[News] Watch: A global hip-hop call for Israel boycott

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Watch: A global hip-hop call for Israel boycott

Submitted by Alexander Billet on Sat, 07/26/2014 - 21:01

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/alexander-billet/watch-global-hip-hop-call-israel-boycott

The ongoing slaughter in Gaza has brought a great many artists, 
musicians and celebrities out in support of Palestine. This is nothing 
new. In fact, every major Israeli offensive seems to grow the number of 
artists willing to speak up and stand against the crimes of the 
apartheid state.

But there's support, and there's solidarity. Both are of course welcome. 
But there's a difference between expressing one's outrage at a crime 
against humanity and outwardly answering the call from those who seek to 
end those same crimes. The track above is a solid attempt to do the latter.

What sticks out about "Boycott Israel," and what allows it to work on a 
certain level, is the basic internationalism that the lineup itself 
embodies. The track is primarily from Don Martin, one-third of Norwegian 
hip-hop group Gatas Parlament, who for twenty-plus years have been 
something roughly akin to Norway's version of Public Enemy. Martin's 
bandmate Elling Borgersrud once ran for public office as a member of the 
far-left Red Electoral Alliance.

It also features what can reasonably be called a global consortium of 
militant hip-hop notables: well-known Peruvian-American rapper Immortal 
Technique, El Tipo Este of Cuban duo Obsesion, Parisian rapper Tonto 
Noiza, and Jonnesburg-based Tumi Molekane. As if to drive the globalism 
home, each artist raps in their native tongue.

Generally, it's impressive that the whole track is built around 
informing listeners of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and 
sanctions <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds> without sounding like 
a pamphlet (though it sometimes comes close).

Tech's best wordplay comes in the form of asking: "So how the fuck you 
gonna have a peace settlement? When people want a piece of your land to 
build settlements?"

Molekane's verse is strongest, at least among the two delivered in 
English, if for no other reason than its reference to the artist's own 
experiences with South African apartheid and their parallels to 
Palestine today.

The sample at the end is from author Arundhati Roy's famed "Come 
September" speech <https://vimeo.com/7343508>, delivered in September 2002.

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