Students surprised acts dropped from Middle East Hip-Hop event
Students say they were taken aback to hear that a week meant to bring Middle Eastern cultures together has actually highlighted the conflicts between them.
Universal Beatz removed an Israeli and two Palestinian hip-hop artists from the roster of performers for its Middle Eastern Hip-Hop Week.
Organizers cut the performers following protests over the inclusion of Marvin Casey, a St. Louis native who converted to Judaism and immigrated to Israel.
“I think it is too bad that something that was supposed to bring people together …turned political and ended up causing more conflict,” sophomore Lizzie White said.
According to Universal Beatz member Nick Wilbar, the goal of Middle Eastern Hip-Hop week was to connect students on the Washington University campus with the Middle East. The group wanted both Middle Eastern communities and the St. Louis community represented in the event.
“I think that all different perspectives should be allowed to be represented regardless of background,” junior Rebecca Salisbury said.
The conflict began when one of the event’s sponsor’s, the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), discovered that the Israeli performer was affiliated with Jewish Agency for Israel—an organization that helps American Jews immigrate to Israel—and threatened to withdraw its support.
PSC officials said that the Jewish Agency for Israel prevents non-Jews—Palestinians in particular—from being able to live freely in Israel, and that including Casey in the event would signify the University’s supporting what they consider the “Apartheid” taking place in Israel.
“We felt we needed to speak out against Casey’s participation,” PSC representative Sandra Tamari said. “We felt he was acting as an official of the Israeli state and would therefore fall under the boycott guidelines.”
“It’s not about not agreeing with Marvin [Casey] as a human being,” said Anna Baltzer, another representative from the PSC. “It’s about providing a platform for an institution promoting the discrimination of a race.”
In a press release sent out last Thursday, The Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis and St. Louis Hillel at Washington University condemned the proposed boycott.
“Boycotts oversimplify the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict to a myopic view which ignores Israeli policies and efforts to promote negotiations and improve the situation on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” wrote Jacqueline Levey, Hillel CEO and Batya Abramson-Goldstein, executive director of the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council. “Boycotts stifle creative and constructive efforts to promote dialogue, peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, which was the goal of the U.S.-Mideast Hip-Hop Exchange Week.”
When two of the Palestinian performers, known as BiRD and Sharif “The Truth,” threatened to drop out of the event if Casey was included, the organizers decided to rescind the invitations to all three performers.
At this point, the PSC officially withdrew its support for the event.
Nicole Lopez, Universal Beatz president, expressed her frustration due to the controversy.
“We know there’s a lot of political debate in the Middle East, but we were trying to approach these politics from a more alternative perspective and shift the focus from politics,” Lopez said. “I think it just shows the need for stuff like this to happen.”
Lopez said that while the group regrets dropping any of the performers, it was put in a difficult, lose-lose situation, and the decision was made to preserve the group’s neutrality.
“Were we complying with a boycott? No, we were trying to save our event,” Lopez said. “The whole point of the event was to bring two sides together, not support one side or another.”
Salisbury agreed that by rescinding the invitations, Universal Beatz made a move to avoid conflict.
“In some ways it shows that they are not able to show both perspectives, but it also shows that they are trying to avoid this type of conflict and trying to discourage this type of conflict,” Salisbury said.
Universal Beatz is a hip-hop group created earlier this year by senior Nicole Lopez after her semester abroad in Jordan last year.
The hip-hop week received funding from SU Treasury and the College of Arts & Sciences.
Treasury should stop funding these guys. If they wish to put forth anti-semitic viewpoints, let them do it on their own dime. Students shouldn’t have to fund racism, bigotry, or any other form of discrimination.
?????
I think they were trying to put forth hip-hop…and then the performers (and many students it appears) brought in their views. I believe this choice was an attempt to avoid the Jew-Muslim conflict that would be certain to overshadow the event by changing the lineup (though unsuccessfully this time – but worked with Bristol).
Perhaps a more productive course of action would be for some other group (I can think of a few potentials) to invite Marvin Casey if they feel the University community has been unjustly robbed of what he was planning to say/do. If not now, then next school year. I would prefer that my classmates be forward-thinking rather than re-hash a 1500 year conflict in the Student Life comment section. If I wanted to listen to religious groups argue, I can find that elsewhere – there are plenty of blogs, international news outlets, etc. But this is WashU. We pride ourselves as independent thinkers who can look at a problem and find a solution.
Improvise-Adapt-Overcome.
Here’s the problem with that logic. Nice as it may seem, it’s not exactly easy to secure thousands of dollars for an event. Furthermore, it doesn’t solve the problem of being bullied around by politics for an apolitical concert simply because the organizer was naive.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/godsend/how_marvin_met_oshrat
this is who the arabs chose to boycott
who are the racists in this case? who is pro apartheid?
shame on the org who disinvited this proud african american israeli
The problem is not that the Palestinian Solidarity Committee wanted to boycott the event. They had every right to. While I completely disagree with their unfair, unjust, and wrong accusations of Israel, I am fine with them boycotting the event. Each is entitled to their own political views. In fact, I would have been surprised if the PSC hadn’t pulled a stunt like they did – equating the action of listening to an Israeli rapper with breaking a boycott.
