DJs Against Apartheid Campaign Launches in Solidarity With Palestine

Ever since the escalated Israeli aggression on Gaza, artists and cultural producers worldwide have been mobilising their platforms to reshape public opinion about the Palestinian cause. As media outlets continue to strip the cause of its historical context, we’ve been seeing the emergence of resistance movements like the Artists Against Apartheid letter, enabling global and regional artists to unite in solidarity with Palestine.

Now, the DJs Against Apartheid campaign has recently launched to mobilise the nightlife community across the globe to show solidarity with Palestine. The NYC-based movement is organized by co-founder of the Palestine Forever Collective, Nour Khalil, an Egyptian filmmaker and dancer based between NYC and Berlin, and Yonah Zeitz, Resident Advisor’s New York City manager, and the director of advocacy for Equity, Health and Justice at Katal Center.

Serving as a specific channel for the underground music scene, DJs Against Apartheid is a subset open letter of the People Forum’s Artists Against Apartheid, enabling DJs and nightlife workers worldwide to join in the fight for Palestine’s liberation. “We are at a time when nightlife is vital in many people’s lives. So, It was very important to show the political stance of members of the dance music scene in this fight for the Palestinian cause,” Nour Khalil tells SceneNoise. “Though this culture was initially created as a form of resistance, Israel has, for so many years, used techno as a tool to normalise the occupation, branding Tel Aviv as the techno capital in the region. We are now reclaiming these spaces as our own.”

Image by Mariam Mekiwi

By signing the DJs Against Apartheid statement’s, DJs and nightlife workers will automatically be signing the larger Artists Against Apartheid letter, and taking a political stance that shows their solidarity with Palestine. “Though we lack the financial resources of the Israeli oppressors, we have our art. We now realise how connected all of our struggles are, and the power our platforms and art hold in amplifying the Palestinian defiance,” Khalil says.

“As a Jewish person who abhors the Israeli government and the Zionist occupation of Palestine, it was very important for me to take part in this initiative, to raise awareness about the just cause of the Palestinians,” Yonah Zeitz tells SceneNoise.

Beyond the letter, the campaign will be holding political educational sessions to help DJs and nightlife workers understand the power of their platforms and art, and how they can use it to amplify the Palestinian resistance movement. It will also help facilitate purpose-driven collaborations between DJs across the globe. “Signing the statement is the bare minimum,” Zeitz says. “What’s more important is what the DJs do after they sign. What will be the daily actions they take? How will they hold non-aligned institutions accountable? This is where this project is heading now.”

Though the DJs Against Apartheid initiative has just launched, the letter has already been signed by established DJs, collectives, nightclubs, and radio stations from across the globe like London-based DJ Saliah, NYC’s Laylit party series, Amsterdam’s Disco Arabesqueo, and Cairene DJs Yas Meen Selectress and Jana.

‘We hope the campaign will allow artists, clubs and party-goers to make better decisions about who they should support and work with and who they shouldn’t,” Zeitz says.

Join in firmly standing in solidarity with Palestine by signing the letter here.