Bella Freud & Hoping Foundation & Hideous Kinky

I've been meaning to do a longer post on the Hoping Foundation's recent (July) charity event that raised 430,000 pounds sterling for Palestinian children. Among those who performed were: David Gilmour and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Nick Cave, Tom Jones, and Kate Moss (yes, she sang back-up and played tambourine). And maybe I will in future still do that post.

But then I came across this photo (source here) of Kate Moss and Hoping Foundation co-founder Bella Freud at the event.

I guess if I lived in the UK I might know that (a) Bella is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund; (b) she is a well-known fashion designer; (c) she has been an outspoken critic of Israel and (d) she is the elder sister of Esther Freud, author of the autobiographical novel Hideous Kinky (made into a fairly decent movie, starring Kate Winslet).

Having seen the movie (but not yet having read the book), here's what I like about what I learned about Bella Freud. Hippy mom who is way into Sufism drags her daughters off to Morocco in search of spirituality and exoticism. The elder daughter, who survives this difficult ordeal, which includes a nearly-fatal bout of streptococcus, returns to the UK and...grows up to become a successful fashion designer with a political conscience.

So let's not overdo it with making fun of the "Orientalism" of all those hippy treksters and seekers after spirituality who descended on Morocco in the sixties and seventies.

Stop the Wall: Roger Waters

The Walmart shareholders are congregating, as they do every year about this time. But it seems that organized protests against the Wal are not happening this year. I guess we are turning into sheep.

Meanwhile, Roger Waters is still agitating against that other (apartheid)wall, according to this AP report, via Salon.com (and thanks to Alannah for the heads up).

Ex-Pink Floyd rocker wants Israeli wall down

Jun 2nd, 2009 | AIDA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank -- The legendary rocker and co-founder of Pink Floyd says he would give a concert in a flash if Israel's West Bank wall is torn down.

Roger Waters made the promise Tuesday during a visit to a Palestinian refugee camp that is hemmed in by the separation barrier's tall slabs of cement.

The 65-year-old co-wrote Pink Floyd's iconic "The Wall" album and performed music from it in 1990 at the site where the Berlin Wall once stood.

Waters had harsh words for the West Bank barrier, which Israel says was built as a defense against Palestinian militants.

The musician says the wall amounts to an oppressive grab of Palestinian land and that he hopes that "this thing, this awful thing, is destroyed soon."

Go here for previous posts on Roger Waters, who has been been involved in the campaign against the Wall for several years.

Benefit Album for Palestine?

The recent release of Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur got me thinking about why it is that, as the occupation of the West Bank enters its forty-first year, there has never been a comparable benefit album for Palestinians. Why is it that "progressive" pop artists are so timid? Benefit albums for HIV/AIDS victims, for the ethical treatment of animals, for Bengla Desh, against hunger, for Tibet. But Palestine: taboo?

I began to wonder whether one could assemble an imaginary tribute album using tracks already recorded by well-known artists? Unfortunately, I can't think of many. Here's a start, a work in progress.

1. "War Crimes," The Specials (In the Studio, 1984), written by Jerry Dammers.

From one of Britain's best two-tone ska bands, a song about the Sabra-Shatila massacre of 1982. Here are the lyrics.

Bombs to settle arguments, the order of the boot
Can you hear them crying in the rubble of Beirut?

I can still see people dying, now who takes the blame?
the numbers are different, the crime is still the same

From the graves of Belsen where the innocent were burned
To the genocide in Beirut, Israel was nothing learned?

I can still hear people crying, now who takes the blame?
The numbers are different, the crime is still the same

Bombs to settle arguments, the order of the boot
From the graves of Belsen, to the ruins of Beirut

I can still see people dying, now who takes the blame?
The numbers are different, the crime is still the same

(Jerry Dammers has publicly come out in support of the campaign against the apartheid/separation wall.)

2. "PLO Style," Method Man, Tical (1994)

Method Man only invokes the PLO metaphorically, but it's great song nonetheless.

P.L.O. style, Buddha monks with the Owls...
The street life is the only life I know
I live by the code style it's mad P.L.O...

Iranian thoughts and cover like an Arabian
Grab a nigga on the spot and put a nine to his cranium"

Classic Wu!

3. Simon Shaheen & Qantara, "Olive Harvest," Blue Flame (2001).

This instrumental, composed by New York-based Palestinian 'ud and violin master Simon Shaheen, is based on Shaheen's memories of the olive harvest in his native village of Tarshiha, in the Galilee (one of the villages that was not ethnically cleansed in 1947-48). Benefit albums of the sort I am imagining usually feature major stars, but they also often include one or two world music artists. Shaheen is one of the most prominent world musicians of Arab background living in the US, so I think this track qualifies.

4. Roger Waters, "To Kill the Child," "To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut" (2005).

It’s cold in the desert
And the space is too big
The rope is too short
And the walls are too thick
I will show you no weakness
I will mock you in song
Berate and deride you
Belittle and chide you
Beat you with sticks
And bulldoze your home
You can watch my triumphant procession to Rome
Best seat in the house
Up there on the cross
Is it anger or envy, profit or loss
That we would choose to kill the child

Waters is also active in the campaign against the wall. I'm not a huge fan of Waters, but he does have name recognition.

