Joan Armatrading – Protest at her concerts July-Aug

Just days after Israeli commandos murdered at least nine unarmed people on the Free Gaza Flotilla and wounded many others, Joan Armatrading played in Tel Aviv, lining her pockets with blood money, and ignoring calls from the Palestinian people and supporters around the world to respect the boycott.

Principled musicians and artists are taking a stand with Palestinian people: Gil Scott-Heron, Elvis Costello, Sting, Bono, Snoop Dogg, Carlos Santana, Klaxons, Gorillaz, and the Pixies all declined the 30 pieces of silver offered by Israel to play there. A growing number of distinguished people including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and writers and artists Arundhati Roy, Alice Walker, John Berger, Adrienne Rich, Ken Loach, and Naomi Klein, are publicly supporting the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Hundreds of thousands worldwide have been demonstrating in anger and protest. Those of us who have suffered racism have a special responsibility to demonstrate support and compassion for other people of colour whose lives are on the line. We are calling on everyone concerned with justice to demonstrate at Joan Armatrading’s concerts over the next two months. See full list below. Protests have already taken place in Scotland , and in Bradford (UK) -- her first gigs, following her visit to Israel . In July the tour continues in Canada and the US (see here).

Help us send a message to Joan Armatrading – show her and other would-be Israeli apologists that they can’t hide.

Don’t play Israel ’s Apartheid State ! Don’t help them whitewash the blood on their hands.

What you can do:

§ Circulate this call and our letter (see below) to your networks; put it on your facebook or website; contact the local media.

§ Write to the Joan Armatrading website and her record company.

§ Check the list of concerts below and organize a protest demonstration – let us know and we’ll circulate news and photos.

§ Bring leaflets to circulate, let her fans and audience know about what is happening in Palestine .

JULY/USA

7/7/2010 Wednesday, Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia, 610 388 1000

8/7/2010 Thursday, Birchmere Music Hall, Alexandria, VA, 703 549 7500

9/7/2010 Friday, Birchmere Music Hall, Alexandria, VA, 703 549 7500

10/7/2010 Saturday, Performing Arts Center, Westhampton Beach, 631 288 2350

11/7/2010 Sunday, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH, 603 433 3100

13/7/2010 Tuesday, The Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield ME, 866 227 6523

14/7/2010 Wednesday, Hart Theater, Albany, NY, 518 473 1061

15/7/2010 Thursday, Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, 212 930 1940

16/7/2010 Friday, The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield, CT, 203 438 5795

17/7/2010 Saturday, Boarding House Park, Lowell, MA, 978 970 5200

18/7/2010 Sunday, New Hazlett Theatre, Pittsburgh, 412 320 4610

19/7/2010 Monday, Sellersville Theatre 1894, Sellersville PA, 215 257 5808

20/7/2010 Tuesday, The National,  Richmond VA, 804 612 1900

22/7/2010 Thursday,The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, 414-524-7354

23/7/2010 Friday, McGlohon Theatre At Spirit Sq, Charlotte NC, 704 342 1000

24/7/2010 Saturday, House of Blues, Cleveland, OH, 216 523 2583

25/7/2010 Sunday, House of Blues, Chicago, 312 923 2000

28/7/2010 Wednesday, Barrymoore Theatre, Madison, 608-241-8864

29/7/2010 Thursday, Fitzgerald Theatre, St Pauls MN, 651 290 1200

30/7/2010 Friday, The Cotillion, Wichita KS, 316 722 4201

AUGUST/USA

1/8/2010 Sunday, Center For The Arts, Jackson, WY, 307 734 8956

3/8/2010 Tuesday, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, CO

4/8/2010 Wednesday, Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder, CO, 303 545 6924

7/8/2010 Saturday, Long Beach Terrace Theater, Long Beach, CA, 310 436 3661

8/8/2010 Sunday, The House Of Blues, San Diego CA, 619 299 2583

9/8/2010 Monday , Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA, 805 966 4946

10/8/2010 Tuesday, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, 415 563 6504

11/8/2010 Wednesday, Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA, 831 423 7970

13/8/2010 Thursday, The Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA, 206 467 5510

AUGUST/CANADA

14/8/2010 Saturday, Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival, Salmon Arm, BC
 

Women of Colour call on Joan Armatrading not to play Apartheid Israel

We call on Joan Armatrading, as a woman of colour who wrote a tribute to and performed for Nelson Mandela, and whose website says, “South Africa has always been close to my heart”, not to play Israel. As we write, people are gathering worldwide, thousands in London alone, to protest the Israeli piracy and murder of at least 20 unarmed people taking part in a humanitarian mission bringing aid to blockaded Gaza .

