On April 30, 2016 Eros Ramazzotti is scheduled to play Tel Aviv.
» Click here to send the following message to Ramazzotti urging him to cancel his performance in Apartheid Israel and respect the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
» Take action: Six ways to urge Eros Ramazzotti to cancel his concert in Apartheid Israel
Dear Eros Ramazzotti,
We recently learned that you plan to perform in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2016 [1]. According to the ANSA news agency, you stated: "Shalom Tel Aviv. This will be the first time for me in Israel. I am really happy." [2]
We urge you not to perform in Israel and to refuse to let your talent be used to conceal Israel’s policies of occupation, colonialism and apartheid that have oppressed the Palestinian people for over 60 years. Forcing the Palestinians to live under the oppression of a brutal system of racial discrimination and apartheid, Israel acts in clear violation of fundamental human rights and international law [3].
We appreciated the way in which you raised the issue of refugees during your Perfect Tour, re-proposing the song "Exodus", written 22 years ago but still tragically current [4]. As you may know, according to UN data, Palestinians make up the largest refugee population in the world [5]. Driven from their homeland in 1948 following the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Zionist army and again in 1967 with the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, the dramatic Palestinian diaspora continues today due to ongoing massacres, dispossession and Israel’s colonial policies. Today 67% of the Palestinian population is forced to live in refugee camps in other states or in exile, while being denied their internationally recognized right of return [6].
For these reasons, over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations launched a call in 2005 urging people of conscience to promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel [7]. Inspired by the excellent example of boycotts that contributed to the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, BDS has become a global movement in constant growth. It has the support of numerous international artists and world-renowned intellectuals, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Carlos Santana, Danny Glover, Elvis Costello, Ken Loach, Stephen Hawking, Naomi Klein, Roger Waters, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Vanessa Paradis, Brian Eno and many others [8].
The cultural boycott campaign calls on artists all over the world not to perform in Israel or participate in events aimed at normalizing the dramatic situation by equating the occupier and the occupied, the oppressor and the oppressed [9]. In fact, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu has repeatedly stressed, performing in Israel today would be just as wrong as it was to perform in South Africa during the apartheid regime [10].
Some say that music is the language of peace and argue that art and culture are apolitical and a boycott would be a violation of freedom of expression. However, it is Israel that makes no distinction between culture and politics, while using culture and the arts to whitewash its image and divert attention from its policies of occupation and apartheid. In fact in 2005, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, formerly with Israel's Foreign Ministry, admitted: "We are seeing culture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture" [11].
In Tutu’s famous words, remaining neutral in situations of injustice means choosing the side of the oppressor [12]. We therefore urge you to cancel your concert in Tel Aviv and refrain from planning any future concerts in Israel until it respects international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.
By supporting the Palestinian call for boycott, as an internationally renowned artist, you will play a key role in influencing change, raising awareness and making a nonviolent contribution to the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
"Perfect" would be a world with rights guaranteed for all.
We look forward to hearing from your and remain available for further clarification.
BDS Italy
BDS Italy is a movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid, made up of associations and groups throughout Italy that have endorsed the 2005 call by Palestinian civil society and promote BDS campaigns and initiatives at the national and local level.
Notes:
[3] http://lawcenter.birzeit.edu/iol/en/project/outputfile/6/986afcc6c9.pdf
[4] http://www.avvenire.it/Spettacoli/Pagine/ramazzotti-concerto-milano-recensione.aspx
[5] http://www.irinnews.org/report/89571/middle-east-palestinian-refugee-numbers-whereabouts
[6] http://imeu.org/article/the-right-of-return-palestinian-refugees
[7] http://www.bdsmovement.net/call
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMM0AZ9eWA
[9] http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1047
[10] http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2010/10/26/tutu-urges-cape-town-opera-to-call-off-israel-tour
[11] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1760
[12] http://www.tutu.org.za/archbishop-tutu-adds-voice-to-israeli-apartheid-week-9-march-2014