WOMAD

• 

  Shocking that WOMAD have Israeli embassy ads in their programme...disgusting! We spend weekend listening to artists singing about peace and justice and people all over the world advocating the uniting of hands from different nations and yet there is a programme advocating the ads from the embassy of a state which is responsible for an apartheid system and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. the Israeli state have flouted countless UN resolutions and are still building illegal settlements on Palestinian lands, demolishing homes and are in the midst of displacing yet more of the exsting. Palestinian people to Ghetto's within the west bank to enable Israel to capitalise on their labours for industry in confined areas and with even less mobility. Wake up WOMAD what do you really stand for. Please do not ignore this....it is disgusting. Remember history...many of your artists do..they cannot get away from it, remember South Africa also.

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 3:46pm by Salmac

• 

  . . . I haven't seen any ads relating to any government embassy - which page of the programme is it on?

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 4:09pm by Mr Beef

• 

  Nope, I can't spot any either. What page are they on and what does it say?

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 4:41pm by FredFish

• 

  Page 64, Alaev Family... Embassy of Israel. What on earth is that doing there? Answers on a postcard please Womad.

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 5:00pm by FredFish

• 

  First Shell and now this. Something is definitely wrong.

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 5:02pm by FredFish

• 

  Well spotted Fred & Salmac. . . the embassy must have financed their trip to womad. . . . I wouldn't be surprised if governents or their agencies didn't provide finance for some of the performers (similar to the UK Arts Council) but it seems quite odd for it to be an embassy, and that the embassy then gets an advert in the programme. . . .

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 5:19pm by Mr Beef

• 

  Well done to Israel for seeing the importance of art and funding the artists' trip. Jewish and Israeli music is exactly as relevant to WOMAD as any other. If you're going on human rights abuses, illegal annexing or whoever's politics you don't agree with, you wouldn't have most of the acts we do. China, Bosnia, India, Azerbaijan - going further to say the USA, the UK, most of Africa etc. Celebrate arts, not politics, and if an artist needs financial help to play (WOMAD probably won't fund expenses for anyone but the biggest acts) and their governments are willing to help out, fair play to them. The Alaev family were one of my highlights, and that wouldn't have been possible without the Israeli embassy..

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 9:05pm by JimHxn

• 

  Well done to Israel for seeing the importance of art and funding the artists' trip. Jewish and Israeli music is exactly as relevant to WOMAD as any other. If you're going on human rights abuses, illegal annexing or whoever's politics you don't agree with, you wouldn't have most of the acts we do. China, Bosnia, India, Azerbaijan - going further to say the USA, the UK, most of Africa etc. Celebrate arts, not politics, and if an artist needs financial help to play (WOMAD probably won't fund expenses for anyone but the biggest acts) and their governments are willing to help out, fair play to them. The Alaev family were one of my highlights, and that wouldn't have been possible without the Israeli embassy..

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 9:05pm by JimHxn

• 

  Hear hear Jim!!! Celebrate arts, not politics is now my new motto!! xxx

  Posted on 03-Aug-2012 10:03pm by Yummy Mummy

• 

  Ok, the Israeli gvt sponsored The Alaev Family, Jim enjoyed their music, but why would Womad allow them to advertise the embassy in the programme? The answer is THEY PAID FOR THE ADVERT, the same as Shell have paid Womad in a sponsorship deal. In my view, the ethics of both the Israeli gvt and Shell are very, very wrong – and maybe Womad are at fault too. For me music is political and its through this media that people become educated. I just hope that people will listen to music at festivals like Womad and hopefully go home and talk to their friends and families about what they've seen and heard. Celebrate arts, culture, music and politics - life revolves around it.

  Posted on 04-Aug-2012 12:32am by Purpledawn

You need to be logged in and have a forum nickname to add a reply