Palestinian group uses music as weapon
mainNo talk of peace in this Al-jazeera report, only a threat to western educational charities to stop distracting young people from the armed struggle.
Palestine Street has continued to push messages of solidarity with Palestinians through its own verses. In one song, titled An Institutional Wedding, Azmi tackles the nonviolent politics of some NGOs in Palestine: “Recommendations for new projects that soften the minds through peace and nonviolent culture, yet you are not allowed to talk about a child who died in Gaza … To my people, if you ever want freedom, these NGOs must go away.”
Read on here.
The use of the word “weapon” in your header is ambiguous, to say the least. In the article, it is made quite clear that making their own music (and we will accept for the moment that they, like millions, use that term to cover rap and hip-hop) has been an alternative to violence. Instead of throwing stones at soldiers, they are rapping about their lives. Because of this they have avoided the fate — death — of a friend who was still throwing stones. They travel across the territory to introduce this notion to others.
Sorry, but that seems to me a positive action. Lament that the medium is hip-hop if you will, but the motives seem positive enough. I don’t like to read things that dismiss any initiative if it is Palestinian as if it were automatically suspect. Palestinian lives matter too.
Sancta simplicitas.
Exactly. And looking at the wider picture, it’s worth noting that some NGOs operating in Africa are leeches that do little to alleviate misery, despite their purported aims.