Musicians with Gaza

(October 2009)

Imprisoning an entire people, including children and the elderly is totally unacceptable. We do not accept Israeli barbarism.

Bombing a population that is surrounded by barbed wire constitutes a war crime. We do not accept it.

Starving and persecuting a multitude of people of all ages, restricting medical care of patients, blocking the education of children, is totally unacceptable. We do not accept it and we never will.

We are musicians (from diverse backgrounds, musical as well as national) who do not accept Israeli crimes.

We have, as musicians, additional reasons not to accept Israeli policy: music is one, it flows from one continent to another, it crosses borders and even separation walls; it brings people together, it diversifies according to cultures, countries, histories and tastes.

We musicians believe that there is only one world, from Palestine to Polynesia, via the Caribbean and Africa, Far East and Europe: we cannot accept walls and barbed wires.

We wish, as musicians, to play our modest share in the international movement to lift the blockade of Gaza.

We support the long march to Gaza (December 27th, 2009 – 1° January 2010) and some of us hope to participate.

We would also like to take this opportunity to meet musicians from Gaza on the spot and to invite them to participate in a series of “Galas for Gaza” which we hope to organize in 2010 in our respective countries.

For this reason, we urge all musicians to participate in this march for Gaza and to join us in raising the blockade of the Palestinian people and of its musicians.

Gilad Atzmon (jazzman; London, Great-Britain)

Ministère des affaires populaires (rap; Lille, France)

François Nicolas (composer; Paris, France);

François Tusques (pianist-composer of jazz; Paris, France)

Gaza Freedom March : http://www.gazafreedommarch.org

To sign this text, to write to francois.nicolas [at} noos.fr