U2 Bridges Istanbul, Turkey on World Stage
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U2′s Turkish debut marks a lot of firsts: the band’s first show in Turkey, their first meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister, the first rock concert ever in the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, and the first time I ever heard the crowd react with boos to something Bono said!
Some background–On Sept 12 the citizens of Turkey will vote on a constitutional referendum which changes the constitution set up after Turkey’s military coup thirty years ago on the date of this new vote. I have spoken to dozens of Turks on the street, at the concert and afterward, who are opposed to the referendum, or at least to two major points, the changes in the judicial procedures. I haven’t met anyone who is for it. One man told me:
It’s sugar coating, a poison pill.
Some media is reporting that this referendum is seen as an important step to joining the European Union, though my random companions have said joining the EU is not necessarily that important for Turkey, which is becoming a growing power in the Near and Middle East; though as many told me with that comes the peril of shari ‘ah, since a union with Arab states could disrupt Turkey’s secular balance.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Which brings us back around to U2 in Istanbul, which this year is the European Capital of Culture. After opening the show with an improvised call to prayer and strong versions of “Beautiful Day” and “New Year’s Day,” last night Bono told the crowd of 50,000 (or 70,000 depending on the reporting) that the band was glad to finally play in Turkey which is such an important country in terms of location and culture. Much cheering and applause. Then:
Yesterday we walked the bridge across the Bosporus with [State Minister and EU chief negotiator] Egemen Bağış
And the the subtle yet audible booing began. The crowd, like everyone I have spoken to here, is not fond of Bağış who is part of the ruling party and pushing for the referendum. Bono adjusted and turned his charm up to 11.
Okay okay! I won’t mention politicians, but can’t I be a tourist and walk across the bridge?
Bono and Zülfü
The crowd relented and let him speak. Bono went on to say that what is happening in Turkey is important for the country, for Europe and for the world. He won back the crowd, and then gave the audience a beautiful gift. After asking the audience to never forget missing journalist Fehmi Tosun, U2 was joined onstage by Turkish singer Zülfü Livaneli for the song “Mothers of the Disappeared,” then Zülfü–who is like the Leonard Cohen/early Bob Dylan of Turkey–and Bono sang Zülfü’s song, “My Hero,” in Turkish with the crowd joining in. There were tears in the eyes of some people standing by me. It was truly moving and uplifting.
Bono thanks crowd, with subtitles
For those into celebrity spotting, Spike Lee was there, and we chatted for a bit about what I had traveled to see, Sunday Bloody Sunday with videos from last year’s protest during the Iranian Revolution. Bono shouted out that this was
Radio Iran, Radio Palestine, Radio Israel, Radio Washington DC
The cheering crowd knew the words to the song. The images could become a reality elsewhere in the world, as religious fundamentalism of every stripe seeks to suppress freedom of thought and action out of fear and greed.
Aftershow refreshments: Döner kebabs
OT: Hi Lisa, I had an idea for a documentary for you to show called ‘Defamation’ by Israeli, Yoav Shamir. It had been available on YouTube in 9 parts, but due to copyright problems it was pulled.
Yoav, the narrator, decides to see for himself if all the ‘anti-semitism’ claims he’s flooded with all day/every day in Israeli media are really out there in the world.
So he flies to the ADL in New York, and gets unprecedented special access to Foxman/ADL, and finds that most of their reported acts of anti-semitism are frivolous. Of all the ones they had reported on — and there were a lot — he could only find one that was actually worth investigating, so he did.
This most serious case of anti-semitism turned out to be where an old woman at a funeral overheard a policeman on his radio telling someone, “I’m here attending some Jewish S&#t.” The old woman was so offended that she called the ADL, and they contacted the police department, and they had the officer write her an apology letter. Clearly what he said was inappropriate, but this was the harshest act of anti-semitism collected by the ADL over a significant period, yet they’d been claiming that acts of anti-semitism was on the rise.
He said that Israel now sends most of its young high school children to visit the concentration camps (Auschwitz) in Poland, and so he travels with them — a large group of 15 year olds. Yoav films those in charge of the trip warning the students in advance — most, who’d never left Israel — that people in Europe hate Jews, that they may even be targeted, and attacked while they are there and so they will have a security guard to protect them against all the anti-semites there. They warned them not to talk to any of the people in Poland, because they hate Jews. The Israeli kids were terrified.
The teens told Yoav, at one point in the movie, that during dinner in the Polish hotel, the security guard interrupted the kids’ dinner and had them rush up to their rooms, claiming the anti-semites were going to bomb them. They were literally terrified.
Here’s Yoav writing (at The Guardian) describing, and unfortunately having to defend his film, which is being shown in England and other European countries.
CTuttle and TheyComeUndone suggested I contact you to see if it could get a showing on FDL. Unfortunately, since YouTube no longer has it, I don’t have a link to give you. If you’re interested, please respond, and I’ll see if I can help you to find it somewhere on the internet.
Thanks,
TCU