More than 300 musicians on Thursday pledged not to participate in exclusive partnerships with Amazon or events sponsored by the company unless it severs ties with law enforcement and government agencies that enforce the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration policies.
“We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies.”
—300+ musicians
The pledge came in an open letter published on the website of digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future, which is still collecting signatures.
“We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies,” the letter declares. “We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us.”
The letter highlights human rights concerns involving particular federal agencies—Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement—and outlines the artists’ demands of Amazon:
- Terminate existing contracts with military, law enforcement, and government agencies (ICE, CBP, ORR) that commit human rights abuses;
- Stop providing Cloud services and tools to organizations (such as Palantir) that power the U.S. government’s deportation machine;
- End projects that encourage racial profiling and discrimination, such as Amazon’s facial recognition product; and
- Reject future engagements with aforementioned bad actors.
“It has recently come to light that Amazon Web Services, an Amazon subsidiary with known ties to ICE and law enforcement, is hosting a festival marketed as an experience ‘where music, technology, and art converge,'” reads the letter. “We the undersigned artists are outraged that Amazon continues to provide the technical backbone supporting ICE’s human rights abuses.”
Updates on the pledge are being shared on the “No Music For ICE” Twitter account and by supporters of the letter using the hashtags #NoMusicForICE and #NoTechForICE.
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