Navalny says Putin is stealing from musicians
NewsFive tweets from supporters of the jailed Russian opposition leader:
1/5 Putin decided to organize a “Z-marathon” of concerts in support of the war all across the country. The amount of money allocated for it is so large that reports show that the artists were paid twice as much as usual.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) May 18, 2022
2/5 But at the end of the day, performers are complaining that they were actually paid several times less than on paper. If you’re a Putin official, you can’t help but steal. It’s in your DNA.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) May 18, 2022
3/5 However, it’s up to the US @StateDept, the EU @EU_Commission, the UK @GOVUK, Canada @CanadianPM, Australia @ausgov, New Zealand @jacindaardern to put an end to this story.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) May 18, 2022
4/5 Greedy hypocritical scumbags who wanted to make money from promoting war and death should be rewarded by the West with sanctions and lifetime ban on entering civilized countries.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) May 18, 2022
5/5 The message must be direct and clear: you will not be able to keep a foot in both camps. You will not be able to sing in support of the war in Novosibirsk today and make money tomorrow by entertaining guests at an oligarch’s birthday party on the French Riviera or in Aspen.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) May 18, 2022
Putin and his cadre are stealing from EVERYONE! CNN had an absolutely riveting documentary about Navalny. Do whatever you have to in order to view it.
I guess you’re referring to this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0016txs/navalny. I agree with you: absolutely riveting.
He steals from everyone — why should musicians be exempt? Nothing personal.
Totally agree! Bravo, Navalny!
WISH it could apply to Venezuelan musicians, too! They served a narco-dictatorship for two decades while watching from five-star hotels abroad as their nation sank into a mire of human misery, causing the exile of 7 million of their fellow citizens. They worked for Putin’s main ally in the region, under a wing of the Venezuelan regime. They wore the regime flag in concerts. Yet, STILL their franchise is adopted around the world!
Is the moral line only drawn at the military invasion of a neighbouring state? Torture, arbitrary detention, murder of protesters… they don’t count? When will we ever hear an apology from the agencies, promoters, orchestras, record label and artists that profited so richly from this machiavellian bargain? No doubt they are all now signalling their virtue in the Ukrainian context, with zero understanding of Russia’s global alliances.
And now that Biden removes sanctions on Venezuela’s ICC-sanctioned criminals in order to access Venezuelan oil and bring down gas prices in time for the mid-terms, watch the machinery of music propaganda crank up again. It already started with concerts in Turkey, led by regime puppet, Christian Vasquez. Why Turkey? Because Maduro’s son, on the board of El Sistema, has private interests in gold mining, and Turkey is Venezuela’s chief conduit for gold refining and sanctions busting.
Open your eyes, classical music world. There is more to this global puzzle than Ukraine and Russia.
(And before anyone draws false equivalencies with American musicians and the Iraq war – which most consider an abhorrent and illegal war, me included – the US state has virtually no involvement in the sponsorship of the arts, let alone a state-funded music propaganda program).
As usual, the Navalny Team has a valid point.