For over 75 years, the Palestinian people have been subject to a violent and racist occupation by Israel. This subjugation has been supported and funded by the US and other Western imperialistic nations. Every day, millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip face brutal and humiliating conditions, including the demolition of their homes, endless military checkpoints that prevent their freedom of movement, bombardment of residential buildings, the desecration of holy sites, subjection to different laws based on race, and the indiscriminate murdering of Palestinian women, children, and men alike. These reprehensible conditions have rightfully earned Israel the designation as an apartheid state by human rights organizations across the globe.
In 2018-19, Palestinians in Gaza engaged in non-violent protests known as the Great March of Return in front of the walls erected by Israel around them. These peaceful protestors were gunned down with over 250 killed and several hundreds wounded. Their non-violent actions were then demonized for demanding the right to return to their homes that had been seized by the illegal Israeli occupation. When a government makes non-violent resistance impossible and when it brutalizes and murders those engaged in peaceful protest, it makes armed resistance inevitable.
The armed attacks on October 7 by Palestinian people cannot be de-contextualized from apartheid, extreme oppression, vicious brutality against protests and the open embrace by the Netanyahu government of extreme policies that aim to openly liquidate the Palestinian people’s just struggle to reclaim their homes and villages. Despite these facts, the armed resistance, which is a direct and natural response to nearly a century of occupation, is characterized by the corporate media and Biden as “sheer evil.” This false propaganda continues to paint the Palestinian people’s resistance as unprovoked––and this is by design. This position demonizes the resistance of the oppressed while obfuscating the violence of the oppressor in order to justify the many war crimes and atrocities of Israel.
Israel's unrelenting blockade and bombardments reveal a chilling objective—to erase Gaza from the face of the earth. It is a genocide, plain and stark. The call now, for all people guided by truth and conscience, is to respond with unclouded moral clarity and unwavering principle. Justice can only be served by targeting the true source of violence: the zionist occupation of Palestine.
As DJs, producers, collectives, promoters, parties, clubs, festivals, radio stations, and nightlife workers, we join hands with the people of the world and with the heroic people of Palestine to stop this genocidal war and put an end to 75 years of occupation and apartheid. We join in solidarity as artists and workers within this line of work and recognize that while our work is often celebratory and joyous, there can be no celebration or festivities during a genocide. The continuation of this occupation poses a direct threat to Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, Muslims, and anyone who fights for liberation. We understand the radical history and legacy of dance music and the power we and other cultural workers have in shaping public opinion, fighting for liberation, and resisting oppressive forces. Our scene was founded by queer, Black, and Brown people with the clear intention to support and uplift the marginalized communities they came from. These spaces were explicitly rooted in love, liberation, and resistance.
The dance music scene has always been and must continue to be centered around imagining and creating a safer, fairer, and freer world for all people. It is due to this revolutionary and anti-oppressive origin and our commitment to continuing this legacy today, that we, as members of the nightlife community, have a unique responsibility to use our voice, our physical and digital spaces, and our artistic practices to protest apartheid and amplify the just cause of the Palestinian people and their resistance against occupation and oppression.
We, the undersigned nightlife community members, stand in firm solidarity with those resisting occupation and fighting for their right to self-determination. We commit to using our platforms, no matter how big or small, to challenge at every turn the massive misinformation campaigns waged by those who have a vested interest in the destruction of the Palestinian land and people without fear of repercussions. We dedicate ourselves to standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to using our artistic and cultural practices and physical community spaces as tools of liberation in the struggle for sovereignty, dignity, and self-determination.
Free Palestine!