Lorde performs at the 2017 VNZMA awards. The singer songwriter cancelled a show in Tel Aviv after listening to the arguments of her fans - a principled decision says columnist Vaughan Gunson.
Lorde performs at the 2017 VNZMA awards. The singer songwriter cancelled a show in Tel Aviv after listening to the arguments of her fans - a principled decision says columnist Vaughan Gunson.
Big respect to Lorde for taking the heat from those who'd defend apartheid in Israel.
To cancel a show in Tel Aviv, after listening to the arguments of fans, was a principled decision. And perhaps a braver one than she thought, as she's unleashed the fury of the Israeli lobby in America.
Imagine having a full-page ad in a major paper labelling you a bigot?
It's heartening, then, that artists, actors and musicians around the world, but particularly in Britain, have come to her defence.
This 21-year-old is now entwined in a hugely contentious issue; a minefield of complexity, imperial power-plays, war crimes and high emotion. The historical backdrop to which stretches back centuries, thanks to the persecution of Jews by Christian Europe, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust.
US President Donald Trump meets US troops in Japan during a trip to Asia in November 2017. Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and has ordered the US embassy to move there.
But it's the actions of the Israeli state today, not the wider multi-political diaspora of Jewish people, that's being questioned and opposed. If there's ever a case of two wrongs not making a right, it's this one.
The creation of Israel, which couldn't have been accomplished without the financial and military backing of the United States, was an act of modern-day colonialism. A people had to be defeated, disempowered and displaced ― we know how it goes ― to make way for the new power.
Palestinians were driven into neighbouring countries, or worse, massacred in their villages. Those left were holed up in the worst arable lands of Gaza and the West Bank. Excluded from any control over physical resources, like water, unable to move freely and denied democratic rights in the new state of Israel.
What Lorde has done, by cancelling a gig in Tel Aviv ― party central in the Middle East ― is draw the attention of fans and non-fans alike to the ongoing injustices suffered by Palestinians.
Increased knowledge and awareness can only help the campaign to impose economic and cultural sanctions on Israel. It's what worked against South Africa.
It needs to be noted, though, the inconsistency of our Government's position. While New Zealand has often voted at the United Nations to condemn the actions of Israel, we still go along with the idea of a "two-state solution".
That path can only lead to continued conflict and violence, given one of those states would be a powerless enclave surrounded by an aggressive and richer one.
The only solution is one state where Palestinians and Israelis have equal democratic rights, freedom of movement and shared access to the resources that the land and economy have to give.
That's the ideology of this country, uniting Maori and non-Maori in an imperfect, but functioning, liberal democracy.
It seems disingenuous and hypocritical to support a two-state solution for another part of the world when it would be a disaster here. And it's not the path South Africa took either.
So thank you, Lorde. Thank you for providing the opportunity to voice these ideas. Keep your chin up, and I look forward to you channelling your current feelings and thoughts into new music.
