BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
30/03/2011
Shakira refuses to cancel performance in Belarus
The singer ignores the requests of Free Belarus Now.
Nicole Nicholson
The efforts to end artist performances in Belarus by the Free Belarus Now group have proved to be unsuccessful with the Latin pop singer Shakira.
According to MSN.com, Shakira has been ignoring pleas from activists asking her to cancel her performance in the eastern European country of Belarus. The Free Belarus Now group has been urging artists to ax tour dates in Belarus as a protest against President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and the alleged incarceration of hundreds of pro-democracy activists.
A spokesperson for the group Natasha Koliada said in the MSN article that they are trying to “appeal to these artists to cancel their concerts in Belarus because any visit would give a sign to the dictator Alexander Lukashenko that kidnappings, murders and torture in KGB [State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus] jails are acceptable.”
Despite their efforts, Shakira used her Twitter account to maintain that she will not give in to the pressure of the group to cancel her show and that she is excited to perform in Belarus. “The rumors surrounding the cancellation of Shakira’s concert in Belarus are completely unfounded. We look forward to the show on May 19th,” she tweeted.
Although Shakira denies cancelling her performance, other stars such as Jude Law have joined in to protest against the Republic of Belarus’ leader Lukashenko. According to the group’s website, FreeBelarusNow.org Jude Law and Free Belarus Now staged a protest outside the offices of public relations firm Grayling. The site stated the protest was aimed to bring attention to Grayling’s drive to encourage foreign investment into a country that is facing state-led persecution of pro-democracy activists. According to its website, Grayling is the second-largest independent public relations, public affairs and investor relations consultancy in the world, and has a main office in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus.
Source:
http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/article/shakira_12236/
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