Musicians for Palestine

SEE THE SIGNATORIES HERE.

MUSICIANS CAN SIGN THE LETTER HERE.

We cannot be silent.

This is a moment of truth for millions worldwide who prize human dignity, and as musicians we are no exception. We stand for life, for love, for justice, and for peace. We mourn with all in Palestine/Israel who have lost loved ones. We share their grief and their pain. 

The unfolding human catastrophe for 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children, is “a textbook case of genocide,” in the words of both the prominent US-based Israeli scholar of genocide Raz Segal and leading former UN human rights official Craig Mokhiber. 

We cannot be neutral in the face of such injustice. 

We cannot be silent as 17 years of Israeli blockade, now a “complete siege,” have made Gaza extremely unliveable. Almost all of its water is unfit for human consumption. Its healthcare system has largely collapsed. The majority of its children are anaemic, with many suffering from severe malnutrition.

As musicians, we uplift the voice of the oppressed. We unflinchingly condemn oppression in all forms, just as we condemn harming civilians, without hesitation, no matter their identity. As the emancipatory Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire reminds us, to end all violence we must work tirelessly to end its root cause, oppression. 

We cannot be silent after 75 years of Israel’s military occupation and system of apartheid against Palestinians – as leading international, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have described it.

We stand firm against all forms of racism, including anti-Blackness, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. Those who dehumanize, demonize or collectively blame entire communities or peoples can only hinder our collective liberation. 

We speak out together in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equal rights. We uphold the freedom of grassroots activists and artists worldwide to advocate and engage in peaceful means to achieve accountability, to fight injustice, and to pursue freedom, a just peace, and dignity. 

We cannot be silent. We draw inspiration from Artists Against Apartheid that helped end apartheid in South Africa.  We refuse to let our music be used to whitewash oppression and human rights violations anywhere. We insist that all governments stop sending weapons and military funding to Israel and to any other state involved in crimes against humanity.

Today, we demand an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza, and an end to the siege. The day after, our vision of a just and peaceful future for all must be our most urgent task. We urge everyone who shares that vision to join us.