Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Naomi Klein Join Over 100 Academics Denouncing The Israel lobby’s Attempt To Cancel Lowkey (& Open Thread)

Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Naomi Klein Join Over 100 Academics Denouncing The Israel lobby’s Attempt To Cancel Lowkey

The worldwide campaign of support for hip hop artist and political campaigner Lowkey is growing. Following the publication of Monday’s open letter backing the British-Iraqi rapper’s right to freedom of speech, more than 100 academics, journalists and other public figures have signed a letter of public support, denouncing what they see as a “coordinated smear campaign to demonize, defame and deplatform him.”
Among the most notable signatories include Princess Dana of Jordan, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, American linguist and political scientist Noam Chomsky and philosopher and political activist Cornel West.
In recent weeks Lowkey – a tireless campaigner for Palestinian human rights – has been the target of a disingenuous attempt to destroy his career, led by pro-Israeli groups, many of whom are either directly funded or staffed by individuals from the Israeli Embassy in London. Following their pressure campaign, his talks and performances at universities have been postponed or canceled. Meanwhile, the lobbying group “We Believe In Israel” is trying to remove his music from streaming platform Spotify. Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has involved himself in the affair, seemingly fully supporting the witch hunt against him and signaling this could be the first of many similar efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices.
In addition to Chomsky, dozens of prominent Jewish voices have rejected the Israel lobby’s attempts to silence Lowkey and signed the letter. These include writer and activist Naomi Klein, Professor Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents magazine, and journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald. A number of prominent Israelis have also endorsed Lowkey, including historians Avi Shlaim and Ilan Pappé, as well as activist Miko Peled.
Since its publication on Monday, more musicians and entertainers, such as electronic music legend Brian Eno, comedian Frankie Boyle, and rappers Akala and Immortal Technique, have also asked to have their names added to the letter.

More news, videos, tweets, etc. in the comments.

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LieparDestin

Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc.

LieparDestin

Hello friends! I’ll use this comments as a host for some pictures from our latest little roadtrip through NM/CO once I get them transferred.

la58

Did you get the RV on the road?

orlbucfan

I was wondering the same thing?

LieparDestin

The campaign to deplatform Lowkey is the same reason I refuse to back any campaign to deplatform anyone. They are media or lobby driven efforts to suppress speech, and those who disagree with a given narrative. It was very successful post 2016 during the youtube ‘adpocalypse’ and these groups took that win as a sign to ramp things up.

la58

Ad this to the list https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/28/chris-hedges-on-being-disappeared/

The entire archive of “On Contact,” the Emmy-nominated show I hosted for six years for RT America and RT International, has been disappeared from YouTube. Gone is the interview with Nathaniel Philbrick on his book about George Washington. Gone is the discussion with Kai Bird on his biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Gone is my exploration with Professor Sam Slote from Trinity College Dublin of James Joyce’s “Ulysses.”
Gone is the show with Benjamin Moser on his biography of Susan Sontag. Gone is the show with Stephen Kinzer on his book on John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles. Gone are the interviews with the social critics Cornel West, Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Gerald Horne, Wendy Brown, Paul Street, Gabriel Rockwell, Naomi Wolff and Slavoj Zizek.

LieparDestin

Yep…

Democrats in Congress have held hearings with the CEOs of social media companies pressuring them to do more to censor content. Banish the troglodytes. Then we will have social cohesion. Then life will go back to normal. Fake news. Harm reduction model. Information pollution. Information disorder. They have all sorts of Orwellian phrases to justify censorship.
Meanwhile, they peddle their own fantasy that Russia was responsible for the election of Donald Trump. It is a stunning inability to be remotely self-reflective or self-critical, and it is ominous as we move deeper and deeper into a state of political and social dysfunction.
What were my sins? I did not, like my former employer, The New York Times, sell you the lie of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, peddle conspiracy theories about Donald Trump being a Russian asset, put out a 10-part podcast called the “Caliphate” that was a hoax, or tell you that the information on Hunter Biden’s laptop was “disinformation.” I did not prophesize that Joe Biden was the next FDR or that Hillary Clinton was going to win the election.
This censorship is about supporting what, as I.F Stone reminded us, governments always do – lie. Challenge the official lie, as I often did, and you will soon become a nonperson on digital media.

orlbucfan

Yep, it’s been going down for a long time, sadly.🙄

wi64

Sadly, way too many things from 1984 have or are becoming a reality on this planet. Either people dont realize or simply dont give a damn on how much were regressing as a species. Technological advances are happening faster than our ability to use them wisely.

