Australian World Music Festival and Media
Misrepresent Stand Taken by World Renowned
Lebanese Artist

Popular and acclaimed Lebanese musician Marcel Khalife has withdrawn from the Womadelaide festival this year to take a stand against Israeli Government sponsorship of one of the artists in the festival. Held in Adelaide every two years, Womadelaide is a world music festival.

In a letter to Womadelaide organisers, Mr Khalife declared his refusal to participate as a gesture of solidarity with the people of Palestine in their long and courageous struggle for statehood and independence. He also expressed his refusal to participate alongside a performer supported by the Israeli government as a testimony against the arrogance of Israel and its relentless massacre and bombing of the people of Lebanon and Palestine.

Unfortunately, Australian festival organisers and media have misrepresented this position and simply reported that Mr Khalife refuses to perform alongside an Israeli. This is a distorted and inaccurate representation of Mr Khalife‰s stand by Australian newspapers and radio. The issue is not who the performer is, but that she is being sponsored to participate at this festival by the government of an oppressive regime.

While the Israeli government continues to this day to wage war against Palestinian civilians and to violate human rights and international law, we believe Mr Khalife‰s stand to be principled and widely embraced. Marcel Khalife represents the voice of generations, both in the Arab world and in the diaspora, and he has inspired the world over with his evocative music and lyrics. The Arab Australian Action Network (AAAN) understands and supports Mr Khalife‰s stand on this as an important human rights issue, while at the same time expressing disappointment that Australian audiences will not experience the strength and beauty of his work.

The response of Womadelaide event director Ian Scobie, however, is disappointing. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of the compelling issues of justice and human rights, freedom and independence. It is ironic that Mr Khalife was being originally promoted by Womadelaide as ëthe Bob Dylan of the Middle East‰, yet Mr Scobie is ëdistressed to realise that [Khalife] is unable to see beyond the political enmity currently at play due to the situation in the Middle East‰. It is also disturbing that world music organisers like Mr Scobie attempt to impose a superficial separation of art and politics. Would world music organisers have sought the sponsorship of the South African Government during the peak of the apartheid regime? And if indeed they did, and the performer failed to condemn his/her government‰s stance, who could blame any black performer for walking out?

For more information, contact the Arab Australian Action Network (AAAN)
email: aaan@myrealbox.com