Dear Radiohead
It's no exaggeration to say that discovering your music as a teenager politicised me. I was raised in a pretty conservative family, your music helped me to start questioning capitalism, war, our relationship with the non human world. In fact I've since gone on to a lifetime of climate justice activism - beginning with my decision to attend Kingsnorth Climate Camp in 2008, an event that I heard about through Radiohead publicising this.
And as well as this pivotal role in my political life, Radiohead have seen me through everything from break ups to major life crises. I'm a huge fan, have seen you countless times - your music moves me like no other.
Which is why it's so hard to hear that you're playing in Tel Aviv. There is simply no way that a band can maintain a commitment to social justice and peace and play an apartheid state. Your decision is disrespecting the voices of Palestinians on the frontline of one of the most viscerally unjust examples of settler colonialism in the modern world.
It is not too late to change your minds. We are all on political journeys and learn as we walk. If you fail to pull out of playing apartheid Israel, your music - so important in my life - will be tainted for good. There is no going back once this concert is played.
James
