PRESS STATEMENT: S. Africa's DJ Black Coffee violates boycott of Israel picket line - disappoints fans, activists and fellow artists

Music fans, human rights activists and fellow artists are angered and disappointed with the statement issued by DJ Black Coffee earlier today over his violation of the cultural boycott of Israel. The statement by DJ Black Coffee, released via his Twitter account reads: "I’m coming here (Israel, Tel Aviv) to perform and I hope my visits will help the process of change and promote equality, through the message of peace and love that lives in my music, if we can dance together we can live together…We Are One" (Find attached)

The claim by DJ Black Coffee that his visit "will help the process of change and promote equality" is either naive and ignorant or deliberately misleading. Khulekani Chiya of the Palestine solidarity human rights organisation, BDS South Africa, commented: “If DJ Black Coffee was really interested in change and equality he would have taken his direction from those that are working on promoting change and equality, namely the oppressed Palestinians and their progressive Israeli allies - who made it clear to DJ Black Coffee that he should have cancelled his Israeli gig (see: http://tinyurl.com/nlzvpca and see: http://tinyurl.com/ol2ne5j) . The message of peace and love alone did not liberate South Africa. The message of peace and love with a commitment to what the oppressed were asking for, boycotts, is what liberated South Africa.”

Fans, human rights activists and fellow artists have gone to Twitter expressing their disappointment and anger over DJ Black Coffee’s decision to continue performing in Israel after being advised not to (see: http://tinyurl.com/pokatxw; http://tinyurl.com/p552nyf; http://tinyurl.com/okgrspx; http://tinyurl.com/qfegy6u; http://tinyurl.com/pf9kwlz; http://tinyurl.com/ob4yzpp; http://tinyurl.com/pud362t). Some fans have slammed DJ Black Coffee for putting profits before principle and accusing him of being more interested in making money (see: http://tinyurl.com/ntqb676; http://tinyurl.com/opyjugp; http://tinyurl.com/pjvyd9a; http://tinyurl.com/p2t8gbh; http://tinyurl.com/qx7r2b3). Other fans tried to draw DJ Black Coffee’s attention to Israel's persecution of African refugees as one of the reasons that he should not perform there (see: http://tinyurl.com/n9guf87; http://tinyurl.com/q7ruzdj).

 

Fellow South African musician Iain "Ewok" Robinson commented: "The unfortunate rhetoric of the statement by DJ Black Coffee attempts to whitewash the glaring reality, that in Tel Aviv, Palestinians do not have the luxury of choosing to dance alongside others. They are simply denied it. It is beyond a privilege, it is a basic human right, to be free to make, play and enjoy the expression of music that is in us all.  It is this same right that is denied the Palestinians by the Israeli state. Once more, an artist has chosen to rub this restraint in the faces of the oppressed Palestinian populace. DJ Black Coffee has offered himself as a tool for their continued subjugation."

Khulekai Chiya of BDS South Africa goes on to add: "DJ Black Coffee has crossed the boycott of Israel picket line. If workers in a labour strike request you not to perform for their employer and you continue, claiming that in your music everyone will dance together, you are either siding with the employer or naive. Either way, you betray the workers. Likewise DJ Black Coffee has betrayed the oppressed Palestinians by performing in Israel in violation of the boycott."

We recall the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "The issue of a principled commitment to justice lies at the heart of responses to the suffering of the Palestinian people and it is the absence of such a commitment that enables many to turn a blind eye to it…. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” DJ Black Coffee has actively chosen the side of the oppressor by not heeding the call of the oppressed.

By disrespecting the Palestinian boycott of Israel DJ Black Coffee now joins those artists during the 1980s that shamefully refused to respect the boycott of Apartheid South Africa. He has departed from the example of Nelson Mandela (a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (a leading advocate of the boycott of Israel), Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), Gil Scott-Heron, Elvis Costello, Casandra Wilson, Harry Belafonte, DJ Cat Power, Pete Seeger, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and the various other artists that have respected the boycott of Israel.

In 2005, Palestinian civil society called for the boycott of Israel as a non-violent method to bring Israel in line with international law and show genuine solidarity for Palestinian human rights. The boycott has been modelled on the successful boycott of Apartheid South Africa and has an increasing number of progressive Israelis who also back the campaign.

 

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