Samaʼ Abdulhadi withdraws from ADE citing booking of ex-IDF soldiers
The Palestinian DJ claims that “several” artists booked have previously served in the Israeli military Continue reading...
Samaʼ Abdulhadi has withdrawn from the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) line-up, citing the booking of “several” artists who have previously served in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), she says.
In a statement shared on Instagram yesterday, October 20, Sama’ said that she has "decided not to participate" in the Dutch music festival this week, where she’d been invited to speak on a panel about ‘music and resistance’.
"It would be disingenuous for me to talk about resistance while, within the same festival’s framework, a large number of Israeli artists continue to perform internationally as though nothing is happening," she explained.
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She added that, while she is not calling for the exclusion of artists "simply because they are Israeli", she claims that some of the acts booked for the festival "have served in the Israeli military" in the past. In Isreal, all citizens of Jewish, Druze and all men of Circassian descent are conscripted into the IDF from age 18.
"Some have publicly expressed support for Israel and its military," she continued. "Others have remained silent. To platform such artists is to normalise the Israeli state and its crimes."
"Silence isn’t proof of agreement, but it is complicity and isn’t without its consequences. When artists continue to benefit from international platforms without acknowledging the violence carried out in their country’s name, we need to be asking what that silence helps normalise."
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ADE, which began today, October 21, and will continue through the week until Sunday, October 25, has not yet responded to these claims or comments.
Sama’ has called on festivals, promoters and cultural institutions to "make choices about who they platform, whose voices they amplify and what they are willing to associate their names with."
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