These unprovoked killings are the latest in a long line of atrocities by Israel , which has shown itself to be one of the most violent and racist regimes on the planet. Archbishop Desmond Tutu – a leading proponent of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel – has written:
 

“I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory . . . I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children . . . and this humiliation is familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and regularly insulted by the security forces of the Apartheid government.”

Palestinian people have been dispossessed and their lands occupied; they have been walled in, imprisoned, starved and bombed by Israel . Israel is still building the apartheid wall inside the occupied West Bank , separating families, dividing farms, villages and towns, and starving Gazans, in addition to building Jewish-only settlements and Jewish-only roads on Palestinians’ land.

Palestinian women have borne much of the brunt of this violence – including at security checkpoints, in prisons, and trying to fight for and protect their imprisoned young children. In their day-to-day work in the family and in the fields they have kept communities together in the face of poverty, hunger, injury and death – enabling communities to resist, despite intimidation and corruption, and to oppose expulsion from their homes and land. Women’s survival work is thus the backbone of resistance.

Palestinian people have called for our support against genocide and occupation. This includes a boycott of goods, culture, and education – everything that empowers and promotes the Israeli state against them – and us.

Gill Scott-Heron and Elvis Costello very recently pulled out of concerts there, in recognition of the struggle of Palestinian people and their refusal to be used to undermine it. Costello said:

"There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent."

Nothing you can say would justify your playing in Israel .

UK’s Massive Attack is among the increasing number of groups which respect the boycott, refusing to play Israel no matter what blood money the Israelis offer. They understand that going there lends credibility to Israel ’s occupation and genocide, and would permanently stain their artistic reputations. Multi-racial demonstrations – by Palestinian and Israeli, Afro-American, Indian and European people – held in many UK cities are supporting and reinforcing the cultural boycott.

People may think what happens in Palestine is out of sight or off the grid, but the eyes of the world are watching, and many voices in many languages cry out in protest.

Your concert planned for June 5th is the anniversary of the beginning of the so-called Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai desert, and ethnically cleansed thousands of Palestinian people from the West Bank . For many it was a second expulsion – in 1948 over half the Palestinian population had been expelled from their own cities and villages. This makes it even more crucial that you pull back from this disastrous step. We urge you to consider the powerful statement by PACBI.

Your proposed concert is also scheduled a year and half after the horrendous and brutal punishment bombing of Gaza where over 1400 women, children and men lost their lives, and thousands of homes, schools and hospitals were destroyed. Support for Palestinian people has never been more urgent or more vital for the entire anti-racist struggle to establish that we humans are all entitled to the compassion and support of others. Those of us who have also suffered racism have a special responsibility to demonstrate support and compassion to people of colour whose lives are on the line.

Sister: don’t turn your back on fellow sufferers; and don’t force your loyal fans to turn their backs on you. Don’t help Israel whitewash its atrocities. Use your status as president of the ‘Women of the Year Lunch’ and as a world-famous singer-songwriter to take a stand with Palestinian sisters and brothers and with all of us fighting for justice.

We are with the many thousands outside the UK Parliament chanting: “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.”

Please help us get the word out: circulate this widely in your networks and ask your group or organisation to endorse it.

Write to Joan Armatrading at
Email: admin@armatrading.co.uk
www.joanarmatrading.com/index.asp?m=misc&n=contactus&p=1

Write to her record label:
Email: inquiries2@slgmusicus.com
www.429records.com/sites/429records/contact.asp
Phone: Santa Monica, CA , USA: 310-451-0451