The matter is already five years old:
In December 2018, Nick Cave published an email addressed to his English colleague Brian Eno. In it, the Australian musician and poet clearly describes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement BDS against Israel as “cowardly and shameful”.
Cave played two concerts in Tel Aviv in November 2017. In his open letter at the time, he wrote that the BDS movement was part of his motivation for deciding to play in Israel.
“Not as support for a particular political movement or party, but as a principled stand against those who seek to intimidate, shame and silence musicians.”
According to Nick Cave at the time, aggressive boycott demands would accept that positions in the Middle East would continue to solidify.
A spiral of escalation that has now manifested itself in a terrible way with the Hamas massacre at the desert rave near the Gaza Strip.
The gun-toting Hamas desperadoes had deliberately and strategically planned a trance techno event and murdered there indiscriminately. An attack with the greatest possible external impact; on a symbol of supposed Western decadence: 260 dead, mostly young people. Two German acts booked for the festival are safe.
A current look at the official BDS website shows:
Boycott Israel – business as usual. BDS supporters like Roger Waters and Brian Eno, who are never at a loss for words, have also remained silent so far.
The BDS headquarters recently once again referred to the well-known points of view under the hashtag #unga78. The goal was the UN General Assembly on September 5, 2023; Prepared templates for protest notes are still available.
Otherwise, reference is made to the “Global Day for Action”: “further details coming soon”.
In the summer of 2023, the BDS action furor was directed against the Franconian sporting goods manufacturer Puma. This is about their partnership with the Israeli Football Association.
“PUMA’s CEO’s BDS gaffe is another sign,” reads a BDS statement, “that PUMA is concerned about the growing boycott campaign over its complicity in Israeli apartheid. PUMA feels the pressure. And it will increase!” Background: Puma boss Arne Freundt confused the “Better Cotton Initiative” (BCI) with BDS in an official speech.
Things are crude in the lower echelons of the pop scene. Techno DJ Mama Snake from Denmark, who also plays in Berlin’s Berghain and sees herself as a BDS supporter, described the Hamas actions on Instagram as a “fight for life, dignity and freedom”. Publicly criticized, she at least condemned “the violence against civilians” in a subsequent story.
Some hate comments on various international raver and techno websites go even further. The tenor: Murdered Trance, Goa and Psytrance fans deserved it because they dared to party in Israel.