Over the past few days, the boycott of the Jordan Festival, lead by some of Jordan professional associations, has, reportedly, caused a number of Arab singers to cancel their participation. This boycott has already threatened the success of the festival which has been promoted with a gigantic advertising campaign and that was expected to draw huge crowds.
The boycotters of the Jordan Festival have loudly alleged that the festival is suspected of “normalization with Israel”. Based on this suspicion they have been contacting singers all over the Arab world (and the their professional unions) to ask them to boycott.
The normalization allegation goes as follows: the festival is organized by Publicis, a Global French company headed (some say owned) by a Jew, Maurice Levy (who is being described as a self professed Zionist). Publicis is being accused by the boycotters as being the company that organized the 60th anniversary celebrations of Israel.
The boycotters also say that some of the foreign stars have performed in Israel or with Israelis.
The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), which is the official organizer of the festival, has, timidly, countered that Publicis are not organizing the event. The JTB says that company which was responsible for contacting the stars and artists on behalf of the Festival is called “Les Visiteurs du Soir“..
OK.. let’s see..
1. I spent a few hours searching the web looking for any information about Publicis’ organization of Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Publicis has an events arm. I looked on their website and I searched on Google and found nothing related to Israel’s anniversary. Moreover, Publicis in France today issued a statement saying that they did not organize the 60th anniversary celebrations of Israel and that they are not organizing the Jordan Festival.
2. Yes, Murice Levy is a Jew and a friend of Israel. But the only connection to the 60th year anniversary I found was that he participated in a major conference in Israel for the occasion. He was very pro Israel in his pronouncements in the conference. But again, I found no proof that Publicis organized the celebrations or events. Maurice Levy does not “own” Publicis. It is a public shareholding company traded in New York and Europe.
3. I tried to see if “Les Visiteurs du Soir” have a connection with organizing events in Israel and also could not find anything. I read a reader comment on Batir Wardam blog alleging that “Les Visiteurs” is a subsidiary of Publicis. I searched for a connection online and found nothing.
5. I didn’t do a search to see who of the foreign stars performed in Israel, but I would not be surprised if some of them did.
“Allegations”, “suspicions” and, in my opinion, inaccurate information, is what the boycotters have presented so far. But they are doing it with an amazing aggressiveness. Once the allegations were out and given the lack of clear communication by the JTB, newspapers and sites simply started copying and pasting the allegations, adding all kinds of mistakes and inaccuracies with every new version.
I am personally not a fan of Arab pop singers. I also resent the fact that most of the tickets are expensive and out of reach of most Jordanians.
Other say the festival does not reflect Jordan. Member of Parliament Nariman Al Roussan has also proclaimed on Radio Al Balad that this is a “Cabaret” style festival (with the aim of “morally” discrediting the event).
But these social and moral issues are not the main message of those calling for a boycott. It’s the allegation of normalization.
The latest developments of this story came in the form of a rebuff of the boycotters by King Adbullah, a counter attack on the boycott by the Minister of Tourism Maha Khatib and government spokesman Nasser Joudeh.
Shaher Hadid, president of the Jordanian Artist Association, who has been spearheading the boycott resigned (apparently after a meeting with the Minister of Tourism). Jordanian singer Omar Abdallat has also apparently reconfirmed his participation.
I am not claiming my search on the net is a sufficient investigation of the matter. But I have a strong feeling that the normalization allegations are baseless. If that is true then the boycott campaign is based on lies loudly shouted by some people then mindlessly reproduced by the media.
The lack of transparency by the government, its ignoring of public opinion and the media is the other side of the story.
The level of public discourse in Jordan has sunken to a new low. We live in the age of suspicions and allegations and the audience that believes nothing and everything.
Comments
10 responses to “Jordan Festival boycott: solid facts or shameless lies?”
I also did a quick search and found exactly the same as you. I am so frustrated at the lack of professionalism by journalists here. Do they ever do any research? It is just cut and paste and parroting government statements without any thought or work.
I think this boycott is absolutely ridiculous and that people’s energies could be directed in a much more positive manner. As for prices being out of reach for most Jordanians, well you bring in artists of a certain calibre and you have to pay for them! Why is it always criticism and negativity? The JTB has made a huge effort to entertain a certain section of the population, so good for them! I shall certainly enjoy listening to Domingo and am thankful for the opportunity to do so.
You cannot please ALL the people ALL the time. T
Thank you!
Simple internet search then information logically listed in a simple way.
It is stupid what is happening! Some rumors and false accusations can damage a country’s economy! The worst part is that people don’t want to believe the facts! khalas, they have this religious belief that the government doesnt work for the goodness of the citizens! That is absurd! Maybe the government should start advertising it’s realy duties and intentions of good well.
some guys at Publicis Jordan says that the boycotting issue was created by another local PR agency.. another fights happening behind the scene, such as who would won Orange and Zain accounts!
In the Jerash festival in 2004 in Jordan, we were the first Israeli Jewish group, organized by the All Nations Cafe n.g.o. from Jerusalem, that ever performed in that beautifully preserved Roman town.
We has excellent cooperation and response from festival visitors from Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Palestine.
The political tension was there, but we managed to ether bypass, defrost, or burst that bubble.
A supportive voice came to our aid during a press conference in Amman, when a famous Iraqi Maqam singer told reporters that music is beyond politics, and happily shared the stage with us.
T, and it is meant to attract tourists to Jordan to attend those concerts. The festival is not just directed to entertain the local citizens.
hussein, ewww! That is very bad! Hurting the economy of a country just to get at another agency!!
in all means, its a paid media, bad professionalism thingy
Not long ago some Arab college students near me organized something similar but much lower key. When they were found out to be lying, they justified themselves on the grounds that it was all to mobilize and unite the community in their cause – in other words, they were doing it for power.
There is a quick and easy way to deal with such manipulations. Can you guess what that is?
It is a shame to see such an issue being discussed on Arabic satellite channels with so much conviction and accusations to Jordan.
I really can not believe that at such times where access to information has become available to everyone with internet connection, a rumor can be easily spread and blown out of proportion especially when people who contributed to the fiasco are journalists!
Personally the Jordan Festival does not interest me, so I’m not defending it in any way, the old Jerash festival of the 80’s when we were kids was a real cultural event, I can still remember our excitement every year when my parents used to take us there to see all the great crafts displayed there, the colored sand in glass bottles, the numerous necklaces and bracelets on display, the pottery, the children theater, the free acrobat shows in the main square, walking along the Jerash stone paths and following the carved traces of old roman carriages among the hundreds of feet!
So many tiny memories.
Unfortunately after all those years the Ministry of Tourism and the JTB failed to form a vision for the Jerash Festival, one would think that they must have benefited from a very long experience and that by now they are able to figure out what made the Festival a success and what led to its diminishing popularity over the past years!
I always feel that officials in Jordan take the easy way out, and their decisions are mostly drastic, they do not try to find answers instead they kill ideas or just tear down old buildings with no real planing, and they eventually get stuck and end up screwing things even more.
P.S sorry Ahmad, I deviated from the original issue of your post, but I had to get it off my chest
It is has unfortunately always been the case where people make baseless allegations and the blind follow. What is the the saying the blind leading the blind?
Man, you know whats ridiculous, Publicis is the owner of Pubilcis Graphics, Leo Burnett and Saatchi and Saatchi.. So if they are pro-israeli that means so are all their clients including:
Zein, Saraya, Mawared, Jordan Investment Board, Jordan Tourism Board, DIP, Abdali, Al Tajamouat, TGF, Abu Khader Automotive etc…
That’s an assload of local and goverment business right there. Lets boycott them all.