To: Manager and the Owners of Hotel Maritim.
And Manager and Owner of company organizing “Mystik Festival”, Secret Models.
26 November 2024
Dear Messrs Peter Edler and Pratyush Nobeen, representing the above companies
We write concerning the possible presence on 7 December at your Hotel’s event, the “Mystik Festival”, of two music groups from the State of Israel, Vini Vici and Omiki. Such a festival combining both national and international music creators would no doubt, in ordinary times, be a cause for many to celebrate. However, we are not living in ordinary times. We are living at a time when a genocide is taking place and we have seen the Israeli military literally slaughtering Palestinian families. This has been on our screens every day for over a year now, and it continues even as we write.
We believe you should cancel your invitation on the grounds that it is potentially complicit with this genocide, unless, of course, the two groups have taken a clear and public stand against the genocide being perpetrated.
As you know, it has become a legal obligation for Mauritius, as a State, to work towards “the prevention of the crime of genocide”. Mauritius is a signatory to the “International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide”. Your Hotel is situated in Mauritius, and the planned event is taking place in the State of Mauritius. So, what exactly is it the responsibility of us all in Mauritius to do?
Mauritius certainly does not have the power to intervene militarily to put a stop to the genocide.
The best way for Mauritius to help prevent Israel’s continued genocide is by contributing urgently to the isolation – geopolitically, economically, diplomatically and culturally – of the state apparatus perpetrating the genocide, and of all those Israeli organizations and individuals, who are, by their actions or by their silence, complicit with the state of Israel. This isolation that Mauritius needs to apply includes refusing to receive visits by artists and academics from Israel, if they are in any way supported by the state of Israel – directly or indirectly – or if they have not taken a public stand against Israel’s crime of continued military occupation, imposition of Apartheid and perpetration of crimes against humanity and war crimes amounting to genocide. Both music groups you have invited have said “Stand with Israel” which is the opposite of taking a stand against the crimes of the Israeli state. In addition, the Israeli embassy in Budapest promoted the concert there of the other group, Vini Vici, in 2019, thus supporting the group. And now you are supporting them, too. Perhaps you could make public the two groups’ stands on the crimes Israel is committing and then, if necessary, rescind your invitation so as to avoid your hotel and “events company”, respectively, becoming in turn complicit with genocide, and thus, in turn, liable to be boycotted, too.
We all know that the South African apartheid system was brought down, in part, by this kind of isolation of the then South African regime: economic isolation, a total arms embargo, isolation from international sports and arts events. We need the same kind of boycott. The “Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions” (BDS Palestine) movement, has clear guidelines for maintaining respect for academic freedom and artistic liberty while, at the same time, also isolating all those artists that are complicit with the crimes Israel is committing against the Palestinian people. One can judge whether people are complicit by either their actions – taking subsidies directly or indirectly, of actually being army reservists – or by their silence which, in the face of genocide, constitutes collusion.
We draw your attention, as organizers of, and hosts to, these two groups to the important changes this year in how the state of Israel is seen, just in case you are not aware of them:
- Arrest warrants were issued this month by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and recently sacked Defense Minister Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
- An unequivocal decision was handed down on 19 July 2024 by the world’s top court, the UN’s International Court of Justice in a case against Israel, finding the continued occupation of Palestine unlawful and calling for immediate withdrawal of Israel from the totality of Palestine. The State of Mauritius, it is important to note, was a party to the case against Israel.
- The ICJ’s decision, as part of a separate case against Israel for genocide, in January, March and then May 2024 to issue three sets of “Preliminary Measures” on the basis that it is “plausible” that genocide is being committed by Israel in Palestine and calling on States, including Mauritius, to act so as, inter alia, to isolate Israel.
We have, amongst the members of our organizations, many music lovers. We all respect academic freedom as well as the freedom of artistic expression. However, when there is a State that has crossed the red line of all red lines and is perpetrating genocide, we have to isolate that State. This includes refusing to invite artists from Israel if they do not take clear stands in relation to the unlawful occupation by Israel of Palestine, the enforcement of a policy of Apartheid, and now an accelerated genocide against the Palestinian people – as attested by UN bodies and humanitarian organizations across the board, including by some Israeli organizations.
Yours sincerely,
Reeaz Chuttoo for Confédération des Travailleurs des Secteurs Public et Privé (CTSPP)
Rajni Lallah for the Muvman Liberasyon Fam (MLF)
Haniff Peerun for Mauritius Labour Congress (MLC)
Deepak Benydin for Federation of Parastatal Bodies and Other Unions (FPBOU)
Lindsey Collen for Ledikasyon pu Travayer (LPT)
Mubashir Chitbauhul for Centre Documentation sur l’Islam (CDI)
Alain Ah Vee for LALIT