Following “requests” to ban Lara Fabian from coming to Lebanon because she sang in Israel, the Belgian-Italian singer has canceled her two concerts, originally scheduled for February 14th and 15th, and issued the following statement:
A vous mes Amis Libanais une lettre d’Amour…
A L’amour …
Seule source de paix et de réconciliation…
A L’amour …
Seule véritable intelligence, profonde et infinie…
A L’amour…
Seule arme contre son ennemie jurée la haine…A nous qui vivons tous sous le même ciel,
Je nous souhaite l’amour…et toute la guérison qu’il procure…
A nous qui ne faisons qu’un, puisse l’amour nous donner la force d’ETRE TOUS HUMAINS
A nous qui souffrons, souvent battus d’avance par la bêtise et l’absurdité, puisse l’amour éclairer l’unique chemin sur lequel nous voyageons tous ensemble : la Vie.Seule la musique peut gommer les différences et briser les barrières mentales, religieuses et culturelles…
Ceux qui créent cette différence sont une minorité de gens qui ont peur….
Ils vivent dans la haine,car ils n’ont pas été suffisamment aimés.Je ne chanterai pas sous les menaces que l’on me fait…
Je ne marche pas avec la haine……
Je marche avec la tolérance, la générosité et la vérité.
Je VIS et J’AIME.Ceux qui n’ont pas compris ça et qui ne souhaitent pas ma venue dans votre beau pays où j’ai déjà eu la chance de venir chanter ne seront pas inquiétés…
Je ne viendrai pas perturber votre quiétude par ma présence physique,…
Mais sachez que je serai là à ma manière.Un soir de St-Valentin, quelques chansons d’amour feront du bien au coeur et à l’âme.
Je donnerai un concert unique, crée pour l’occasion, ce sera mon geste pour la paix..
Il sera diffusé le soir où mon concert aurait dû avoir lieu à Beyrouth.De cette façon Je continuerai sur le chemin qui est le mien, celui de l’être et de la lumière…
Puisse-t-elle éclairer ces consciences jusqu’au bout, afin d’apaiser leur peine et dissoudre leur haine…En mon âme et conscience je sais que L’amour est immuable.
Et qu’il ne connait pas les restrictions du temps et de l’espace…
Je vous écris cette lettre d’amour, car même contrainte de le faire à distance, je chanterai pour VOUS, mes amis Libanais…Lara.
I won’t go into the litteral English translation but she goes on, in typical French manner, about the power of love. Most importantly, however, she says she won’t let her physical presence in Lebanon trouble the peace we have and that those who asked for her concerts to be canceled do not understand the message of love she was trying to get across. She will be having a concert, however, which will air on the days her concerts should have taken place.
So after all this brouhaha, I guess we can draw a few conclusions:
1) If Israelis watch a movie, then we CANNOT watch this movie.
2) If Israelis listen to a song, then we CANNOT have this song play on our airways.
3) If Israelis attend a concert, then we CANNOT have the artist who played at that concert come to Lebanon.
Apparently, for many, singing on an Israeli stadium has become equated with the artist in question chanting: “Death to Lebanon.”
Now let me ask the people of BDS to ponder on this. Is Israel the only country that did Lebanon wrong? Or is Israel the only non-Arab country that did Lebanon wrong, therefore, the only one we get angry about their transgressions? (This post might put things in perspective for you). I don’t see “activists” asking for artists (some of whom are Lebanese) who sang for the Assad regime or in Syria get asked not to sing in Lebanon. Or is the blood of the Lebanese who got killed by the Syrian regime much less “precious” than the blood of the most “honorable” of people?
Or is the fight for freedom in Lebanon become also subjective to where you come from, the country you fight and the cause you die for?
I’m not asking to ban artists who sang in Syria and for Syria to be able to hold concerts in Lebanon. Likewise, you have no right to ask for artists who sang in Israel (they didn’t even sing praise to their government, which is the entity killing Lebanese, Palestinians, etc…) not to hold concerts just because you believe it damages your pride and dignity and nationalism.
You can stand against an artist’s political views. If you don’t like Fabian’s, then simply don’t attend her concerts. If it had been against the law for an artist who sang in Israel to sing in Lebanon, the authorities would have been very clear regarding that. The fact that bands like Placebo and artists like David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, etc… have already held concerts in Israel and Lebanon is enough testament to that.
But I guess if I speak more about the issue people will start to call me a blinded ignorant who cannot appreciate the struggles of the Lebanese who fought against Israel. Call me ignorant all you want but in my head attending a concert doesn’t lead to me killing Palestinians or Lebanese. The ticket price I would pay isn’t going to buy a warhead to attack the Palestinians or the Lebanese. And at this rate, if every time an artist wants to come to Lebanon, we’ll have so much drama associated with them, they will stop coming altogether.
