In an unforseen move by Thurston Moore, Desmond Tutu, and Roger Waters, the three encouraged Radiohead to “think again” and not perform their upcoming shows in Tel Aviv, Isreal at the Park HaYarkon on July 19.
“By playing in Israel you’ll be playing in a state where, UN rapporteurs say, ‘a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people.’” said an open letter to Radiohead from the artists listed above. “Please do what artists did in South Africa’s era of oppression: stay away, until apartheid is over.”
Thurston Moore took the request a little farther by attatching an additional piece of paper to the letter which said:
“If any concerned, humanitarian-conscious activists employ a boycott to protest brutal injustice in their country and request artists and scholars to refrain from working and/or being promoted as supportive of the normalization of that country—then I choose NOT to cross that line and suggest to all to not be complicit. It is a small sacrifice in respect to those who struggle in honourable opposition to state-sponsored fascism.”
Moore and others are some of the few who has signed the Artists’ pledge for Palestine, which claims they wouldn’t perfom in the country until they “accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
Before performing in Israel, which they haven’t confirmed if they will or not, they headlined night number one of the Coachella Festival weekends. Unfortunately the first weekend, Radiohead stuggled with sound issues and even walked off stage momentarily to handle the issue. They eventually got back on track however, and carried out the rest of their set beautifully.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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