FROM USACBI and the US Campaign to End the Occupation…..
Pixies, Don’t Play Music to Apartheid’s Ears
Contact: Nada Elia , US Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Katherine Fuchs, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, organizer@endtheocc upation.org / 202-332-0994
Tuesday, March 30, 2010, is Global BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Day of Action. The US Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, in partnership with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, is calling on music and justice lovers everywhere to urge the Pixies to cancel their concert in Tel Aviv in June 2010.
The Pixies Should Not Be Music to Apartheid’s Ears
The Pixies’ performance would undermine the international cultural boycott of Israel, which was initiated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), as a means of non-violent resistance to Apartheid and Colonialism. The campaign to pressure the Pixies to cancel their upcoming Tel Aviv concert was initiated by Boycott from Within, a group of Israelis working to support the PACBI call for BDS. In their open letter to the Pixies, Boycott from Within supporters urge the Pixies “to follow the Palestinian call [for boycott, divestment, and sanctions] and postpone your performance in Israel in order not to cooperate with the lethal “business as usual” status quo. If you care about justice, if you care about justice to the Palestinian people, if you care about the Israeli people, please add your voice to those calling for a saner policy with justice for all – and refuse to perform in Israel until there is freedom here.”
Just as artists shunned Sun City and other South African venues while apartheid ravaged that country, artists wishing to avoid complicity in Israeli apartheid practices are joining the boycott of Israel . Carlos Santana was scheduled to perform in Israel in 2010, but cancelled due to “scheduling problems.” U2 had been listed on the line-up of international bands playing in Israel this summer, only to later announce they never meant to play there. Pixies fans and boycott, divestment, and sanctions organizers will be building this campaign to convince the band not to perform in Israel until Israel ends its brutal occupation and apartheid practices against Palestinians. We will be launching a social/viral media campaign that calls upon each and every one of you to use Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace to advance the cultural boycott, and tell the Pixies to cancel their scheduled performance in Tel Aviv.
Details of the campaign will be posted Tuesday morning (US, EST) on the websites of:
– The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel: http://www.pacbi. org
– Artists Against Apartheid: http://www.artistsa gainstapartheid. org/
– Boycott from Within: http://boycottisrae l.info/
– The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation: http://www.endtheoc cupation. orgn
– The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel: http://www.usacbi. org