Friday 26 June 2009

Concerts in Israel and West Bank?

According to this article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Leonard Cohen will be performing at Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv on September 24 and also at the Cultural Palace in the Palestinian city of Ramallah on September 26.  

Note that neither date is yet listed on the official tour itinerary.

We welcome the news of the Ramallah concert as a positive development and await more specific information next week.

Major announcement coming next week

The webmaster of the Leonard Cohen Files says there will be an important announcement next week regarding the concert in Tel Aviv.  Check here for details.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Tel Aviv show pulled from Leonard Cohen's tour itinerary

In the last 24 hours Leonard's European tour itinerary has stopped listing the Tel Aviv show. (Until 22nd June it was at the bottom of that list as the last date on the tour, below the Barcelona gig on 21st September.)

The leonardcohen.com webmaster notes on the discussion forum that AEG Live requested him to remove the date without giving a reason.

Another moderator of the group points out that dates have disappeared and reappeared before, so it could just be temporary.

Certainly we would hope that if the show had been cancelled because of the growing opposition to it, there would be some kind of announcement from the Cohen camp to that effect.

In the meantime watch this space...

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Alexei Sayle's letter to Leonard Cohen

British (and Jewish) comedian Alexei Sayle has recorded this semi-musical message appealing directly to Leonard to boycott Tel Aviv:
 
 
 

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Just in case you need a reminder of why we're running this campaign

Some people's memories do seem short, but just a few months ago Israeli forces launched a ferocious attack on Gaza, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians including many children. This Guardian blog has the details, while an article by Avi Shlaim eloquently explains how Israel brought Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

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Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel petition hits 50 signatures!

Our petition asking Leonard Cohen not to play his proposed concert in Tel Aviv hit 50 signatures yesterday, and in the hours since then a further six people have signed to register their support.
 
One of the recent signatories is Ruth Tenne, whose own open letter to Leonard we quoted when we wrote to him earlier this month.
 
Meanwhile the Facebook group has risen from two to 16 members in the past few days, and the Twitter feed is being followed by 10 people including Avaaz.org and Yoko Ono.
 
We need more signatures and followers though, so if you haven't already signed, please do so, and if you have done, please let others know about the campaign, whether they are a fan of Leonard's or just oppose Israel's policy in Gaza.

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Saturday 20 June 2009

40 signatures to the Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel petition!

Since posting yesterday, we've had 10 more signatures: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/appeal-to-leonard-cohen-not-to-perform-in-israel/signatures.html

You can also read comments the signatories have posted in a pop-up box by hovering your mouse over the 'view' link to the right of the person's name and other details. These should appear automatically although you might find you have to click on the 'view' link as well.

Thanks for your continued support and keep signing!

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Friday 19 June 2009

Join the LCBI Campaign group on Facebook

There is now a Facebook group for the Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel Campaign at http://tinyurl.com/lcbifacebook

The group is open to all, so if you're on Facebook please join and let your friends know about it, whether they are fans of Leonard's or oppose Israel's policy in Gaza.

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Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel petition - 30 signatures in a week!

Since our petition was launched just over a week ago, 30 people from the UK, US, Australia, Israel and the Palestinian Territories have signed. Please spread the word by contacting people you know who either are fans of Leonard Cohen or oppose the situation in Israel. The petition can be found at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/appeal-to-leonard-cohen-not-to-perform-in-israel.html

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Sunday 14 June 2009

Update on BRICUP's appeal to Leonard Cohen to boycott Israel show

http://www.bricup.org.uk/news/lcandbeyond.htm

The British Committee for Universities in Palestine summarises progress made since their open letter to Leonard Cohen was sent in April.

Friday 12 June 2009

Gaza: No right to life - The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jun/11/gaza-israel

"With the lack of medical services in Gaza, critically ill patients must travel into Israel for treatment. Many are asked to collaborate with Israeli intelligence services before they receive aid. It has been alleged that if they refuse to become informers they are refused medical treatment."

Saturday 6 June 2009

LCBI Campaign's Letter to Leonard Cohen

Dear Leonard Cohen,

(The following letter is a longer version of a petition currently being circulated asking you to join the many other artists, musicians, writers and academics in a cultural boycott of Israel.)

You are probably aware of a growing campaign addressing your recently announced intention to play a concert in Tel Aviv in September and the concern that it is causing.

As a group of long time fans and admirers of your music, poetry and novels, we also note with considerable dismay your decision to perform in Israel. You have not toured or performed there since the eighties, so to choose to return now in the aftermath of one of the most brutal incursions into Gaza and the killing of hundreds of men, women and children there, does seem to be ill-judged.

