February 19-20, the Enrico Rava New Quartet plans to play at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel. The festival is sponsored by the Israeli Ministries of Culture and Tourism and is part of Israel campaign to use art for propaganda and political gain.
BDS Italy sent the following letter to Enrico Rava and a copy was hand delivered during a concert. We are still waiting for a response.
Send your own copy of the letter to Enrico Rava, Francesco Diodati, Gabriele Evangelista and Enrico Morello, urging them to respect the Palestinian call for boycotts and cancel their participation at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.
January 19, 2015
Dear Enrico Rava, Francesco Diodati, Gabriele Evangelista and Enrico Morello,
We recently learned that, as the Enrico Rava New Quartet, you plan to play at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel on February 19-20. We are writing to ask you to cancel your participation. Below we explain why.
Inspired by the campaigns that contributed to ending the Apartheid regime in South Africa, Palestinian civil society called for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it respects human rights and international law.
The campaign has the support of many organizations around the world and is a response to the failure of international institutions to fulfill their obligations and stop Israel's violations, which have continued for decades, undeterred and in complete impunity.
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians live under military occupation, surrounded by checkpoints, military bases, settlements and the Apartheid Wall, all built illegally by Israel. Just a few months ago, we witnessed yet another Israeli attack on the besieged Gaza Strip, with entire neighborhoods razed to the ground and over 2,100 killed, including more than 500 children. A system of more than 50 laws discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel, denying them the same access to education, property, work and marriage enjoyed by Israeli Jews. In addition, roughly half of the total Palestinian population is forced to live in refugee camps in other states or in exile, while being denied their internationally recognized right to return.
South Africans, who have firsthand experience with Apartheid, say the discriminatory system imposed by Israel on Palestinians is even worse than the regime under which they were forced to live. [6]
We must act. And the Palestinian boycott call gives us all a means for taking action where institutions have failed in order to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, to arrive at the day when freedom, justice and equality are guaranteed for all.
Last summer, during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Palestinian arts and cultural organizations called on their international colleagues to respect the boycott of Israel, "thereby refusing to be complicit in the ongoing occupation and apartheid."
By choosing to play in Israel, not only would you be breaking the Palestinian picket line, but you would also be allowing your music to be exploited by the Israeli government. Israel, in fact, invests large sums of money to use culture and art as a means for conveying a positive image of the country in the world. Sponsored by two Israeli ministries, the Red Sea Jazz Festival certainly fits the bill of a cultural event used as propaganda and for political gain.
Numerous artists have chosen in the past not to participate in the Red Sea Jazz Festival, including Stanley Jordan, Andreas Öberg, Eddie Palmieri, Tuba Skinny, Jason Morana and the Portico Quartet. Not to mention other musicians, artists, writers, directors, actors and intellectuals around the world who support the Palestinian call for a boycott, including the late Gil Scott-Heron, Cassandra Wilson, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Naomi Klein, Alice Walker, Ken Loach, Mira Nair, Danny Glover and Desmond Tutu. [9]
Jazz music was created as a form of expression for the oppressed. Please don't allow it to be used by the oppressors to stifle Palestinian calls for solidarity. Cancel your participation in the Red Sea Jazz Festival.
We look forward to hearing from you and we are available for any further clarifications.
Kind regards,
BDS Italy
www.bdsitalia.org
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BDS Italia is a movement supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, comprised of associations and groups throughout Italy, who endorse the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society and work to promote BDS campaigns and initiatives locally and nationally.