Matisyahu Banned - But 'Burn the Gays' Singer Allowed

[shira]

Music festival accused of anti-Semitism says it pulled Jewish artist over 'human rights' - so why is a violently homophobic singer allowed?

The controversy over a European reggae festival's decision to ban Jewish artist Matisyahu for refusing its bizarre demand to declare his support for a Palestinian state continues, after it was revealed that an openly homophobic artist will be performing at the same festival. Following pressure from the "BDS" campaign calling for a boycott against Israel, Spain's Rototom Sunsplash festival disinvited Matisyahu - despite the fact that he is an American Jew, not Israeli....

...The unprecedented singling-out of a Jewish artist was immediately slammed by the World Jewish Congress as "a clear instance of anti-Semitism," while Matisyahu himself issued a statement Monday night condemning the "appalling and offensive" move. Rototom defended its decision in a long, rambling statement, in which it cited its "over 22 years of actively promoting peace, social justice and human rights," while failing to address accusations of anti-Semitism.

But it has now been revealed that, commitments to "human rights" notwithstanding, a Jamaican reggae artist whose songs often feature violently homophobic lyrics will perform at the festival. Singer Capleton is due to make a main stage performance on Wednesday August 19, despite having been condemned for lyrics which include: "Shoulda know seh Capleton bun battyman (burn gays)/ Dem same fire apply to di lesbian/ All boogaman (gays) and sodomites fi get killed."

Anti-hate campaigners have cited him as one of several Jamaican reggae artists whose songs promote killing or attacking homosexuals. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Capleton as one of eight reggae artists responsible for a "murder music" trend in the genre, and notes that he failed to keep a 2007 pledge he to cease such lyrics. Yet no demands were made for him or any artists other than Matisyahu - Rototom Sunsplash's one Jewish performer - to renounce these or other views.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/199591

[grossproffit]

1. Matisyahu's official statement on the cancellation of his concert by BDS activists

"The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people. I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music. Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process. The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek. - Blessed Love, Matis"

https://www.facebook.com/matisyahu

[shira]

3. Boycotting of Israeli products turns into boycotting of non-Israeli Jews. n/t

[6chars]

4. Classy statement

in response to a classless act

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Reggae has to be treated like Aryan Power music these days.

It is sad but the entire reggae culture brought this on by refusing to put an end to murder music. They dance to those songs about killing gay people. They dance to it.

[6chars]

5. One Day - by Matisyahu

See everybody that's existing
Got a mind of their own
We're all Kings and Queens
With a throne of our own
Tryin to raise a family
Is an empty home
We got to learn to stick together
Hate to be here alone
'Cause the world is a place
That will eat you alive in one day
Said the world is a place
That you can't survive without faith

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
Because

All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)

It's not about
Win or lose
We all lose
When they feed on the souls of the innocent
Blood drenched pavement
Keep on moving though the waters stay raging
In this maze you can lose your way (your way)
It might drive you crazy
But don't let it faze you no way (no way)

Gotta hold on
Livin life day by day
Gotta hold on
Put your focus on that one day

All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)

One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down with the hate
One day we'll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like

Gotta hold on
Livin life day by day
Gotta hold on
Put your focus on that one day

All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)
One day (one day), One day (one day)

[leftynyc]

6. To the surprise of absolutely nobody

who pays attention. BDS is anti-semitic and now I get to call them anti-gay also. Isn't that lovely? I mean, what elected official wouldn't want to acknowledge and be part of such an austere organization (spit).

[burfman]

7. Still a lot of hate floating around in Europe.......

Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in the world. This period ended definitively with the Alhambra decree of 1492, as a result of which they were forced to convert to Catholicism, go into exile, or be killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Spain#Modern_Jewish_community

[King_David]

8. No surprise - BDS movement would behave this way.

Antisemitism and Homophobia often go together.

[Little Tich]

9. Why can't both be allowed to perform if they just don't express their views on stage?

I can't see why a homophobe should be worse than a racist. I personally don't support banning artists from performing due to their views only.

[oberliner]

10. Only one was asked about their views

No one asked the other.

[shira]

11. Matisyahu doesn't do politics & he's not racist....

He did nor said anything wrong whatsoever. Why do you believe he's racist? I'm curious, given the bar you use for determining an antisemite is so high as to make it nearly impossible to be one. In this case, you have no evidence for such an accusation.

Meanwhile, Capleton's murder-music (lyrics) calls for killing gays. He's been doing this for years onstage & should've never been invited.

[Little Tich]

14. I can assure you that I use the same criteria for all racists.

Matthew Paul Miller has denied the existence of Palestine and he's expressed support for the Gaza blockade. While it's possible that he's just very ignorant, these are strong indicators for antipathy towards Palestinians as a group, which would mean that he's a racist. I've been trying to find a non-racist explanation for his statements, and the only other possible explanation would be deep ignorance. He doesn't seem to be ignorant at all from what I've read about him, so the conclusion is simple - he's a racist.

Matiasyhu on Palestine:

Well, as far as I understand, there was never a country called Palestine. There was the British occupation, but there was never a government. Palestine was a creation that was created within Israel, as Israel had already come about. That’s my understanding, but again, I’m not going to claim that I have the answer or the truth or the right knowledge.

