NOVANEWS
PLEASE CIRCULATE
*** To non-Israelis: You may change the letter accordingly , and please send your protest too***
Dweezil’s manager/PR handler is Chris Hewlett. He should be sent the letter and possibly alerted by telephone to give a sense of urgency to the demand:
Telephone: +44 (0) 208 348 6767
Mobile: +44 (0) 7966 491 786
This is the email for the Zappa Family Trust:
[email protected]
Dweezil’s community page (he personally responds to comments on his blog posts and allowers users to register and communicate with one another):
http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/
Dweezil’s FB fan page (he also has a personal page):
Zappa family trust forum, a place for posting the letter:
——-SAMPLE LETTER——–
10/7/10
From Israeli Citizens – Please Postpone Your Concert in Israel
Dear Dweezil Zappa,
I am appealing to you as an Israeli citizen, supporting the Palestinian call for BDS against Israel ( http://www.boycottisrael.info/ ), asking you to postpone your concert in Israel until my government stops committing severeviolations of human rights which have been going on for decades.
Israel has repeatedly evidenced that it relies on artistic propaganda to improve its “international brand” as a pluralistic democracy, all the while continuing state sponsored settlement construction and apartheid in the west bank, a brutal siege on Gaza, and blatant discrimination against its non-Jewish citizens.
Performing in Israel, as if it were just another stop on the tour, normalizes these policies and disregards Palestinian led campaigns to organize international solidarity against the occupation, and our Israeli-based campaign of solidarity from within.
I respect your family’s legacy of promoting cultural freedom and your father’s experience as a dissident artist, from his imprisonment in San Bernadino, California for trumped-up obscenity charges to his successful struggle against the pro-censorship PMRC.
You should be aware that I am signing my name to this letter under the threat of severe punishment from our government — the Israeli Brain Police. Legislation that is likely to pass in the Israeli parliament will inflict punishment on any citizen who publicly supports the boycott from within (http://israeli-occupation. org/docs/bds-law_20100609_eng. pdf). The bill is only the latest legislative attack on academic freedom and human rights by our government, which seeks to intimidate anyone demanding that Palestinians living under occupation should be, in your father’s words, “absolutely free.”
Cultural and public figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Roger Waters, Arundhati Roy, Brian Eno, John Berger, and Ken Loach have expanded their advocacy to publicly hold Israel accountable for its repression of freedom, human rights violations and war crimes. I hope that you will join these notable individuals, and others engaged in the nonviolent struggle for equal rights and justice for the Palestinian people, in endorsing the cultural boycott of Israel.
The call for cultural boycott was successful in creating international accountability for human rights violations in apartheid South Africa, and is now being applied in the case of Israel. As an Israeli citizen, I am asking you: Please stand with us! Please do not cross the picket line!
I would be interested in your comments on this important issue.
Sincerely,
*** To non-Israelis: You may change the letter accordingly , and please send your protest too***
Mobile: +44 (0) 7966 491 786
This is the email for the Zappa Family Trust:
[email protected]
http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/
Israel has repeatedly evidenced that it relies on artistic propaganda to improve its “international brand” as a pluralistic democracy, all the while continuing state sponsored settlement construction and apartheid in the west bank, a brutal siege on Gaza, and blatant discrimination against its non-Jewish citizens.
Performing in Israel, as if it were just another stop on the tour, normalizes these policies and disregards Palestinian led campaigns to organize international solidarity against the occupation, and our Israeli-based campaign of solidarity from within.
I respect your family’s legacy of promoting cultural freedom and your father’s experience as a dissident artist, from his imprisonment in San Bernadino, California for trumped-up obscenity charges to his successful struggle against the pro-censorship PMRC.
You should be aware that I am signing my name to this letter under the threat of severe punishment from our government — the Israeli Brain Police. Legislation that is likely to pass in the Israeli parliament will inflict punishment on any citizen who publicly supports the boycott from within (http://israeli-occupation. org/docs/bds-law_20100609_eng. pdf). The bill is only the latest legislative attack on academic freedom and human rights by our government, which seeks to intimidate anyone demanding that Palestinians living under occupation should be, in your father’s words, “absolutely free.”
The call for cultural boycott was successful in creating international accountability for human rights violations in apartheid South Africa, and is now being applied in the case of Israel. As an Israeli citizen, I am asking you: Please stand with us! Please do not cross the picket line!
I would be interested in your comments on this important issue.
