SSN welcomes Lira’s support for Cultural Boycott SSN-Statement: 07th May, 2012
South African award-winning musician, Lira, has given Africa’s last absolute monarch, king Mswati III, a special gift on his 44th birthday by observing the Cultural Boycott on undemocratic Swaziland. Lira’s manager made it clear to the SSN today that, in solidarity with the oppressed people of Swaziland, the top musician will not be attending the Bush Fire Festival to be staged from 25 to 27 May 2012 or any show thereafter until Swaziland democratizes. The SSN therefore humbly welcomes this act of love from the musician. We reiterate our call to all South African and international artists to boycott Swaziland and in the process expose the autocracy of the regime. We also call upon all the artists that have been booked for any show in Swaziland to withdraw forthwith and follow Lira’s humane decision. These include, amongst others, MiCasa, Mango Groove, Ayo, Revolution, MXO, comedian Joey Rasdien, JikaNelanga, Kaya FM DJ Nicky B, and others. Those that have defied the boycott, whether arrogantly or otherwise, such as DJ Tira DJ, Glen Lewis,L’Vovo, DJ Cleo, and others, can still join it and for once put people before profits. We cannot force them, but history will be the best judge of their acts against the people. Please note: We have attached Lira’ statement: Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] Contact: Lucky Lukhele-spokesperson 072 502 4141 After having consulted with all the people in my team who are part of any performance decision in my life namely my band, my management, my agents and their families, we decided to engage in a fact finding effort which lead us speaking to other SA Musicians, the Bushfire Festivals organisers, the Swaziland Solidarity Network, the Department of Communication, the Department of Arts and Culture, the Swazi Embassy as well as many online articles that have an impartial view on the matter that we could find. We have also received numerous accounts from Swazi fans. Our decision of withdrawing from this years Bushfire event comes with a degree of sadness as part of our life's mission is to also bring upliftment and happiness to people through the medium of music and the messages we convey. We have previously performed at the Bushfire Festival and can only say that we adore the Swazi people and wish that we could bring them a sense of joy as this is the primary purposes of any musician / performer. We wish to clarify that in no way are we attacking the Bushfire Festival directly, who are openly addressing challenges, or it's sponsors who are needed in order to make any music event happen but at this stage we feel our position, of not attending this year, supports the message of more dialogue and resolution around the challenges that befall Swaziland. Peace and love LIRA and team! Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you! -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
