VA - Rise Up: BDS Mixtape Vol. 2 (2023)

From Palestine to New York to Hawai’i, club banger to rock to hip-hop, BDS Mixtape Volume 2 is a call to artists and audiences to Rise Up for Palestinian freedom — and the response resounds: a declaration of the deep knowledge that none of us is free until all of us are free.

As we write, Israel has intensified its years-long siege of Gaza, cutting off electricity, water, and fuel, and preventing food and medical supplies from entering — all while unleashing a massive aerial assault. In just the first six days, Israel dropped six thousand bombs on the world’s largest open-air prison, and Israeli leaders have made it clear that this is only the beginning — openly signaling the intent to commit mass atrocities. It is a terrifying escalation of a long campaign of erasure through dispossession, racist laws, and cultural repression, as well as military and state-backed settler violence. We must rise up against the denial of Palestinians’ right to live in freedom in their homeland.

By raising our voices and instruments to protest occupation, dehumanization, genocide, and vengeance, we broadcast a message to Palestinians and the many Israelis who have joined in the struggle for a future with justice and equality: We are with you. We will not be complicit in allowing art to be used in service of an apartheid state. Our creativity is in the service of liberation. We are cultivating connection. We are inviting reflection. We are intrepidly insisting on joy.