In Barcelona, on march 30th, 2012.
To all Reggae fans, colleagues and freedom supporters
Due to an impressive, without precedents, totally plenty of malice and false media campaign promoted by Spanish gay rights defense group FELGTB (http://www.felgtb.org ) and supported for major national radios, big seller papers and most of Spanish private TV channels, that has caused all over the country a major impact in Spanish society, the three Spanish dates on the 2012 Sizzla Kalonji European tour had to be cancelled. We’ve never seen, even at Bob Marley days, a media coverage from a Reggae artist that concentrate in two days hundreds of pages, articles and tv reports at prime time, but unfortunately with a negative impact and a false and distorted vision of the artist and his music. As a result of misinformation, lyrics mistranslations and artist wrong information spread about Sizzla visit to Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, the venues received more than 10.000 mails and phone calls complaining, denouncing and boycott threatening. The social alarm created at all levels in Spain, politically, at work centers and even at schools, instrumented to destroy and humiliate his name and his music, even burning all bridges we try to build to go ahead in a positive dialogue to finish those stupid confrontations never resulted. So, after having no possibility and no venue to go ahead with shows, it is really hard and painful announce those cancellations, after all efforts we’ve done in the last months to support the artist and Reggae music. As some said, “to cancel a Sizzla show or ban his music, is an attempt to obstruct democracy, freedom of expression, and allows censorship to raise its voice loud and clear. The domino affect of this type of censorship can affect art, literature, films and other forms of media. We have to live in a world where we can all agree to disagree.” So by now, it looks that the lobby gay has become from oppressed to oppressors and become guardians of what is right and what is wrong. We in Spain cannot accept that, this musical censorship is a step back to dictatorial times we lived 40 years ago, it is what fascism is described and it is truly a shame. Freedom of expression is the heart of a democratic society, but the media and the gay defender groups showed us we’re not living on it. All the best, JULIAN F GARCIA –Roots & Vibes Reggae