And you know what, amid all the chaos, no one noticed the fact that the prices for tickets to her concerts were simply outrageous. With a range of $200-$500, most Lebanese wouldn’t have been able to afford such a ticket, making the concert for a very select crowd. I’m just saying.
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i did go to GOOGLE translate so i can see what she means in her status.
it’s a powerful message, simple, and real. i was even talking to a friend last night how some (may be most) lebanese are full of hate, unable to love, unable to be loved..
we’re so full of hatred and we don’t even know it.
i don’t give a f*** who Lara Fabien is and who or what she sings for. but why doesn’t the lebanese let music and films and all sorts of art just BE?!!
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I liked her message. It’s heartfelt. I agree 100%. She’s here to sing, not to spread a political message. Just let her be and let those who want to attend her concerts be.
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It seriously is pathetic and sad.. I cant wait for the day where we will be more mature!
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Likewise. This has been going on for way too long. It’s about time it stops.
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Its ok we dont need her concert!not because she did a concert in Israel but because she is taking 200-500dollars.shame on her!!
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I’m obviously not in her target audience and by the looks of it neither are you. Those who really, really, really want to see her would pay that much. But yeah, it’s too much especially that more relevant artists have had cheaper tickets.
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Nicely put although the last paragraph is quite unrelevant, just sayin
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I had to mention the outrageous prices, which is part of the whole mess. So I don’t think it’s irrelevant.
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I totallllllllly disagree with you. I’m a silent reader and i only comment when i really disagree so here you go. boycott is a means to communicate a message. The message was received, that actions with regards to israel -on any level- will have consequences and will not go unnoticed. I bet she didn’t even think twice before having that concert in israel. You need to constantly remind people of the Palestinian cause, especially since it’s not just their cause anymore, israel is after us all and has hurt us all Arabs deeply. I say it’s a much more interesting way to remind people of the cause than hijacking a plane and killing all its passengers. Not that these are the only 2 options, but BDS has many faces and this is one.
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1) They didn’t call for a boycott, they called for a cancellation. There’s a drastic difference. If they had called for a boycott, she wouldn’t have felt threatened. Sure, she might have thin skin but that doesn’t mean what they did was right.
2) We disagree fundamentally on the premise that singing in Israel (or doing anything in Israel) means you can’t have it in Lebanon.
3) Reminding people of the cause doesn’t happen through banning singers and calling for cancelation of their concerts when those calling for those things use everything Israel-related there is.
4) Thank you for reading. You can comment on stuff you agree with as well.
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1- The goal of a boycott at the end of the day is to not have that thing happen or have it fail. If you can stop it from happening all together then that’s at the end of spectrum of boycott and it just works.
2- It’s not about not having what israelis have, but I guess we have a thing for intentions/ attitudes/principles and peoples’ stands that we stop and stare at for too long maybe. The idea that if someone is not with us then he’s against us.
3- I don’t know the people who called for the cancellation.
🙂
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1) So canceling it is considered as a “triumph” for those people and a slap in the face for the many people who didn’t want the concert to get canceled. I say that’s highly unfair. You want your point of view represented, you boycott the concert and ask for people to do so. If they do, fine. If they don’t, well, you took a stand.
2) I think the Lebanon-Israel problem is way too messed up. People on both sides need to take a deep breath especially when it comes to mundane things such as singers and performers.
3) I don’t know them either and I don’t intend to :p
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the bottom line is that the lebanese people have the right to decide which foreigners or zionists can or cannot sing in their country, the same for the zionists when and if a lebanese will try to sing in their land, then they can object too.
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They don’t have the right to shove it down everybody’s throats and when Israel isn’t the only country that hurt Lebanon, protesting against performers who sang in Israel is hypocrisy at its best.
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After Gad Elamaleh, Lara Fabian is “banned” in Lebanon. Allowing this new trend of a-one-imposed culture to flourish in a multicultural country like Lebanon is not only a sign of acceptance but an outrageous violation for the basic rights of the Lebanese people to choose…to like or dislike…to agree or disagree. The Lebanon diversity is at high stake. Yes, we must stop mindsets as such from ruining our historic openness to the world culture before it’s too late.
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Agree with the principle. People have the right to protest but they don’t have the right to have their views applied on everyone, if the law permits what they don’t want happening to happen.
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THIS IS SO PATHETIC FROM LEBANON !!!!!! WE DON’T CARE ABOUT WHAT ISRAEL DOES… IF WE WANT LARA FABIAN, WE DON’T LOOK WHERE SHE WENT BE4 SHE CAME TO LEBANON ! THAT’S SO UNFAIR, U THINK THAT IF U DO THIS, U’LL WIN THE FIGHT ? IT’S LIKE WE’R FIGHTING WITH OURSELVES !!!!!!!!! =.=
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