Monday, May 21, 2007

New Palestinian Campaign targets Stones
















No Satisfaction...The Rolling Stones, those sexagenarian uber-rockers who promoter Shuki Weiss has booked to play Tel Aviv in September, are being urged to boycott Israel.
Word is out that Britney Spears, no stranger to controversy herself, is due to sing here as well this autumn. But security issues make these big concerts iffy. Depeche Mode disappointed 40,000 fans by cancelling at the last minute last summer. The rockers Blonde Redhead and American Idol's Kelly Clarkson also got cold feet because of the Second Lebanon War and the rain of rockets as far south as Haifa.

This week the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel issued an open letter to Jagger's manager which reportedly says: "Performing in Israel at this time is morally equivalent to performing in South Africa during the apartheid era." Campaigners urged the Stones to refrain from performing in Israel "until the time comes when (Israel) ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and respects fundamental human rights," according to Haaretz.
The Stones joined a cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa during the 1980s, by playing on the 1985 single, Sun City, which raised public awareness about apartheid and its injustices. The lyrics are by Steven Van Zandt:

We're rockers and rappers united and strong
... we don't like what's going on
It's time for some justice it's time for the truth
We've realized there's only one thing we can do
...Got to say I aint gonna play
It's time to accept responsibility
Freedom is a privilege nobody rides for free

Getting the Rolling Stones in the Holy Land: an uphill struggle.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

sympathy for the devil, I guess.
It's only rock n roll

Anonymous said...

How come we cannotpost a comment on the story below? I fear we already are being monitored. Phoney Ploni Baloney. WHat to do?

Anonymous said...

Rather than reprint old and mouldy South African lyrics, Izzy Bee, surely you'r einventive enough to pen a new version subbing the Holy Land for Sun Cityy!
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