5. Billy Bragg, "The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie" (single available only online, written in March 2006, to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll)
Read about the song and download it here:

An Israeli bulldozer killed poor Rachel Corrie
As she stood in its path in the town of Rafah
She lost her young life in an act of compassion
Trying to protect the poor people of Gaza
Whose homes are destroyed by tank shells and bulldozers
And whose plight is exploited by suicide bombers
Who kill in the name of the people of Gaza
But Rachel Corrie believed in non-violent resistance
Put herself in harm's way as a shield of the people
And paid with her life in a manner most brutal

6. Patti Smith, "Qana"

Maybe this doesn't belong here, it's about Lebanon, not Palestine. Patti wrote it last summer during Israel's onslaught on Lebanon, about the airstrike on Qana on July 30, 2006, and she performed it at Lollapalooza in Chicago. You can download it here.

Village is empty
Not a human
Nor a stone
Village is empty
In the village
Children are gone
And a mother rocks
Herself to sleep
Let it come down
Let her weep

And the dead lay in strange shapes

Some stay buried
Others crawl free
Baby didn't make it
Screaming debris
And a mother rocks
Herself to sleep

And the dead lay in strange shapes

Limp little bodies
Caked in mud
Small, small hands
Found in the road
Their talking about
War aims
What a phrase
Bombs that fall
American made
The new Middle East
The Rice woman squeaks
And a mother rocks
Herself to sleep

And the dead lay in strange shapes

Little bodies
Little bodies
Tied head and feet
Wrapped in plastic
Laid out in the street
The new Middle East
The Rice woman squeaks
And a mother rocks
Herself to sleep
Let it come down
Let her weep

And the dead lay in strange shapes

Water to wine
Wine to blood
Ahh Qana
The miracle
Is love
The miracle
Is love

And the dead lay in strange shapes

That's all I can come up with so far. Belle & Sebastian have visited Palestine with War on Want, but I don't know whether they have any relevant songs. Please help me find some more!

Roger Waters Concert

Here's a report from War on Want on Roger Waters' recent concert (June 22) in Israel, at the "mixed" community Neve Shalom.

The crowd of 50,000--mostly Israeli Jews, due to the relatively high prices--received Waters enthusiastically, and reacted positively to his subtle and his direct criticisms of the (apartheid) Wall. War on Want reports: "It was not until the encore that Waters decided to speak out directly against the Occupation, asking Israelis to tear down the wall!', before launching into Pink Floyd mega-hit Another Brick in the Wall."

We learn from the report too that Sting recently visited Palestinian refugee camps and has called the occupation "an obscenity." (Recall Sting's collaboration with Cheb Mami on the 1999 hit "Desert Rose" and the boost the video gave to the Jaguar Corporation.) I'm still looking for more information on Sting's trip...

On a side note, it turns out that Waters' father worked in Palestine between 1934 and 1938, a period of Palestinian history that I'm quite interested in. (See my Memories of Revolt: The 1936-39 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past.) According to the report, "The night before the concert, Waters met with Palestinian musicians at the Edward Said Consortium of Music in East Jerusalem as part of a tour organised by UK anti-poverty group War on Want. He recalled that his mother would receive letters from his Dad telling of the migration of rich Jews into Palestine and their hostile attitude toward the Arab people."

Tags: Israel, Palestine, Roger Waters

Roger Waters at the Wall

Roger Waters (ex-Pink Floyrd), on a visit to Israel and Palestine and who will perform at Neve Shalom today, visited the apartheid wall (separation barrier in Zionist doublespeak) at Bethlehem yesterday, the first stop on the tour. He tagged it with "tear down the wall." I wonder when some famous US popstar will ever get involved in this issue. Or will it just be more Sharon Stones, bussing with the likes of Shimon Peres? (Said Sharon: “I admire you, sir, so greatly, it’s beyond discussion or I would just sit here in a puddle of tears. That I can sit here beside you is my greatest achievement.”)

More on Roger Waters' engagement with the Wall here and here. On Hilary Clinton and the Wall, here and here. Banksy's Wall graffiti are here.

Tag: Palestine

Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) Calls Off Planned Tel Aviv Concert

Roger Waters, ex-Pink Floyd (1965-1983) and since then a solo artist, was scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv, but has called off the concert in response to appeals by Palestinian artists and cultural organizations as well as Israeli refuseniks. Amazing. No US pop star could ever get away with this. Waters has also been very vocal in expressing his opposition to Israel's apartheid wall. Read more about this at ElectronicIntifada (and thanks, Laurie).

P.S. After doing a little more research, I've learned that Waters has moved his concert from Tel Aviv to Neve Shalom, a mixed Arab-Jewish village in Israel, near Jerusalem. So he's not boycotting, but trying to encourage peaceful coexistence.

Tags: Roger Waters, Israel, Palestine, boycott

Roger Waters, Belle & Sebastian: Against the (Apartheid) Wall

Check out this very compelling video advertisement for War On Want, a British-based anti-poverty organization, and its campaign against Israel’s apartheid wall. The video features music stars Belle & Sebastian on a tour of the wall, as well as music by a Palestinian hip-hop group. The anti-wall Writings on the Wall campaign was launched by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd in June 2004. The image gallery features luminaries like Roger Waters (pictured above), Shane MacGowan (The Pogues), writer Naomi Klein, Billy Bragg, Jerry Dammers (The Specials), and others, including MPs, signing the model wall in support of the campaign.

Check out the site, sign up for the campaign(s).

Why do no US music stars get involved in such campaigns? Is it still too dangerous to a US artist’s career to utter the word Palestine?