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Viewpoint - March 31, 2011
The Foolish Side of the Cultural Boycott Line
by: Alexander Billet
The Electronic Intifada
Gene Simmons has been known for a lot of less-than-savory
things. His long tongue is probably his most infamous, and
yet few have said much about his big, bigoted, misogynist
mouth. The Kiss front-man, who was born Chaim Witz near
Haifa, recently opened that mouth to call artists boycott-
ing Israel "fools."
Simmons is currently in Israel to film scenes for his
reality show, Gene Simmons' Family Jewels. In an interview
with the Associated Press, he gave some rather condescend-
ing advice to those same artists: "The countries they
should be boycotting are the same countries [where] the
populations are rebelling ... People long to be free ...
And they sure as hell don't want somebody who's a ruler
who hasn't been elected by them" ("AP Interview: Kiss
bassist Gene Simmons says boycotters of Israel are
'fools'," 22 March 2011).
For his own part, Simmons has been a long and vocal
supporter of Israeli and American foreign policy. He
loudly stumped for both the invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq and in 2006, as Israel bombed Lebanon, he
sent messages of support to Israeli soldiers. And his
supposed liberalism hasn't prevented him from describing
Islam as a "vile culture" to The Sydney Morning Herald
in 2004.
Now he's directed this same bile at some of music's most
legendary figures. The Pixies, Gil Scott-Heron, Carlos
Santana and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters are only a few of
the personalities who have lent their names to the
cultural boycott over the past few years.
The call for an economic, academic and cultural boycott
goes back to 2004, when groups, intellectuals and activists
from within Palestine issued the call ("Call for academic
and cultural boycott of Israel"). The past nine years have
seen the call supported by a growing number of groups world-
wide and since Israel's attacks on Gaza in winter 2008-09
and its lethal attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May
2010, the amount of canceled gigs has greatly increased.
Elvis Costello, who pulled out of two shows in Tel Aviv
after the raid, explained his rationale on his website:
"One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise,
filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or
lament... Then there are occasions when merely having your
name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a
political act that resonates more than anything that might
be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the
suffering of the innocent" ("It is After Considerable
Contemplation ...").
Costello, along with many other artists like him, have
been lambasted by countless voices both in the mainstream
press and the world-wide blogosphere. Right-wing columnist
and radio host Debbie Schlussel labeled him "scum," and
accused him of "appeasing" Hamas. Shuki Weiss, a high-
profile Israeli concert promoter, called the boycott
"cultural terrorism." Indeed, Gene Simmons' own words
highlight the momentum that the cultural boycott of Israel
has gained lately -- and what a potential problem it's
become for Israel's public image abroad.
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Simmons is notably careful to put the whole question
in terms of "freedom," a rather oblique word that any
politician is ready to trot out at a moment's notice.
The same interview notes that his own mother was a
survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, which once again pulls
the whole conversation about Palestine and Israel away
from the realities of colonialism and boils the conflict
down to a matter of "Jew vs. Muslim." It's a mistaken
notion that nonetheless seems to jive with Simmons' own
"clash of civilizations" worldview.
Of course, at least in the interview, there's no mention
of the boycott on its own terms, no mention of the one
word that Israel and its backers fear: apartheid. After
all, to do so might put Simmons on history's bad side.
It's a potent line to cross. Those who struggled against
apartheid in South Africa no doubt remember the loud and
proud role that music played. Artists United Against
Apartheid, launched in 1985 by Little Steven Van Zandt,
garnered support from countless musicians. Run-DMC, Bruce
Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Herbie Hancock, Joey Ramone,
George Clinton, Peter Gabriel are just a few of the
musicians who famously refused to play South Africa while
apartheid remained intact.
Simmons wasn't part of AUAA. But then, "integrity" has
never been the first thing that comes to mind when one
thinks of Kiss, a group who have eagerly lent their image
to anything that will make them money -- lunch-boxes,
action figures, cartoons, soda commercials and credit
cards have all been deemed worthy of the Kiss "brand,"
but alas, not the struggle for human rights.
The real insult, however, comes in his insistence that
artists should be boycotting the "countries [where] the
populations are rebelling." He conveniently skips over
the fact that Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and most of the other
Middle East dictatorships have survived through steadfast
support from Israel and the US. An example of this would
be one of the key demands being fought for by those still
struggling in Egypt -- opening the border with Gaza!
You have to hand it to him though; Simmons has impeccable
timing. His comments and visit to Jerusalem come right as
Israel has launched a spate of fresh bombings of Gaza.
Simmons, it seems, may have front-row seats to a crime
against humanity. No doubt these particular segments of
Family Jewels are going to be particularly stomach-turn-
ing. But while he runs his mouth off to no end, the fact
remains that a growing number of musicians have decided
Israel deserves nothing but silence from them.
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Alexander Billet is a music journalist and activist
living in Chicago. He runs the website Rebel Frequencies
(http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com), and is a columnist
for SOCIARTS. He has also written for Z Magazine,
PopMatters.com, and CounterPunch. He can be reached at
rebelfrequencies A T gmail D O T com.
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