I have been informed by the leadership of what might best be described as the “black consciousness movement” of Azania (South Africa) that a formal call to include Israel in the “cultural boycott” of South Africa will be issued from inside South Africa within the next few weeks.
The Black Consciousness Movement was started under the leadership of Steve Biko (whose life and murder by the Pretoria regime was the basis for the film “Cry Freedom”) and was the first organization to call for a cultural boycott of South Africa.
This call, sent out especially to pop musical groups, eventually generated the formation of “Artists United Against Apartheid.” The cultural boycott of South Africa was probably the first major effort successfully to draw pop and rock musicians into an anti-racist campaign.
The next logical step, which some of us have been struggling to implement, has been the inclusion of the racist, colonial, settler, Zionist regime of Israel in the cultural boycott.
Recently, a British pop-reggae band called UB40 spent some time here in Hawaii. Known for the radical political content of many of their songs, UB40 had a song go to no. 1 on the pop music charts in the US in 1988.
UB40 has agreed to cancel their Israel tour (a loss of over $500,000) in protest of the racist policies of the Zionist occupation forces in Israel and in support of the intifadah of the indigenous Arab youth of Palestine. Finally, the lines have been drawn. With UB40 setting an example, the call will be going out to all the major pop and rock groups to honor the cultural boycott of South Africa-Israel or risk being “boycotted” themselves.
UB40 has taken a very courageous stand. Those of us familiar with the music business know only too well how dominant outright Zionists and supporters of Israel are in the industry, Many of us remember the near destruction of Miriam Makeba’s career some 20 years ago when she took a stand opposing Zionism and supporting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
What we are saying is, from the frontlines of South Africa to the frontlines of Palestine, apartheid-Zionism is racism. Support the cultural boycott! Say “no” to Israel and Apartheid South Africa!
The post Extending the Cultural Boycott of Apartheid South Africa to Israel first appeared on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Thomas C. Mountain.