MikieT1 wrote: Ive been a fan of queen for as long as I can remember - posters on wall and every album bought - I cant beleive what I've heard today during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts they played Sun City - i know it was so long ago but i feel so sick and let down by people i thought were the heroes of my childhood. Shame on them. ------------------------------------------------------------ You and everyone else should "get real" and stop slagging them off for doing it. Sure Apartheid was bad, but you should look at it from this point of view: Queen played not only to white people, but to the black people as well. How's that for "supporting Apartheid"? Good on 'em I say. Someone had to make the stand and Queen did it.
ParisNair · Member since
Aparthied, the slave trade in america, etc are topics which i have found very "interesting" of late and hope to read up on in the near future.
Daniel Nester · Member since
Um, it was a bad decision, both sense- and politics- and career-wise. It was naive, for one. For one to to say they're glad they did it, or it proved they had balls, wow. Hero-worship can only go so far.
The pro-Sun City folks also seem to be the same "Freddie wasn't gay" people round these parts. Coincidence?
Daniel Nester · Member since
"Someone had to make the stand and Queen did it. "
What stand was that? The make-a-lot-of-money-over-four-days stand? Or the oh-shit-we-didn't-think-people-would-know stand?
Daniel Nester · Member since
I asked this before, but if someone, anyone, can link to one report, video, or recording of any members of the band, while they were in South Africa, saying anything critical of the apartheid system or the then-current regime or even a reference to the integrated audiences they were about to play to, I'd be inclined to agree that the whole Sun City thing is out of proportion. But I have yet to come across any of it.
Can anyone provide links? Scans? Freaking hearsay? Besides the old after-the-fact Brian interview, I mean.
Gregsynth · Member since
Here's an interview about Sun City.
Wijnand · Member since
I've been to Sun City, and I must say: It's a great venue!
Soundfreak · Member since
Somehow it's absurd to come up with that topic after such a long time.
In the end there is nothing else to say than:
People who do a lot and even try new things will also do mistakes. While people who do nothing at all can easily throw stones.
I prefer people who do a lot. They are the ones that make the world an exciting place to be.
brians wig · Member since
Thanks for the interview snippet Gregsynth. Do you have the complete interview you could upload, or did you just find the youtube link?
Joxer · Member since
Freddie Mercury and Queen arriving at Jan Smuts South Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3WzHVZcnrc
Marknow · Member since
@ brians wig
You can download the interview here http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1100729/announce-roger-brian-interview-2-f-m-broadcast-ireland-1986-flac.aspx
GratefulFan · Member since
Few would argue that every person has a standing moral obligation to reject and condemn a political system as profoundly and insidiously unjust as was apartheid. But it's absurd, not to mention wildly ironic, for anyone outside the band organization to presume to compel Queen to any particular action or inaction in objection to the regime, or to co-opt their freedom as artists and human beings - in this case to position their music outside of political ends. Hurrah for independent thought, then and now and always. And though shunning can be a psychologically effective means of social manipulation, it was ultimately internal instability and violence along with international economic pressure that was largely responsible for breaking the ugly back of apartheid.
I'm glad they played Sun City because I'm glad for the thousands of fans who might otherwise have lived young lives completely without an experience like that. And any powerfully positive experience that brought together blacks and whites, however incidental that bringing together was to any overarching goals (or the lack of them), had to have worked subtly against segregationist ideas, and not in support of them.
paulosham · Member since
Gregsynth wrote: It also proved that Queen had BALLS (going against an international boycott)!
Of all the idiotic things I have ever read on Queenzone, this takes the biscuit. The reason the boycott was in place was to show the government of South Africa that their policy of apartheid was wrong. To break the boycott was to give approval to an oppressive and unjust policy. You should be ashamed of your comment and so should everyone else who says that Queen were right to play. The colour of the audience, or their political and/or racial views, is not the point. The fact is Queen were ignorant of the international view and policy and should not have played there.
The reason the boycott was in place was to show the government of South Africa that their policy of apartheid was wrong. To break the boycott was to give approval to an oppressive and unjust policy. ==============================
This is precisely the point over which I strongly disagree. Says who that to break the boycott was to give approval to the stunningly unjust policies of apartheid era South Africa? That is a wild leap, and entirely a projection from outside almost sure to be completely unrelated to the motivations of those that made the [free] choice to play for music fans.
