Bollywood needs to boycott Israel
BOLLYWOOD and the likes of the Bachchans need to remember that Israel is an occupying power in Palestine.
Its status as such has been acknowledged by the UN. Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with Syria’s Golan Heights, remain the last territories in the world formally considered to be under foreign occupation.
Israel would like nothing more than for people around the world not to pay attention to this reality.
Its main strategy is to divert attention from what it’s doing to Palestinians. Israel has chosen to mobilise culture as a means of international propaganda, to create a brand for the state that masks policies slammed by UN agencies and numerous human rights groups as constituting systematic discrimination, segregation and forced displacement.
A week ago activists called on singer Lordes to cancel a planned performance in Israel to avoid complicity with human rights violations and the illegal colonisation of occupied land.
“I pride myself in being an informed young citizen, and I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but
I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one,” she continued.
“Tel Aviv, it’s been a dream of mine to visit this beautiful part of the world for many years and I’m truly sorry to reverse my commitment to come play for you.
“I hope one day we can all dance.”
The call for boycott is a response to the complicity of Israel’s cultural institutions in Israel’s crimes.
The Palestinians’ call for a boycott, and the support it is finding around the world, draws considerable inspiration from the South African precedent.
An actor’s politics and personal view of the Israeli government matter little once they’ve agreed to perform in Israel.
The Israeli government will endorse their performance and use it to undermine Palestinians’ non-violent resistance to Israel’s occupation, colonisation and apartheid policies.
Bollywood must become a people of conscience and join the cultural boycott of Israel until a just, democratic state for all residents of Palestine/israel comes into existence.
The call to boycott comes from the people who suffer the blunt end of that abysmal record and would find it helpful if you (Bollywood) didn’t gratify their oppressor. NEESHAN PERUMAL
Chatsworth