Posts Tagged ‘star power’
May 2, 2014
(Erykah Badu performs onstage 15 March 2014 in Austin; Roger Kisby—Getty Images)
The misuse of star power by Erykah Badu referred to in an earlier post got a nice follow up according to the opinion piece posted by Thor Halvorssen and Alex Gladstein in TIME of 2 May 2014. After recalling in detail her singing for the Swazi absolute monarch [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/another-case-of-misused-star-power-erykah-badu-performs-for-swaziland-dictator/], the authors describe Badu’s defensive and sometimes offensive comments in the social media: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | 5 Comments »
Tags: Alex Gladstein, dictatorship, Erykah Badu, human rights, Jennifer Lopez, King Mswati, Mariah Carey, music, social media, star power, Swaziland, the Gambia, Thor Halvorssen, Time, twitter, Yahya Jammeh
April 30, 2014
In the series of ‘star power’ for bad causes, American R&B singer Erykah Badu attended the 46th birthday party of King Mswati III of Swaziland on Thursday 24 April, where she sang “Happy Birthday” and dedicated her first song to the “sons of Kings”. The singer has been involved in a number of philanthropic ventures, including Artists for a New South Africa, which works to “advance human rights,” but her visit to Swaziland does not seem to fit in with this. Jeffrey Smith, an advocacy officer at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, said it was “highly unfortunate that someone of Erykah Badu’s international stature would use her star power for inherently reprehensible reasons — namely, to provide legitimacy, and, in a sense, endorse a brutal dictator who both manages and directs every facet of Africa’s last absolute monarchy.”
Journalist Bkheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko are currently imprisoned in Swaziland https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/swaziland-should-immediately-release-two-human-rights-defenders-arrested-on-17-march/
On Monday, Miss Badu tweeted: “I have no political affiliation to anything besides my AFRO. However, I will stand with any group opposing injustice. But not on twitter.” She then retweeted a comment by a man named Joe Black that read: “[Erykah Badu] owes NOBODY an explanation of why she performed in Swaziland. She’s a professional artist, not some phony rights defender.” Remarkably on Tuesday, Miss Badu tweeted that she was not paid for the Swaziland event.
via Human rights groups demand answers after Erykah Badu performs for Swaziland dictator – Washington Times.
for other posts on star power see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/star-power/
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Africa, Bkheki Makhubu, Erykah Badu, Human Rights Defenders, King Mswati III, music, R&B singer, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, star power, Swaziland, Thulani Maseko
March 7, 2014
Sean Penn is in Dublin today, 7 March, to hand out a human rights award. The winner of the 2014 Front Line Defenders Award was chosen from 110 nominations from 51 countries. Members of the Irish and European Parliaments, representatives of Front Line Defenders and Al Jazeera Media Network made up the judging panel. Jim Loughran, of Front Line Defenders said: “Sean Penn’s support is hugely important in terms of driving publicity…As one human rights defender said to us recently, if you are visible, you have rights. If you are invisible, you are a victim.” He presented the award to a Pakistani woman rights defender, Noorzia Afridi, who founded the Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA) along with her sister Fareeda “Kokikhel”, who was shot dead on her way to work in 2012.
Penn in Dublin to give human rights award | Irish Examiner.
It shows that star power can be used for good and I should have listed Penn in: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/star-power-and-human-rights-a-difficult-but-doable-mix/
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: celebrities, Dublin, Front Line Defenders, human rights award, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Kokikhel, Noorzia Afridi, Pakistan, Sean Penn, star power, woman human rights defender
February 18, 2014
On 16 February 2014 Faith Karimi and Neda Farshbaf wrote for CNN how pop star Rihanna is adding major star power to the campaign for gay rights in Russia. The singer behind hits such as “Disturbia” and “SOS” tweeted a photo of herself wearing a hat emblazoned with P6,
short for Principle 6. This campaign speaks out against Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law as the nation hosts the Winter Olympics. And Rihanna has 34 million followers on Twitter! The photo links to her Instagram account, which has about 12 million followers. In subsequent tweets, she posted links to other articles highlighting the issue.
Rihanna adds star power to P6 campaign for gay rights in Russia – CNN.com.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: 2014 winter olympics, CNN, Disturbia, gay rights, gay rights in Russia, instagram, LGBT, lgbt human rights, LGBTI, major star power, music, P6 campaign, pop star, Rihanna, Russia, Sochi, SOS, star power, twitter
February 10, 2014
(Jennifer Lopez performing for the leader Turkmenistan. (c) Agence France-Presse/Igor Sasin)
In quite a few earlier posts in this blog I have drawn attention to stars and celebrities who either support dictators or simply do not care that their actions do. So, I was quite happy to see a thoughtful piece by Jo Biddle of Agence France-Presse on 9 February 2014 analyzing this issue a bit more in-depth, with actress Scarlett Johansson as the “poster girl of Israeli apartheid”, Dennis Rodman in North Korea, and Kim Kardashian expressing her love of Bahrain. I would add, Mariah Carey who thinks nothing of singing for Gaddafi or the Angolan President, while Jennifer Lopez (picture above) did the same in Turkmenistan.
The author rightly states that when celebrities wander into complex foreign policy issues, it can be a minefield, leaving diplomats and human rights campaigners scrambling for damage control. The article mentions exceptions such as Bob Geldof, Bono, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 10 Comments »
Tags: Agence France-Presse, Angelina Jolie, Angola, Bahrain, Barbara Hendricks, Bob Geldof, Bono, Brian Dooley, celebrities, concert, Dennis Rodman, diplomacy, Gaddafi, George Clooney, HRF, human rights, Human Rights First, human rights violations, Israel, Jennifer Lopez, Jo Biddle, Kim Kardashian, Loreen, Mariah Carey, Muammar Gaddafi, North Korea, Scarlett Johansson, singers, solidarity action, star power, stars, Sting, Turkmenistan
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 