as many people as possible sign the wall – as a strong message to the UK government that immediate action is essential.” This same Wall has grown substantially since. It now divides many more Palestinians from their livelihoods and vital health and educational services. The support it garners in Israeli society has also grown – close to 90% of all Israeli Jews support the Wall despite its devastating repercussions on Palestinians under occupation. Furthermore, as you may know, Palestinian civil society has almost unanimously called upon international civil society to engage in acts and campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with international law and recognizes the fundamental human rights of the people of Palestine. The Church of England, the US Presbyterian Church, a group of top British architects, among many other groups and institutions in the West, have all heeded the Palestinian distress call and considered applying effective pressure on Israel to promote peace and justice in our troubled land. Is it too much, then, to expect conscientious international artists to uphold the values of freedom, equality and justice for all? Ironically, when you were invited last year to perform in the Palestine International Festival 2005, the theme of that festival was “Another BREAK in the Wall!” The following lyrics for a song which was to be performed by school children were inspired by your timeless song: We don’t need no occupation We don’t need no racist wall No more siege and no more curfews Soldiers leave us kids alone Hey! Soldiers! Leave us kids alone! All in all you’re just another brick in the wall All in all we’ve just made another BREAK in the wall These words still express our collective view of the Wall, of our oppressors, and are still inspired by you. Do they still mean the same to you? We appeal to your moral compass, your record of standing up for principles of human dignity and equality. And we sincerely hope that you shall be another brick in the bridge to liberty and justice, not another concrete slab in Israel’s Wall of shame. Truly, The Undersigned: Arts, Cultural and Civil Society Organizations: Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine Forum of Music Conservatories in the Arab World (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Tunis, Morocco and Palestine) Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) – umbrella coalition of approx. 100 Palestinian NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramallah, Palestine Yabous Productions Jerusalem, Palestine Popular Art Centre Al-Bireh, Palestine El-Funoun dance group Al-Bireh, Palestine League of Palestinian Artists Ramallah, Palestine Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) Ramallah, Palestine Theatre Day Productions Palestine Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center Aida Refugee Camp, Palestine Al Urmawi Center for Mashreq Music Jerusalem, Palestine Oriental Music Ensemble Palestine Sakakini Cultural Center Ramallah, Palestine Yafa Cultural Centre Balata Refugee Camp, Palestine Tyre Festival Tyre, Lebanon Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-based Organizations Haifa, Israel BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Bethlehem, Palestine Palestine Right of Return Coalition (Palestine, Europe, North America, Arab host countries) The Committee for Defence of the Palestinian Refugee Rights Alternative Tourism Group Bethlehem, Palestine Golan for Development Golan Heights, Syria The East Jerusalem YMCA-YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative Beit Sahour, Palestine Defense for Children International-Palestine Palestine Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) Jerusalem, Palestine Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine Project Care Jerusalem, Palestine Women's Coalition for Palestine London, UK Arab Media Watch London, UK Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace Jerusalem, Palestine Nidal center for Community development Jerusalem, Palestine Ashtar Theatre Ramallah, Palestine Artists and Intellectuals: (partial list – tens more on record) Marcel Khalife (Composer) Lebanon/France Hanan Ashrawi (Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council) Jerusalem, Palestine Peter Herbert (Contrabassist) Vienna, Austria Suhail Khoury (Musician, General Director of ESNCM) Jerusalem, Palestine Khaled Jubran (Musician) Jerusalem, Palestine Don Bustany (Radio Host, Co-creator of American Top 40) USA Salwa Tabri (Director, Jerusalem Choir) Jerusalem, Palestine Gabi Baramki (President, Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace) Jerusalem, Palestine Rania Elias-Khoury (Director, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine Iman Hammouri (Director, Popular Art Centre) Al-Bireh, Palestine Adila Laidi-Hanieh (Lecturer, Birzeit University) Birzeit, Palestine Sliman Mansour (Visual Artist) Jerusalem, Palestine Rania El Yousef (Cultural Programs Coordinator, Yabous Productions) Jerusalem, Palestine Jan Willems (Artistic Director Theatre Day Productions) Palestine Juliette S. Touma (Human Rights Advocate) Jerusalem, Palestine Fadya Salfiti (Educational Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine Mohammad Yacoub (Administrator, ESNCM) Ramallah, Palestine Ragheda Andoni Isaac (Cultural Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine Adah Kay (Professor) Palestine Annemarie Jacir (Filmmaker) Ramallah, Palestine Suzy Salamy (Filmmaker) New York, USA Jeff Sacks (Professor, Columbia University) New York, USA Tariq Shadid (Director, The Musical Intifadah www.docjazz.com) Faten Farhat (Director, Sakakini Cultural Center) Ramallah, Palestine Lina Jarad (Advising Assistant, AMIDEAST) Ramallah, Palestine Siham Rashid (Director of Public Relations, Palestinian Counseling Center-PCC) Jerusalem, Palestine Nancy Harb Almendras (Blogger) Wiesbaden, Germany Greta Berlin (Human Rights Activist) Los Angeles, USA Anne Selden Annab (Poet) Pennsylvania, USA Rana Bishara (Development Expert) Jerusalem, Palestine MOROCCAN ARTS UNIONS IN SOLIDARITY: Moroccan Writers Union Morocco National Union of Theater Professionals Morocco Moroccan Syndicate for Music Professions Morocco National Union for Production and Arts Distribution Morocco Moroccan Chamber of Film Producers Morocco Chamber of Video Film Producers and Distributors Morocco Moroccan Union of Television Directors Morocco Union of Film Writers, Directors and Producers Morocco Moroccan Association for Visual Arts Morocco Association of Cinema Critics Morocco Association of Radio and TV Professionals Morocco Moroccan Association for Photographic Art Morocco |
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