DJs unite on the latest Palestine campaign on social media

A new campaign has been launched with the hashtag DJsForPalestine, numerous artists and DJs joining the cultural movement to support the Palestinian people, promoting a cultural boycott of Israel government.

Supporters of this campaign, some of them performing in Israeli in the past, have posted a picture on various personal media accounts stating that, “As long as the Israeli government continues its brutal and sustained oppression of the Palestinian people we respect their call for a boycott of Israel as a means of peaceful protest against the occupation.” Among the names who are supporting this movement are Ben UFO, Four Tet, The Black Madonna, Rrose, Pariah, Call Super, Caribou, Peder Mannerfelt, the Discwoman collective, Laurel Halo, and others.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), who are in charge of coordinating this campaign, has also responded to the DJs for Palestine campaign saying: “We welcome the DJs, producers, record labels and electronic musicians today endorsing the Palestinian call for the cultural boycott of Israel.”

In an Instagram post, UK DJ Ben UFO added more on the story.

View this post on Instagram

#DJsForPalestine my personal history on this issue is that i travelled to play at The Block in Tel Aviv in 2013. i made several friends there, who i've stayed in touch with, and who i spoke with about the cultural boycott of Israel after i decided to decline further invitations to play. i wasn't well informed then, and my experience of travelling there was what gave me the impetus to read and learn more. my feeling since my first visit has been that while Palestinian civil society calls for a boycott, showing solidarity with their cause is worth more to me than travelling to play a show. this has been my position since 2013. having been asked to participate in this campaign, i felt it would be dishonest to continue to say nothing. i'm still really hopeful that one day i'll be able to play in Israel again. to those who ask why this boycott is selective and only applies to one state, I would say that if a comparable situation existed elsewhere in the world, and a boycott had been called by the affected oppressed class of people, then i would respect that too. for me this is primarily an issue of solidarity, and an exercise in listening. my position on this issue is part of a more general politics of anti-racism, which i hope that i can live up to.

A post shared by Ben UFO (@ben___ufo) on Sep 12, 2018 at 6:15am PDT