Over at the Guardian, there is a nice video report on how Palestinians are using rap music as a form of protest in the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon. The 5-minute long video, which can only be seen on their site, includes interviews with several of the most popular Palestinian hip-hop artists, footage from concerts -which look very lively – and clips from their music videos. As Stephen Flohr, who spent time in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement, wrote for this site last year:
In the US, we are witnessing the infiltration of hip hop by forces of materialism and greed. In Palestine, the essence of hip-hop still remains close to the root of active struggle and resistance against on oppressive order. Palestinian hip-hop reminds us that the poverty of the South Bronx shares a common cause with the poverty of Jenin. It calls us back to the realization that we are all a people in struggle against the war machine.
