John Legend today responded to accusations of hypocrisy from human right campaigners over his decision to perform at a state-backed event in Bahrain next week, by saying his “mission in life is to spread love and joy to people all over the world.”
The Grammy Award-winning singer, who won an Oscar on Sunday for Best Original Song for “Glory” from the film Selma, is set to perform on Monday at the country’s Spring of Culture festival in Arad Fort, which is organised and part funded by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, the country’s ministry of culture.
However, campaigners in the country have attacked the singer for agreeing to perform at a government-backed event in a country where the Sunni-dominated regime has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the use of excessive force against protesters, extra judicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture.
Mr Legend’s performance – tickets have already sold out – comes after he spoke out for human rights at the most politically charged Academy Awards in recent memory on Sunday night.
Accepting his award for his contribution to Selma, which depicts Dr Martin Luther King’s momentous battle to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Mr Legend quoted Nina Simone, saying that “it’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.”
His speech also touched on several social justice issues, including the United States’ high incarceration rates, sparking fierce political debate. However the outspoken musician now faces charges of hypocrisy after Bahraini campaigners said he was being used to “burnish” the “bloodied reputation” of the regime.
Dr Ala’a al-Shehabi, a prominent human rights activist from Bahrain Watch, said: “Bahrainis have been enduring a civil rights struggle for decades. Having John Legend sing in Bahrain should be in honour of the people who have lost life and limb in this struggle. Not in honour of the regime that wants to use him to burnish its bloodied reputation.”
She added: “Bahrain is facing a human rights calamity given its small size and small population… Scores of ageing and peaceful political leaders are behind bars. If Martin Luther King was Bahraini today, he’d be serving a long prison sentence, for all of the island’s leaders are in prison, on trial or in exile.
This call for Mr Legend to reconsider the performance was echoed by Sayed Yousif Almuhafdah, the vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He said: “I’d like to tell John Legend that my people, the people of Bahrain, are fighting the same injustice and discrimination African Americans suffered in the United States. They’re living under a dictatorship that has stripped them from their most basic human rights, democracy, justice, and freedom of speech. Bahrainis democracy campaigners are being attacked on daily basis, arrested, tortured, and unjustly detained. The people of Bahrain are paying their lives as a price for their freedom.”
Regarding the Bahrain performance, Mr Legend argued today that “the solution to every human rights concern is not always to boycott.”
He went on to tell London’s The Independent newspaper that his decision came after he consulted with human rights experts.
“Often, the best way to drive progress is to show up and participate in the conversation.
“Part of my mission in life is to spread love and joy to people all over the world. I intend to do just that in Bahrain, regardless of my disagreements with some of their governments’ policies and actions,” he said.
Mr Legend’s performance will also embarrass Amnesty International after he lent his name to a high-profile freedom of expression campaign by the charity in November.
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