Nick Cave has pushed back against calls for BDS and cultural boycotts of Israel, saying they punish fans, not governments.

Musician who knows nothing about politics, talks about politics, more at 11

    • Hexboare [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      This was 6 years ago

      But I also do not support the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement, as you know. I think the cultural boycott of Israel is cowardly and shameful. In fact, this is partly the reason I am playing Israel – not as support for any particular political entity but as a principled stand against those who wish to bully, shame and silence musicians. I don’t intend to engage in a detailed discussion as to how the boycott of Israel can be seen to be anti-Semitic at heart and, furthermore, does not work (rather, it risks further entrenching positions in Israel in opposition to those you support), but even the estimable Noam Chomsky considers the BDS as lacking legitimacy and inherently hypocritical. What we actually have here is a fundamental difference of opinion as to what the purpose of music is.

      • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        5·
        3 months ago

        What we actually have here is a fundamental difference of opinion as to what the purpose of music is.

        No, what we have here are people engaging with the material reality of music being sold as a commodity and functioning as a cultural product that legitimizes a genocidal state with the veneer of international cultural convergence in the Middle East’s Only Democracy™, and a man making a fool of himself by failing to consider how he’s a part of a system that’s larger than himself.

      • miz [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        it risks further entrenching positions in Israel in opposition to those you support

        completely anti-materialist politics. reminds me of that cartoon where the guy is loudly complaining about how he was pushed into being a nazi as he has his head shaved