- for immediate release – September 11th, 2009.
Photo: Wissam Nassar, MaanImages. Palestinian solidarity messages on national flag.
MONTREAL – Members of Montreal Palestine solidarity collective Tadamon! and fans of Montreal poet and singer Leonard Cohen will gather today in Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood to call on the singer to cancel his concert in Tel Aviv planned for later this month.
By performing in Israel, Cohen is ignoring the 2005 appeal by 171 Palestinian organizations which calls on the international community to join the peaceful movement to end Israeli apartheid and occupation through the implementation of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state until it complies with international law and respects Palestinian human rights.
The controversy about the Tel Aviv show has followed Cohen throughout his world tour, with fans protesting outside his concerts in Belfast, Liverpool and New York. In response to the pressure, instead of cancelling his Tel Aviv show, Cohen scheduled a show in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. But after a debate within Palestinian civil society, Palestinian groups cancelled this concert soon after it was announced, taking the position that performing in Israel is not acceptable, and Cohen would only be welcome in the West Bank if he respected the call for BDS.
Artists who have signed a statement in favour of the cultural boycott of Israel include British filmmaker Ken Loach, Indian author Arundhati Roy, Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, and American musician Brian Eno. Among those who have cancelled appearances in Israel after learning about the BDS campaign are French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and documentary filmmakers The Yes Men. In September 2009, over 60 Canadian and international filmmakers and intellectuals including Naomi Klein, Danny Glover, and Jane Fonda signed a declaration in oppostion to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)’s spotlight on Tel Aviv this year, stating that the spotlight is tantamount to TIFF’s participation in a propaganda campaign for an apartheid regime.
“Leonard Cohen should join fellow artists such as Brian Eno, Arundhati Roy and Ken Loach, all of whom have responded to the Palestinian call for boycott by saying that they won’t visit or perform in Israel until Israel respects international law and Palestinian human rights,” says Doug Smith of Tadamon! Montreal. “As fans of Cohen and Montrealers, we are here today to urge him to remember the horrific attacks on Gaza in early 2009 and not help whitewash the crimes of the Israeli state by performing there.”
background info:
* Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI): www.pacbi.org
* PACBI: Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen’s Israel Concert Fund
* Guardian: West Bank cancels Leonard Cohen concert in protest against Israel
”En tant qu’admirateurs de Cohen et montréalais, nous manifesterons pour exiger qu’il se souvienne de l’abominable attaque sur Gaza”””
تعليق francois — 11 septembre 2009 @ 12:32Vous etes grossier. Vous n’avez rien a exiger. Mais vous pouvez lui demander.
The call for Cohen to boycott apartheid Israel continues — endorse the Open Letter to Leonard Cohen at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IJAN_Leonard_Cohen/index.html
تعليق Michael Kalmanovitz — 14 septembre 2009 @ 7:49