THE PROBLEM IS MY STUDENT ACTIVITY FEE WAS USED TO SUPPORT THEIR BOYCOTT! And quite frankly, I am absolutely ashamed of that fact. By withdrawing the invitation to Marvin Casey simply because of a boycott by the radical PSC and other anti-Israel groups, Universal Beatz participated in the boycott. Instead of promoting dialogue by letting as many voices be heard as possible, Universal Beatz decided instead to participate in a radical boycott against Israel.
I agree 100%
would hillel or the JCRC sponsor an event featuring a representative of an anti-semitic organization? if not, then they should quit their posturing about boycotts and dialogue and be honest about what’s going on.
Anna,
Is SLPSC affiliated with this organization?
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/03/msa-pledge-of-allegiance-i-will-die-to-establish-islam.html
Just a small point.
How about the line before that saying “I will stand up for what is right…I will fight against oppression” ?
Thanks for taking things out of context. I’m sure I could google and link some pictures from Israeli airstrikes on crowded neighborhoods with crying children in the streets, but I won’t.
The UN is set to recognize a Palestinian state in September according to the 1967 borders, and there looks to be little that the right wing government of Israel can do to stop it. The next step will probably be strategic alliances with Syria and Iran, and then there will be no other option but to take Palestinian concerns seriously.
“The UN is set to recognize a Palestinian state…”
Wow, and is that supposed to impress anyone?
The UN has become the laughing stock of the civilized world. Chances are excellent that whatever the UN does that the opposite would have been a more humane choice.
Here’s your holier-than-thou UN:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=patcondell#p/a/u/0/5Ana9w3uSNA
Earth to George Orwell…come in please.
Furthermore, I think the most surprising aspect of this event is that $12,000 of our activities fee was actually allocated to this projected doomed from the start, as if Bristol Palin wasn’t enough controversy.
Universal Beatz sounds like another hugely idealistic/naive student group that gets formed because one WU senior is about to graduate and suddenly needs something to put on her resume. In failing to recognize the eventual politicization of their event, Universal Beatz fails to see that their whole premise is flawed and impractical. How can a group called the Palestine Solidarity Committee not be upset over an Israeli activist who believes in precisely the opposite thing as they do? Ironically, “a week meant to bring Middle Eastern cultures together has actually highlighted the conflicts between them” as the article says.
Thank you for taking the time to interview us at the St Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Just one clarification point: I don’t think I referred to discrimination against a “race” but rather according to “ethnicity and religion.” Just a small point.
~ Anna Baltzer
http://www.stl-psc.org
who is anna baltzer?
she is nothing more than norman finkelstein in a skirt
hey anna, still spreading the lie that there are jewish only roads in israel and the disputed territories?
are you happy that you prevented a black man from performing in st louis? cuz im sure your kkk buddies are
Does she ever mention this?
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/07/muslims-say-total-ban-on-non-muslims-in-mecca-violates-human-rights-and-religious-freedom—-no-wait.html
I didn’t think so.
Anna,
Let’s organize an annual “Arab Apartheid Week,” which would highlight the decrepit state of human and political rights throughout the Arab world.
There is a solid case to be made that the Arab states remain the last great outpost of despotism and tyranny on earth, and people need to be reminded as much. Indeed, the Arab world today is a living encyclopedia of outmoded forms of government, from sultanates such as Oman and emirates such as Qatar, to thuggish dictatorships such as Syria and dynastic monarchies along the lines of Jordan. It may be a political scientist’s dream, but it is a nightmare for the hundreds of millions of Arabs chafing under oppression and tyranny.
Basic and fundamental freedoms such as personal autonomy and individual rights are routinely trampled upon, and ethnic and religious minority groups suffer extreme discrimination and
intolerance. Just ask Coptic Christians in Egypt, Baha’is in Iran or Shi’ites in Saudi Arabia for starters.
This was borne out most recently by a report issued by Freedom House, the independent Washington-based group that advocates for freedom worldwide. Its annual survey, “Freedom in the World 2010,” would make for eye-opening reading for all those who cry “apartheid” whenever they see a flag with a Star of David.
Consider the following findings:
Of the 18 countries in the Middle East that Freedom House surveyed, only one is considered to be “free.”
And just who might that be? Yep, you guessed it: Israel.
Not a single Arab country – not one! – did Freedom House consider “free.” Three Arab states – Morocco, Lebanon and Kuwait – were labeled “partly free,” while 13 other Arab states as well as Iran merited the dubious distinction of being branded as “not free.”
In effect, then, this means that of the approximately 370 million human beings currently residing in the Middle East, only 2 percent enjoy true freedom – namely those who live in the Jewish state.
So much for “Israeli apartheid.”
NOT SURPRISINGLY, in a press release announcing the report’s publication, Freedom House concluded that “the Middle East remained the most repressive region in the world.” It is this message that Israel and its supporters need to begin highlighting. By casting a spotlight on the subjugation, oppression and tyranny that typify nearly the entire Arab world, we can open some eyes out there and educate the Western public as to who really shares their democratic values.
As Prof. Bernard Lewis has written, the Arab states are little more than “a string of shabby tyrannies, ranging from traditional autocracies to new-style dictatorships, modern only in their apparatus of repression and indoctrination.”
An annual Arab Apartheid Week, held on campuses and at community centers, could be an effective vehicle for driving home this fundamental truth.
Doing so will reframe the debate. More importantly, it will help Westerners to finally begin recognizing the Arab regimes for what they are: a dangerous mix of despotism and dictatorship.