Activism and BDS Beat 8 May 2015
Primus (From band’s Facebook page)
Legendary San Francisco Bay Area-based prog-rock group Primus has become the latest band to cancel a planned performance in Israel.
Ynet reported on Friday that the band “called off” its 10 June headlining gig at the Rock in the Park Festival. “The show’s producers have yet to provide an official reason for the decision,” the report added.
Primus’ cancellation comes just days after US singer Lauryn Hill canceled her 7 May concert. Activists and Palestine solidarity organizers had led creative social media campaigns and more than 11,000 people had signed a petition urging the singer to cancel her show.
Primus and Lauryn Hill join a growing list of artists and performers who have pulled out of shows in Israel. As The Electronic Intifada noted earlier this week, the director of the Israel Festival recently revealed that the flagship government-backed cultural program has had to curtail its 2015 schedule due to the growing impact of the boycott, especially in the wake of Israel’s killing more than 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza last July and August.
Growing impact of boycott
Announced as part of the lineup in April, Primus was scheduled to join other US bands Incubus and The Voidz in the three-day festival. Primus’ website currently does not list the Rock the Park festival on the band’s tour schedule.
Formed in the 1980s, Primus has been a mainstay of the prog-rock scene. The band has released more than a dozen albums and EPs, including its most recent, Primus and the Chocolate Factory. Primus’ 1990 single “Too Many Puppies” is a well-known anti-war anthem.
I went to my first Primus show at 13, and am particularly thrilled to hear that the band has canceled its Israel gig. Watch Primus perform one of my favorite songs, “Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers,” from the 1991 album Sailing the Seas of Cheese, below.
Comments
Isreal' name is mud
Permalink Jane Zacher replied on
Awesome article Nora! Primus should rename their classic, "My name is mud" to "Israel's name is mud" because of their bad reputation on violating human rights.
Social pressure is working, and I'm glad to see that all of the efforts, as well as the many petitions I signed, are making an impact. This gives me hope.
Jane Zacher Student Philadelphia PA Turtle Island
Pease read the history back
Permalink Israeli replied on
Pease read the history back and see who violates human rights. Israel has made many mistakes in the conflict but if the other side had really wanted a state he would have been given one. Please come and visit Israel and hear both sides and than adopt a side, not just from reading and viewing the media.
A proude Israeli.
Look inside your soul, please
Permalink Jane Zacher replied on
Hi!
Trolling isn't going to make your evil Empire of a country, look like a beautiful place. Just so you know, I'M JEWISH and part of a world wide group of Jews who support the Palestinian people. I have been filmed and harrased by my own people, who are now the Gestapo.
I have been to the OCCUPIED TERRITORY, known as Israel in 1985. Wanna know what I saw? IDF psychos detaining and turning over an elderly Arab man's cart for no reason, bullet ridden dwellings on a Kibbutz, that was once a Palestinian home and that's just the beginning. I was so traumatized, that it drove me to drink. Why? Because seeing my own people, treat other HUMANS, worse than the videos I saw of how the Nazis treated us, was mind boggling.
I grew up, read, listened, talked to Palestinian kids at my college, and formed my opinion, along with other Jews of conscience. Did you notice that B.B. came and gave that speech to my legislators, without his head covered, yet he was quoting scripture? I'm from the same neighborhood he is, and Zionism is very strong in Philadelphia. My point is this - your beloved country and leaders, exist because of my country's money. If you're of North American decent, then went to Israel, you have been brain washed into believing that we need a spare country. Look in your soul. Does it tell you that it's ok to drop phosphorus on people, or illegally take their land. Meditate, THINK, if your heart and soul is ok with turning a blind eye to these atrocities, then I feel bad for you.
Stand with us my brother in humanity - join with other Jews, who realize that Zionism is not Judaism, and that it high-jacked our religion in the name of gaining territory. Stand with US on the right side of history.
Peace
Jane Zacher Student Philadelphia PA Turtle Island
On the right side of history
Permalink Julia replied on
That's good news. Thank you, Primus. We must stand up for human rights and care for one another. Peace!