First came the news that Lollapalooza, one of the world’s biggest and best-known alternative music festivals, was headed to Israel next year. And with it, producer Perry Farrell is likely bringing millions in revenue, not to mention a massive boon in cultural cache designed to portray the world’s last legal apartheid state as a bastion of diversity.
Those who haven’t read Benjamin Doherty’s in-depth post on The Electronic Intifada’s blog absolutely should. Doherty is thorough in not just describing how virulent the supposedly liberal Farrell’s Zionism is (he raised funds for soldiers during Operation Cast Lead for example) but also in revealing that next year’s Lolla Israel will literally sit atop the ruins of a Palestinian village.
Now, however, one has to wonder whether there isn’t something larger at play. Last week, advertisements went up around Chicago stumping for the “Rock the Green” festival in nearby Milwaukee. Presented as a “green music fest,” Rock the Green front-loads its rhetoric about environmental sustainability. Its commitment to “near-zero waste” is touted, and interviews with its headlining artists (including Third Eye Blind, Switchfoot and others) all feature their thoughts on what it means to be green.
Just as up front in the publicity for Rock the Green is its primary sponsor and financial backer: Veolia Environmental Services. Continued.
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