Source: http://cornellsun.com/blog/2012/10/31/questions-for-matisyahu/

Matiasyhu on the Gaza blockade:

Oh boy," he says, fiddling with his grey beard and peyot. "I am blown away by the one-sided media coverage. Whether or not the ships should have been bringing aid to Gaza, those territorial waters belong to Israel - it's internationally agreed. They were warned repeatedly not to go there. But when the Israeli soldiers came onto the ships they were lynched; they were shot, stabbed, and beaten with poles. They were meant to be peace activists and they've got Molotov cocktails! Did you see the footage? It's not Israelis beating up peace activists - they're slamming the soldiers one at a time with metal poles!"

He is shouting now, and fiddling more intently with his peyot.

"Do you honestly believe that, if someone was in the English Channel, the British navy would do anything but blow the crap out of the boat, just blow it out of the water? But still people are going to think Israel behaved horribly. As it is, Israel gives tons of aid to Gaza. And they told the people on the ship to go over to dry land and they'd bring the aid with those people overseeing it. But they wanted to instigate whatever they wanted to. It's anarchy." He stops eating for a moment, then looks down. "No other country," he says with a heavy sigh, "would put up with the crap that Israel does."

Source: http://www.thejc.com/arts/music/33123/the-moment-when-matisyahu-lost-his-cool

[oberliner]

19. He's definitely not even remotely racist

Fascinating where you decided to cut off the quote from the Cornell interview. Here's what immediately followed:

"I’m a singer. I’m a musician, trying to find his own sense of balance in his own life, trying to write songs that inspire people. I love people and I love human beings, and I think if people could focus on that, it’d be great. But I have no answers as to who’s right and who’s wrong, and how we should deal with such huge issues that go back so far. All I know is that I have devout Muslim followers that love my music. To me, that’s what it’s about with modern people now, getting past who killed who, and knowing that God created this world in mercy. And if we could emulate that quality of mercy, we would be godly people."

[Little Tich]

21. Maybe I'm not giving him the benfit of doubt - he might just be an ignorant idiot...

It would have been better if there were more statements from Matthew Paul Miller that could conclusively prove that he's a racist. What clinched it was actually what Helen Thomas once said about Jews, that they should go home to Germany or Poland. I don't know if you know anything about her, but you could look her up. She was a respected White House reporter until one day that she really stepped in it. At first I didn't really think her statement was racist enough to warrant her removal from the White House press corps, but I realized later that there was a whole racist ideology behind her statement that must have caused her to say what she said, and it couldn't really have been said without that ideology.

It's not really possible to deny the existence of Palestine the way Matthew Paul Miller did without actually considering Palestinians to be inferior. It's about delegitimizing Palestinians as a people and also about their status as a nation and their right to nationhood. The statement effectively delegates the Palestinians to being just some random Arabs with no connection to the land.

It's also not possible to support denying the people in Gaza access to basic supplies and the right to live normal lives without being being racist. If the blockade was to stop weapons from entering Gaza, why was pasta considered contraband? There is no way that pasta can be weaponized (that I know of), and only a racist would support preventing pasta or other basic goods from entering Gaza.

So, by drawing on my experience on Helen Thomas, I think that Matthew Paul Miller is most probably a racist, and the onus is on him to prove otherwise.

[shira]

20. You don't use the same criteria at all & you couldn't be more wrong...

Matthew Paul Miller has denied the existence of Palestine and he's expressed support for the Gaza blockade.

1. Matisyahu is correct because only the region of Palestine has existed, not a separate independent or sovereign Palestine. For example, name a Palestinian king, president, PM or leader (who identified as Palestinian) before the 20th century. You can't because Palestine (the state) has never existed.

That's not racist.

2. Supporting a blockade to prevent weapons from getting to Hamas is not racist either. You don't believe Israel has any right to prevent weapons from getting to Hamas?

3. Meanwhile, Gilad Atzmon is a proud Holocaust denier, equates Jews with Nazis, claims Jews are trying to control the world (Elders of Zion), says "the Jews" killed Jesus, and believes it's rational to burn down a synagogue....and you don't believe he's a racist. But Matisyahu is...

I'm astonished you don't see anything wrong with your criteria when singling out Jew haters.

[Little Tich]

12. You're actually right...

Perhaps all participants at the Rototom festival should be required to sign on to a declaration of support for human rights or something similar, so that things like this won't happen in the future.

[oberliner]

13. BDS still would have called for him to be removed from the festival

Had he signed such a declaration, it would not have mattered.

He still performed at a pro-Zionist festival in the past and made insensitive comments about Palestinians in a couple of interviews.

[Little Tich]

15. Well, that wouldn't reflect too well on the BDS movement...

Singling out Jews is never OK.

[oberliner]

16. They are not singling out Jews

They are singling out people who appear to support Zionism.

If he was a Jewish person who supported the ideals of the BDS movement, they would not have made him a target.

[grossproffit]

17. I disagree with you.

Many do single out Jews.

Did you by chance listen the the BDS hearing from a few weeks back?

[oberliner]

18. I have been a vocal critic of the BDS movement for a long time

I think it harms the case against the BDS movement to accuse them of things that they can reasonably and convincingly refute.

They certainly have their share of antisemites, but they also have quite a few members and supporters who are Jewish.

They do not target people for boycott simply because they are Jews. Zionist, yes. Israeli (regardless of political views), yes.

I think the hearing would have had more credibility if they had allowed some BDS-ers to make their case.

I think it is important to characterize the BDS movement's position in this fairly so that the argument against their actions can be made on its own merits. I think they are crossing a dangerous line from boycotting Israeli institutions to boycotting people just because they may be Zionists. The precedent being set here has potentially disturbing consequences (one that would disproportionately impact Jewish people).

[King_David]

22. BDS org antisemitic and homophobic too.

[shira]

23. Hence, no support from any leading Democrats. n/t