Gay German MP campaigns against Jamaican music

Charles HE Campbell

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I am glad my wise colleague Clyde McKenzie has publicly joined the discussion on declining appeal for Jamaican acts overseas. Only this week, we learnt of a panel discussion organised by Kesselhaus (a location where Sizzla's performance was cancelled on November 26, 2009) to be held and broadcast on February 23, 2010 in Berlin, Germany with representatives from politics, gay lesbian associations, artiste managers, representatives from the Jamaican artiste fraternity (to be announced) and German promoters.

The topic of the discussion is 'Sustainable Measures Against Homophobia in Art', with the aim of developing lasting strategies for the handling of controversial artistes, between prohibition (or ban) and dialogue.

All this has been put in the context of the continuation of a dialogue addressing a great need for new, concrete steps to ensure that artistes who perform lyrics that are deemed in Germany to be homophobic, or that glory violence, are not allowed into the country, nor can the media promote their images, music or CDs. Some very influential people, led by Volker Beck MP, leader of the Alliance 90/Green Party in the German parliament, are attempting to step up the campaign by broadening this ban to include all Jamaican artistes by defining it all as Dancehall.

This is against the background of the Alliance 90/Green parliamentarians concluding that the Reggae Compassionate Act, signed in 2007 by several Reggae and Dancehall artistes, pledging not to make statements or perform songs that incite hatred or violence against anyone from any community, including homosexuals, has not worked.

On June 20, 2008, the Bundestag Printed Paper published a reply from the German Federal Government to the minor interpellation tabled by the members of the German Bundestag -- Volker Beck (Cologne) and others in

the Alliance 90/Green's parliamentary group. It included the following false statements which amount to a smear campaign against Jamaica and all its musical forms.

"Gay people are in a critical situation in Jamaica", "prison sentences of up to 15 years are imposed simply for holding hands". The document implies that Brian Williamson (JFLAG) and Lenford Harvey were victims of homophobic violence and that there has been a steady increase in frequency of such murders over recent years. It states further that "homophobic lyrics feature in the repertoires of many of Jamaica's Reggae and Dancehall stars, but clergymen, trade unions and the Jamaican Government, also stir up gay hate". The reply goes on to state, "conditions in Jamaica have shown us the extent of the anti-gay violence that can be agitated by the hysterical and homophobic rantings of these crazy artistes. The messages coming from the stage work people up into a frenzy and provoke them to go and beat up and kill gays. As a result, it is a regular occurrence in Kingston, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, for men who are gay or perceived to be gay, to be hounded through the streets and subjected to savage attacks which often end in death".

These are serious accusations which badly tarnish the image of Jamaica. We are being promoted as a nation of lynchers and killers. I have been reliably informed that there is an ad currently running on German radio urging people not to go to Jamaica, they slit your throat there. The question I wish to ask is, whether our diplomatic service is aware of these accusations and the campaign against our artistes and musicians. If so, then why have we not yet formally responded to set the

record straight?

To quote from Clyde McKenzie, "how often do we hear about the indiscretions of an artiste being described as a poor reflection of the industry? I often argue that this is unfair, but I know the reality. The actions of a few are used to judge the behaviour of many and this is unfortunate".

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com