LieparDestin

Lowkey: a Hip-Hop Voice for the Palestinian Struggle

The pro-Israeli group We Believe In Israel wants to shut down UK hip-hop artist, Lowkey, on Spotify. Luke Akehurst, director of and speaking on behalf of the group, recently stated:
“We view [Lowkey’s] comments about globalizing the Intifada as a direct incitement of violence towards Jews and Israelis, while Hasan Salaam [Lowkey’s real name] promotes commonly held and nefarious antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish world domination.”
Entirely failing to provide any evidence of this, the group is deliberately framing Lowkey as a hateful propagandist when in fact he’s an exemplary artist, namely one—through his powerful music—fighting for Palestinian justice. In Long Live Palestine 3, for example, he raps:
This is for Palestine, Al-Quds, the capital Jerusalem
Unarmed people marching to the wall and they’re shooting ’em
Suppression is a question, resistance is the answer
Long live Palestine, long live Gaza
Palestine, Al-Quds, the capital Jerusalem
Unarmed people marching to the wall and they’re shooting ’em
Suppression is a question, resistance is the answer
Long live Palestine, long live Gaza
That is but one example of the many lyrical salvos that Lowkey has aimed at Israel, undermining its credibility as a “democracy” illuminating its criminality in destroying the lives of generations of Palestinians.
‘We Believe In Israel’ does not want the public to be exposed to this. It not only offends Israel’s image but draws direct attention to its ongoing settler-colonial project. It wants to finish that project by fully eliminating the Palestinian people.
And it wants as much as possible to do that in secret which, frankly, speaks to its sheer stupidity. Unlike in 1948 when the Nakba began we have the Internet now. The constantly evolving technology makes it impossible to control the flood of images—photos, videos, etc.—that exposes the murderous project. (I recently spoke with Professor Rebecca Stein at Duke University about her excellent anthropological work on this.)
Lowkey’s name may itself imply meekness but that, to his credit he is not. He is a serious threat to the dishonesty of Israel, let alone—as revolutionaries tend to be—they’re getting away with it. Indeed when you combine anti-colonial thinking, lyricism and music (in this case hip-hop) you get something that is at once non-violent yet explosive.
Lowkey’s hip-hop in this regard serves a dual function. On the one hand, it is educational. Informed by history and facts on the ground he invites—through lyricism—audiences to see what has been happening in Palestine and the criminals responsible for their needless suffering. As sadly obvious as this is to us who follow the daily news of Palestine to much of the world it is not.
This is not necessarily because they don’t care but on account of the hegemony of Western media, which foregrounds the suffering of others to the exclusion of Palestine. Lowkey wants to rightfully disrupt this force, rendering the otherwise invisibility of Palestinians visible. As he emphasizes in Long Live Palestine Part 1, it is an issue that ought to be of universal concern

LieparDestin

These brilliant people have all signed the open letter against the Israel lobby campaign to remove my music from Spotify. I hope you can too! pic.twitter.com/mtUMjKKXF7
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) March 31, 2022

LieparDestin

Some People Want to Cancel @Lowkey0nline
I Wonder Why? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/VBRyFKhewf
— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) March 25, 2022

orlbucfan

I knew that SOB Netanyaboob was featured.😡

LieparDestin

nbc news finds that among democratic voters @BernieSanders is the most valuable endorsement a candidate can get. pic.twitter.com/pljxTdOZiS
— mike casca (@cascamike) March 30, 2022

orlbucfan

Heh, heh, heh, just wait ‘til November.✊

Benny

+27

LieparDestin

Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Anyone who thinks we do not have an oligarchy right here in America is sorely mistaken. Multi-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson are off taking joy rides on their rocket ships to outer space. They are buying $500 million superyachts." pic.twitter.com/Y8moclvdU6
— The Hill (@thehill) March 30, 2022

orlbucfan

Bezos the Borg is the only one who’s a Yank. 💩💩

LieparDestin

Who the fuck are you talking about?
9/11 happened Two days after my 18th birthday
2 decade long wars immediately ensued, fought by our generation
Economy collapsed when I was 25
None of my friends own a house, nearly all are tens of thousands of dollars in debt
Then Covid…
— KirkJones (@KirkJon33065028) March 30, 2022

