System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian shares ideas on boycotts and the Israel and Palestine struggle

System Of A Down‘s Serj Tankian has weighed in on the present state of affairs in Palestine and the motion to boycott corporations with ties to Israel.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 in response to its occupation of Palestinian territories, killing 1,189 individuals. Israel’s ongoing operations within the interim have killed 37,702 Palestinians [via Al Jazeera].

Lately, file labels, promoters and extra have referred to as for a cultural boycott of Israel via the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), an offshoot of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) which was behind the massive wave of drop-outs from The Nice Escape, Latitude Pageant and Obtain Pageant this yr.

In an interview with NME about his new autobiography Down With The System, Tankian has given his tackle present world occasions and the continuing boycotts. Although he pointed to the way in which activism is “taken hostage” by “sure fringe components of society”, he believes most activists have good intentions. He additionally goes on to counsel Israel’s president Benjamin Netanyahu is a struggle prison.

“It’s essential for the youth to lift their voice, as a result of we aren’t dwelling in a simply world,” Tankian mentioned. “I feel in some circumstances, pure activism is taken hostage by sure fringe components of society, together with within the US – sure anti-Semites who’ve gotten into that world. Nonetheless, I feel the vast majority of the activists and their intentions are pure, and I feel what they’re doing is essential.

He continued: “When it comes to the Hamas invasion of Israel, I need to say that was clearly a terrorist act and they’re struggle criminals and should be punished. However, the Netanyahu authorities’s response can also be – as we will see with the variety of civilians which have died – a struggle crime.”

Tankian additionally touched on the less-discussed story of Azerbaijan’s invasion of Nagorno Karabakh final September, having ceaselessly raised consciousness of the battle and the Armenian genocide in 1915 which stays unrecognised by many governments, together with the UK’s.

“Azerbaijan attacked the 120,000 residents of this space who’ve been dwelling there for time immemorial,” he mentioned. “Unbelievable injustice, humanitarian disaster, genocide, struggle crimes, is occurring right now – so sure, there may be going to be pushback.”

In different information, Tankian revealed within the e-book that System Of A Down started searching for a brand new singer in 2018 after he supplied to stop the band.

Tankian detailed within the memoir: “Towards the tip of 2017, we had a band assembly at [the band’s manager] Beno’s workplace. Once I arrived, I instructed everybody that I had an merchandise I needed so as to add to the agenda. We went via the rigamarole of normal enterprise discussions, after which it got here time for my merchandise.”

“‘So, who’s going to throw me a going-away celebration?’ I requested the group. ‘Do considered one of you guys need to be the grasp of ceremonies?’ I laughed a little bit, however I used to be severe. ‘Look guys, I’ve been very clear that I’m now not occupied with touring each attributable to my again and since it’s simply now not one thing inside my imaginative and prescient.’”