Avril 2010 Le Courrier Emmanuel Dror

Photo: Claudia Espinosa. Musicienne Rebecca Foon à Artistes Anti Apartheid.

En octobre 2009, une soixantaine d’artistes européens, principalement des Français mais aussi l’Anglais Gilad Atzmon ou le Suisse Michel Bühler, réclamaient la levée du blocus de Gaza. Fin février 2010, ce sont 500 artistes de la seule ville de Montréal au Québec qui ont signé un appel pour appuyer la «campagne internationale de boycott, désinvestissement et sanctions» menée au Canada par la Coalition contre l’Apartheid israélien (basée à Toronto).

Pour mesurer cet élan, nous avons contacté l’un des initiateurs québécois de cet appel, Stefan Christoff, pianiste, photographe et militant associatif à Montréal. Stefan Christoff explique que, dans cette ville, «les communautés artistiques et militantes ont toujours été proches l’une de l’autre. De nombreux artistes sont issus des quartiers pauvres de Montréal, où de jeunes étudiants cohabitent avec les classes défavorisées, ouvrières ou immigrées. Dans ces quartiers, les lieux de rencontre sont des lieux de débats, mais aussi des lieux de création artistique où se tissent des liens qui durent».

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Artists speak out on Israeli Apartheid: in their own words

Photo: Iraqi hip-hop artist Yassin Alsalman, Narcicyst.

Hundreds of Montreal artists have united in solidarity with Palestine, launching a public declaration this February signed by 500 artists from the city. Artists in Montreal from diverse disciplines, from dancers to poets, musicians to filmmakers, have issued the first major statement by artists in a major North American city backing the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign in opposition to policies of apartheid practiced by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

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statement by poet Fortner Anderson

Photo: Israeli tanks in Gaza Strip winter 2009.

I signed the call for sanctions against the state of Israel because of Operation Cast Lead, the incursion and blockade of Gaza, which targeted hospitals, water wells and thousands of Palestinian homes, because of the F-14 and F-16 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters used against a defenseless civilian population, because of the hundreds of children killed in those attacks, because of the on-going series of targeted assassinations which are extra-judicial killings, which are simply murder, because of the Israeli refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, because of the on-going blockade of the Gaza Strip which deprives 1.5 million people of food, fuel and basic medical supplies,

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Israeli Apartheid Week 2010 featuring Up Front: 3 Palestinian Women

Monday March 8 2010
screening begins 19h30
Room H-110, 1455 de Maisonneuve west
Concordia University, Montreal
co-presented by Cinema Politica

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An Experiment in Provocation. January 2009 by Brian Eno.

Photo: FocusZero Palestinian youth jumping high in occupied Palestine.

It’s a tragedy that the Israelis – a people who must understand better than almost anybody the horrors of oppression – are now acting as oppressors. As the great Jewish writer Primo Levi once remarked “Everybody has their Jews, and for the Israelis it’s the Palestinians”. By creating a middle Eastern version of the Warsaw ghetto they are recapitulating their own history as though they’ve forgotten it. And by trying to paint an equivalence between the Palestinians – with their homemade rockets and stone-throwing teenagers – and themselves – with one of the most sophisticated military machines in the world – they sacrifice all credibility.

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PACBI Occupied Ramallah, 13 January 2010

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in occupied Palestine.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was deeply disturbed to learn that that you are scheduled to perform in Israel this coming summer. Two years ago, you were invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to attend a conference in Israel marking Israel‘s contributions to medicine, science, and conservation; we urged you then, as a prominent activist on issues of global inequality and a campaigner for basic human rights, to say no to Israel, especially since the invitation coincided with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.[1] You did not go to Israel then; we call on you now not to grant legitimacy to a state that practices the most pernicious form of colonialism and apartheid.

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Inter Press Service by Ray Smith.

Photo: Raed El Rafei Bullet holes marking walls in Nahr el-Bared.

NAHR AL-BARED (North Lebanon) – The hip-hop beats ringing through the muddy, unlit streets of this burnt-out Palestinian refugee camp seem incongruous. But the rhymes are camp-grown – and courageous.

“I’m carrying worries / From inside a destroyed camp / I’m preparing an attack / Words that keep turning in my head / Nahr al-Bared is fenced-in with iron bars / In the newspapers they speak about suffering / Every word makes sense”.

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CKUT community radio special broadcast

Monday January 18th 15h00 – 17h00
live broadcast on CKUT radio, 90.3fm
tune-in globally via live stream at www.ckut.ca

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Montreal album launch for Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah

Thursday March 18th 2010
20h00 $8 in advance | $10 at door
La Sala Rossa
4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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Lhasa de Sela

Photo: Valerian Mazataud Lhasa de Sela performs at Artists Against Apartheid.

Music lovers around the world are mourning the passing of singer Lhasa de Sela, who died on January 1st, 2010 at home in Montreal. A beautiful voice, a beautiful spirit who’s music moved many and also actively maintained strong connections to grassroots movements for social justice.

Above is a photo taken last June at the Suoni per il Popolo festival where Lhasa de Sela performed with Esmerine at an Artists Against Apartheid concert for Palestine. Soon a recording of Artists Against Apartheid VIII featuring Lhasa de Sela will broadcast on CKUT community radio in Montreal, stay tuned for details.

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