LieparDestin

After pretty much rightfully calling out Will Smith for his despicable behavior at the Oscar’s, Jimmy Kimmel then said, ~ “On one hand I can see him wanting to defend his wife, cuz you’re dammed if you do and you’re Ted Cruz if you don’t”. 🤣
— voteblue2020🇺🇦🌻🇺🇸 (@lflorepolitics) March 29, 2022

It’s been at least 40 years since inflation was as high as it is today, and that means an entire generation of “entitled” consumers is about to learn some very rude lessons about life and money, according to BlackRock President Rob Kapito
Kapito, who is also co-founder of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor of other people’s money, spoke this week at a conference of oil and gas producers in Austin, Texas.
“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” Kapito said, according to Bloomberg News.
“And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice,” he said, according to the outlet.
BlackRock has about $10 trillion of clients’ assets under management. As its president, the 65-year-old Kapito made $22 million last year, putting him in the top one-tenth of the richest one percent of Americans.

orlbucfan

Someone needs to shoot this yahoo straight into the sun.

wi64

“Your Gonna need a bigger boat” (Rocket) 🚀 Orl. i got several more that can go along and i’ll bet you do to 🙂

orlbucfan

Don’t forget accelerating climate catastrophe. 😡

LieparDestin

After pretty much rightfully calling out Will Smith for his despicable behavior at the Oscar’s, Jimmy Kimmel then said, ~ “On one hand I can see him wanting to defend his wife, cuz you’re dammed if you do and you’re Ted Cruz if you don’t”. 🤣
— voteblue2020🇺🇦🌻🇺🇸 (@lflorepolitics) March 29, 2022

jcitybone

Thanks LD

Study: When white Americans heard about COVID hitting people of color harder, a lot of them mentally peaced out. This is ugly. https://t.co/AZnRJPQdMS pic.twitter.com/MHGDIlCWv8
— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) March 30, 2022

orlbucfan

Follow the protocols. Dying of Covid aka suffocating to death is no fun.

Torabs

I’m glad they studied this. The persistent failure to see non-white people as fully human is a persistent problem across this country (as the frenzied reactions to the Ukraine invasion also show).

jcitybone

"New York’s proposal for higher home care wages could offer a model for how we can care for aging adults while making wise investments that will channel funding into the local economy." – @aijenpoo and @Ilanalee7 https://t.co/RV3IdxAYIb
— R Givan (@rkgwork) March 30, 2022

orlbucfan

👏👏👏

jcitybone

But remember it is our side that does the so-called "Cancel Culture" 🙄
Republicans are Increasingly Targeting 'Divisive Concepts' at Colleges and Universities https://t.co/zYWEjNpQvu via @YahooNews
— William Jones 💙💛🌻 (@mrwilliamjones) March 30, 2022

orlbucfan

This has been happening for some time. Kochroaches pulled it on FSU.

jcitybone

https://www.businessinsider.com/sanders-manchin-biden-billionaire-tax-plan-2022-3

Sen. Bernie Sanders took a swipe at Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Tuesday after the conservative Democrat sunk a fresh White House tax proposal taking aim at the richest Americans.
“I don’t care what Mr. Manchin has to say,” he told Insider on Tuesday.
He went on: “At a time of massive income and wealth inequality where billionaires are doing phenomenally well and in some cases don’t pay any federal taxes, it’s absolutely essential that we have a progressive tax system and demand billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. We got to go forward on that.”

jcitybone

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/sinema-manchin-kelly-democratic-senators-republicans-david-weil/index.html

Three moderate Senate Democrats joined Republicans on Wednesday night in voting against advancing President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.
Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin and Mark Kelly voted against a procedural vote to advance David Weil’s nomination. The final vote count was 47-53, where a simple majority was needed to advance the nomination.
Weil previously served in this role during the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017 and faced criticism from conservative groups for policies he enacted at the time that they argue hurt small businesses, such as pushing to classify independent contractors as employees. Private groups were urging moderate Democrats to vote against Weil’s nomination.