To the Directors of Womadelaide 2001 Festival
Little more than a month has elapsed since Lebanese composer and musician Marcel Khalife made his decision to withdraw his participation from the Womadelaide 2001 festival. Undoubtedly, the merit of his decision and the stance he took will probably continue to be debated for some time to come.
Nagam Cultural Project reaffirms its unequivocal support of Mr. Marcel Khalife's decision to withdraw from the Womadelaide 2001 Festival. The recent ascendance to power in Israel of Ariel Sharon, whose vitae of atrocities against the Lebanese and Palestinian people is only comparable to those indicted war criminals of Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo. This firmly testifies to the correctness of Mr. Khalife's principled decision to refuse to participate in the festival.
By the time the Womadelaide Festival gets underway Ms. Chava Alberstein will be representing a government headed by Ariel Sharon with the legacy of his atrocities looming over the festival. The Ultra right wing Israeli general, who orchestrated the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, left behind wanton death and destruction, with ten of thousands of civilians dead, injured and maimed. He, then, crowned his carnage by facilitating the gruesome massacre of more than 2000 of unarmed innocent Palestinian, Lebanese and Kurdish civilians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. No doubt Ariel Sharon will outdo the iron fist policy perpetrated by his predecessor, while concurrently claiming to be committed to peace with the Palestinians and the Arabs.
In the spirit of openness and dialogue, Mr. Khalife and Nagam Cultural Project have transformed www.marcelkhalife.com into a forum of free and unfettered lively debate and discussion. All views, irrespective of the opinions articulated on Mr. Khalife's withdrawal from the festival, were posted.
Unfortunately, the Australian media and Womadelaide have failed to present an unbiased, objective and fair coverage of Mr. Khalife's decision. Both have deliberately skewed and misrepresented his stance. Both have inaccurately claimed that his withdrawal was due to the Israeli singer's nationality, rather than as a result of the official support of Ms. Chava Alberstein's performance by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Embassy in Australia.
At the height of the first Intifada in 1990, Mr. Khalife performed in the USA in a benefit concert for Palestinian children, along side Folk singers Pete Seeger, Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert. The concert was organized by a Jewish American institution, the Middle East Children's Alliance - www.mecaforpeace.org. Several Jewish American musicians accompanied Mr. Khalife in his performance, while he sang the cause of the Palestinian people and the Intifada.
Nagam Cultural Project believes that Womadelaide have made a grave error in judgement. Had Womadelaide, sought the sponsorship of Australian Jewish institutions for Ms. Alberstein's performance instead, Mr. Khalife would have participated in the Festival without hesitation. In accepting support of official Israeli governmental institutions, Womadelaide has displayed a lack of sensitivity to our feelings and that of the Arab- Australian community, especially in those trying times.
In retrospect, Nagam Cultural Project wonders as to why the publicity statement, that Womadelaide put out in promoting Mr. Khalife, ignored his support of the Lebanese and Palestinian causes that have defined much of his artistic and musical career? On the other hand, only the charge of blasphemy against him and the Bob Dylan like social impact of his songs were emphasized. Was his expression of support for the Palestinian and Lebanese causes in his lyrical works too controversial for Womadelaide to be associated with?
Nagam Cultural Project wishes Womadelaide a very successful and productive festival. We hope that Womadelaide will be able to find a silver lining in all of this. We hope that we can all aspire to a future with a just peace and harmony, "when humanity is capable of a real civilized dialogue under more humane conditions," as Mr. Khalife puts it.
Mustafa Habib
Nagam Cultural Project