Understandably you may not have had the time to fully see or read about all that occurred there during the two months of the invasion, and all that has come to light in the time since that invasion, relating to the continuing suffering of the people of Gaza. However the following brief quotation from an article by an Israeli peace activist vividly and horrifyingly illustrates what happened to hundreds of children in the territory:

"The 400 Palestinian children who were burnt to death, or torn into pieces by Israel's recent onslaught on Gaza would never be able to hear your songs; nor could the hundreds of children who were maimed, injured and burnt by white phosphorous shells dropped by Israeli fighter planes (provided by the States) listen to your lyrics. They have been lying in hospital crying with agony with hardly any medicine to relieve their pain" 'From an Israeli Citizen to Leonard Cohen' Ruth Tenne - a member of Jews for Justice for Palestine. (Middle East Online)

The plight of these people continues as the Israeli blockading of Gaza means that equipment and medicines cannot be effectively provided to hospitals there, furthermore building materials and machinery to enable the people to rebuild their shattered houses, schools and places of worship are also denied. Even such basics as food, fuel and clean water are in dangerously short supply.

Since 1948 and with increasing force since 1967, the people of the West Bank and Gaza have been subjected to occupation, repression, destruction of their crops and denied freedom of movement. Tens of thousands Palestinians have also been made refugees from their homeland. You know this of course, everybody does; that you have a great depth of compassion is evident from your writings, from your interviews and indeed from how you have conducted your spiritual life, not everybody possesses this degree of understanding and sympathy. It is therefore difficult for us to understand why you have yielded to requests from your many Israeli fans at this time - when up to now their pleas to you have gone unheeded?

We who love your work, work which has provided us nourishment for so many years understand of course that people everywhere who hold you in high esteem and feel deep affection for you, want nothing more than to see you stand on stage and hear you and your wonderful musicians sing, play and speak to them. We have been to your recent concerts (more than once!) and they have been memorable and wonderfully entertaining. For some this continuing tour has provided their first, longed for chance, while for others your recent concerts have been a continuation of a long time pattern of concert-going. Naturally Israelis want you to come to Tel Aviv, nowhere more than in Israel, probably, are you more popular and we take no pleasure in requesting that you deny such loyal and fervent followers their chance to see you. However we believe that in this instance the denial of their memorable night must take precedence over the support your arrival there would seemingly give to the state of Israel and its actions. For that is how it would be perceived, symbolic and tacit support for an essentially apartheid system, and a for a state that is a democracy only for one section of its citizens and that denies almost all rights for those it has made virtual prisoners in their divided and walled in territories, land which in reality they cannot even call their own. As in other countries you have visited, where politicians and even heads of state attended your concerts, it is likely that in Tel Aviv also representatives of the state and military may well take the chance to attend your concert there. It is likely also that among the audience there will be soldiers recently returned from Gaza, or the West Bank. There is no way therefore that your appearance can be construed as apolitical, however you yourself may view it.

It is the case too, unfortunately that a majority of Israeli citizens did support the onslaught of their army into Gaza, so a cancellation of your visit would send a very powerful message to them.

Of course there are many brave young men and women who refuse conscription into the IDF and risk prison sentences for their principled stand. Of course too there are very many Israelis who do not stand by their country's occupation of Palestinian land and who work tirelessly for peace and justice. There are also Israeli citizens who have been indiscriminately killed, or maimed, by suicide bombers. The town of Sderot, adjoining Gaza, has suffered rocket fire from Hamas. They are all entitled to live in peace and without fear. However, very many more Palestinians have died by the guns, shells and tanks of the Israeli army and for them there is no respite.

So for all these reasons we appeal to you to please refrain from travelling to Israel at present. If however you do decide to go ahead, we respectfully ask you to make a donation to one of the many peace groups striving to create conditions for peace, equal rights and nationhood for all in Israel/Palestine. For example 'Jews for Justice for Palestine' or the 'International Solidarity Movement' (ISM) or towards the medical organisation 'Medicins sans Frontieres' currently struggling in under equipped hospitals in Gaza. You may have already decided to do something like this anyway, given that you were moved to contribute generously to the victims of the bush fires in Australia during your tour there last year.

Undoubtedly a decision to cancel this concert will cause deep disappointment, even anguish, to the Israelis who wished for so long to see you. For you also such a decision will be difficult and we do not underestimate that difficulty. Be assured though that for the people currently suffering military onslaughts in Palestine and for all of us who want wholeheartedly to see a lasting, peaceful and just future in the region and by extension throughout the world, a gesture of regretful refusal from you would mean so much.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

Yours sincerely,

The Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel Coalition

On behalf of a group of your fans in Britain and the U.S.

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Massachusetts Activists Call On Leonard Cohen to Join the Cultural Boycott of Israel

http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/207645/index.php

"Activists from throughout Massachusetts gathered in front of the Wang Theater in Boston on Friday and Saturday May 29th and 30th to demand that Leonard Cohen uphold the cultural boycott of Israel."