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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Watch: A global hip-hop call for
Israel boycott</h1>
<div class="submitted">
<span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2014-07-26T21:01:48+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username"
xml:lang="" about="/users/alexander-billet"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Alexander
Billet</span> on Sat, 07/26/2014 - 21:01<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/alexander-billet/watch-global-hip-hop-call-israel-boycott">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/alexander-billet/watch-global-hip-hop-call-israel-boycott</a><br>
</span> </div>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Generally, it’s impressive that the whole track is built around
informing listeners of the Palestinian call for <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds">boycott,
divestment and sanctions</a> without sounding like a pamphlet
(though it sometimes comes close).</p>
<p>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?”</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>The sample at the end is from author Arundhati Roy’s famed <a
href="https://vimeo.com/7343508">“Come September” speech</a>,
delivered in September 2002.</p>
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