She was not coming due to “security reasons”, then said she’s going to come despite the threats and now finally decided not to come. However, and from what I heard, she will be live on Radio Nostalgie and MTV in a special broadcast.
I will not bother criticize those behind the boycott campaign, as I’ve already done that. What I will do is ask them the following:
The only thing that has kept Lebanon’s economy alive throughout history is its tourism, festivals and freedom of expression, which have attracted many international artists and performers to come here.
Having said that, do you think this cultural terrorism you are exercising is right? Is this really our utmost priority at the moment to frighten international performers just because they sang in Hebrew?
We have an electricity crisis, an internet crisis, a gas crisis, telecommunications crisis, road safety problems, traffic problems, security problems all over our borders, political frictions, hundreds of thousands of refugees, dozens of armed militias, increasing pollution and poverty, collapsing buildings and ALL you can think of working against are non-Israeli artists who sang in Israel?
I rest my case.
It’s the principle, Najib…the BDS movement is not to blame. Can you imagine Israel welcoming a public supporter of Palestinian rights or the resistance? They already ban their own kind, such as Norman Finklestein or Noam Chomsky just for having an opposing view.
Only Lebanon keeps harping about how we should bend over for the sake of some tourists and foreigners. You commit the same injustice as the US, with its label of terrorism for all things it doesn’t like, when you call it ‘cultural terrorism’… can a nation simply not express that certain people are ‘not welcome’??!
shades962,
What principle? My principle says keep music and cultural events away from politics. She is not coming here to praise Zionism and she’s not Israeli.
And if you are trying to compare what we do to Israel and the US, this mean you are no better than them and the two examples you mentioned are not singers nor artists. It’s like telling me we are inviting Olmert to Lebanon.
Plus if you wanna express yourself, do it right and every time, not whenever you feel like it.
this is exactly why Israel keeps attracting tourism and make advancements while Lebanon struggles between moving forward and taking two steps back.
See here’s the thing: As far as I know, the party calling for the boycott did not issue any threats. They just called for a boycott, which is within any group’s right assuming we live in a democracy, and hardly constitutes “cultural terrorism” as you might call it.
Now why she would choose to cancel the event is really her own initiative at this point, and frankly I am all for keeping cultural events outside the realm of politics, but Lara Fabian decided to break those barriers herself when she sang at the 60th anniversaty of the foundation of Israel. In that context, I understand the peaceful call for a boycott.
Fadi,
You practice what you preach. If they are truly devoted to boycotting anything linked to Israel or Zionism, let them go after it all and not ruin some Lebanese business man planning for a Valentine party.
How did she break barriers? An artist was paid to go perform at some event? How do you know she didn’t do it just for the money? Isn’t that what all artists do?
The woman sings in 8 languages and has a great voice and was asked to sing in hebrew for a certain amount of money.
Again if this group is serious about his claims, let him do it properly or else leave us alone.
See when artists choose to sing at a politically-charged event, they bear the responsibility of their choice, and that comes in the form of various groups speaking out against them. Money or not, the event that Lara Fabian took part in had a political significance, and many artists turned this offer down.
Now the Lebanese businessman who invested in planning the Lara Fabian concert should be aware that this artist has taken part in an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel, and therefore should have been aware that there was a risk of certain groups speaking out against the event.
The group that issued the call for the boycott did it in a (surprisingly) civilized manner. The fact is that you disagree with them, but don’t seem to respect their right to speak out. I would’ve agreed with you back in the days of the Gad Elmaleh story, because that was in fact a fabricated and altogether shameful story that unfolded. However on this account I have to say that regardless of one’s opinion on the issue itself, you have to respect the group’s right to speak out freely.
I understand all the sides of this argument but three points:
1) Israel doesn’t give a shit who sings in Lebanon or any other “enemy state” because on the most part they harm us and not the other way around and because in reality all the international stars are more likely to go to Israel and not even pass Lebanon.
2) Beyonce and many others at the time of the fall of Gaddafi had to deal with public scrutiny from the AMERICAN public for singing to such a man. They have on the whole all apologized and given the amounts they received to charity. They claim to not have known he was a bad guy.. similar situation with Hollywood stars who were invited to some party in Chechnya with the president.
So freedom of speech, expression and association should be matters we take seriously but if Fabian wants to take the call for boycott very seriously and is scared, that is after all her choice in a way. I never heard of her before so this got her LOTS of publicity. She’s not the first or last to sing in Israel or whatever and get a call for boycott for an event.
Also, its not always activists get support or heard- its only this time because she, Fabian made a big deal and cancelled. I think everyone is so emotional for no reason about this matter. Who was going to watch anyway?
About this line, “We have an electricity, internet, gas, etc. crisis, and ALL you can think of working against are non-Israeli artists who sang in Israel”, which you assume the people behind the boycott campaign don’t fight against, let me tell you that: it is these same activists who care more about these crises, as activists, and that doesn’t mean that effort should only go one way and not another. At least these people don’t waste their time cheering for a person who expressed her pride and love for Israel, which is an issue of dignity too, and instead do something about it. If you still cannot see the problem that Israel is and is affecting on all those crises you mention, then better if you just don’t speak about the boycott. Lebanon should stop promoting itself as a prostitute country as you do. Some people have dignity too. Read a bit about the boycott movement around the world and its history before you touch on this subject. People and children died in your country because of this love of Israel and you call this cultural terrorism? This is the minimum one should do.. and it is still not enough with people like you around.
Guys I think you should be bringing “homey”s like Karl Wolf to Beirut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_IJr43lNQ&feature=artist