Rage Against the Machine, Serj Tankian, Roger Waters Sign Letter Asking Artists to Boycott Israel
Rage Against the Machine, Serj Tankian, Roger Waters, Run the Jewels and Patti Smith are among the 600 musicians who have signed an open letter asking fellow artists to boycott performing in Israel until there is a “free Palestine.”
The Musicians for Palestine letter was also signed by the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, the Roots’ Black Thought and Questlove, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thurston Moore, Bun B, Royce Da 5’9″, Cypress Hill, Talib Kweli and hundreds more.
“As musicians, we cannot be silent. Today it is essential that we stand with Palestine. We are calling on our peers to publicly assert their solidarity with the Palestinian people. Complicity with Israeli war crimes is found in silence, and today silence is not an option,” the open letter states.
“Today, we speak together and demand justice, dignity and the right to self determination for the Palestinian people and all who are fighting colonial dispossession and violence across the planet.”
The open letter then asks fellow artists, “We call for you to join us with your name in refusing to perform at Israel’s complicit cultural institutions, and by standing firm in your support of the Palestinian people and their human right to sovereignty and freedom. We believe this is crucial to one day live in a world without segregation and apartheid.”
Rage Against the Machine recently wrote of the conflict in Gaza, “The violence and atrocities we are witnessing in Sheikh Jarrah, the Al Aqsa compound and Gaza are a continuation of decades of Israel’s brutal apartheid and violent occupation of Palestine. We stand with the Palestinian people as they resist this colonial terror in all its forms.”
See the full list of Musicians for Palestine below:
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