Leonard Cohen don’t play Tel Aviv!
- Montreal action to call on Leonard Cohen to cancel Tel Aviv concert.
- SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2pm
corner of St. Laurent and Marie-Anne
métro St. Laurent, bus #55
Montreal, Quebec
Despite international calls for a boycott of Israeli apartheid, renowned Montreal poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen is scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 24, 2009.
By performing in Israel, Mr. 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 through the implementation of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state until it complies with international law and respects Palestinian human rights.
Join Montrealers for a sing-a-long action in the heart of the Plateau where we’ll ask our city’s unofficial poet laureate to respect the boycott and cancel his show in Tel Aviv.
About the Cultural Boycott
In 2005, more than 170 Palestinian organizations issued a call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until Israel respects international law and discontinues its apartheid policies. The three demands of the BDS call are:
1) Ending the Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the wall currently being built around the West Bank;
2) Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3) Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
Among the Palestinian cultural organizations that have endorsed the call for cultural boycott are: Palestinian Writers‘ Federation; Palestinian League of Artists; Palestinian Journalists‘ Federation; Alanqa’ Cultural Association, Hebron; Al-Doha Children’s Cultural Center, Bethlehem; Al-Karameh Cultural Society, Um al-Fahm; Al-Maghazi Cultural Center, Gaza; Al-Nahda Cultural Forum, Hebron; Al-Taghrid Society for Culture and Arts, Gaza; Association for Cultural Exchange Hebron – France; Center for Science and Culture, Gaza; El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe; Halhoul Cultural Forum, Hebron; Khalil Al Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah; and the Popular Art Centre, Al-Bireh.
Many artists around the world have already responded to the Palestinian call for BDS and have refused to perform in, exhibit in, or visit Israel until it respects international law and Palestinian human rights. Among those artists who have signed a statement in favour of the cultural boycott are British filmmaker Ken Loach, Indian author Arundhati Roy, Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, and American musician Brian Eno.
For more information about the cultural boycott of Israeli apartheid please visit the website of the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott Initiative: www.pacbi.org
oh for god’s sake we are in year 2009, when are we going to become civilized??
Comment by Nasser Abu-Hamdan — September 10th, 2009 @ 8:42 PMon the ground in Palestine the Israeli occupation continues to attempt to wipe-out Palestinian civilization, please invite everyone in Montreal to this event and spread the word…
actions / organizing surrounding Cohen’s planned concert in Tel Aviv have taken place around the world, including multiple actions in New York City, info linked below…
http://adalahny.org/index.php/videos-of-our-events/310–leonard-cohen-dont-play-israel
Comment by Stefan Christoff — September 10th, 2009 @ 11:29 PMI don’t see how boycotting Israel will help and if it did, and you were serious about it rather than just being a bunch of posers, why you weren’t calling for Madonna to call of her concert in Israel?
Comment by Puzzled Andrew — September 11th, 2009 @ 7:59 AMJust to let you know, Brian Eno is English, not American !
Comment by Paul Reeson — September 11th, 2009 @ 9:27 AMa great deal of energy internationally has gone towards attempting to convince Leonard Cohen to cancel the planned concert in Tel Aviv because unlike Madonna there is a possibility that Cohen could cancel the concert once the moral considerations of playing for an apartheid state are taken into account.
Leonard Cohen is a great artist and a beautiful poet, in this case we are calling on Cohen to recognize that performing in Tel Aviv at this time, in 2009 after the Israeli bombing of Gaza left over 1400 Palestinians dead, lends moral legitimacy to a country that today is crushing the most basic human rights of the Palestinian people.
Comment by Stefan Christoff — September 11th, 2009 @ 10:06 AMSuch an action is in error since it does not follow the guidelines of the PACBI.
Comment by Abraham Weizfeld — September 11th, 2009 @ 12:10 PMThis concert is not subsidized by the Israel State. Cohen also tried to place a concret in Ramallah to play Palestine as well. If Madonna and Lady GaGa are not being protested for playing Israel then why is Cohen?
A boycott of Leonard Cohen does not correspond to the guidelines of the PACBI boycott committee which singles out those artists who are subsidized by the State of Israel. Again, if Madonna and Lady GaGa are not boycotted for performing in Israel then why Leonard Cohen? Is it because he is Jewish, in which case the boycott changes from boycotting Israel or Zionism to boycotting Jewish people. Cohen will likely use the event to make an appropriate political statement since his announced theme is already ‘Peace, Justice and Reconciliation’. So why shoot oneself in the foot. Btw, does Naomi Klein sell her books in Israel and make appearances there? And does not Cohen also donate his revenues to local civil society organizations?
Comment by Abraham Weizfeld — September 11th, 2009 @ 5:03 PMsei un grosso maiale, se Leonard Cohen vuole canatare a Tel Aviv è bene accolto, in culo a chi vuole boicottare israele. W Israel!!!
Comment by ely — September 24th, 2009 @ 10:17 AMI have lived in Montreal and have seen Leonard Cohen on the Main. I am Jewish and have Moslems in my immediate family. Though I am no expert, Montreal and the Middle East are a part of me. The worst thing to do is to censor artists in Israel. Living there now, I have my feet on the ground and I see the hyper-survivalist and pragmatic approach to life there (quite different than my days in Montreal), and I have come to understand that art, creativity, and mostly imagination might be the only thing that will bring change. Part of the problem is a lack in Israeli society to imagine different possibilities, to make different choices, to even feel that different choices are possible. Art creates choices and a sense of agency, and this is what is sorely needed in that region. Not to make too much of a leap, but it is my belief that the exchange of art (as well as the increase of individual expression and value for individual life that this will bring) is what will create the space for change. As well as the further inspirations and blessings of Leonard Cohen:
Comment by Magdalena Kerner-Katz — September 29th, 2009 @ 11:38 PMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Y1x2y3qyg