Trackbacks & Pings

1. MIA: Revolutionary Genius or Hypocritical Hipster? « The Greatest Blog Ever Hula-d on 02 Sep 2008 at 3:07 pm

   [...] global politics, MIA, music cocobuchanan 8:06 pm I came across this article about MIA on Racialicious today.  Is anyone else confused about MIA’s [...]

2. What’s M.I.A.’s Stake? | illvox: anarchist people of color, race, anarchy, revolution on 04 Sep 2008 at 8:01 am

   [...] Racialicious offers up an insightful critique on M.I.A. and her presumed politics, which a lot of progressive types have ascribed to be radical (in a positive way). An excerpt: That said, I have always been a bit skeptical of M.I.A’s politics. Is she just projecting an irresistible (lucrative) image, or is she actually doing anything? When I went to her show at McCarren Pool in June, it made me a bit uncomfortable to be dancing around with a bunch of hipsters in Brooklyn while she has images of children from developing countries flashing across the back of the stage as her visual aids. [...]

Comments

1. Ron wrote:

   The bottom line is do you think the Tamils should use violence to fight for their rights. The Tamils have been oppressed in Sri Lanka for years. The Tigers like the Panthers represent a response to oppression.

   Most people in both movements have respect and ties with each other.

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:53 am ¶

2. dave wrote:

   i could be wrong but i don’t think she explicitly supports the tamil tigers. i think she was being autobiographical about her family’s involvement with them, not directly in support, and doing so from within the context of her upbringing rather than as a political platform.

   i have a lot of personal esteem for M.I.A. but more than that i think even as an artist she’s done some socially conscious things … on youtube after her music video for boyz or birdflu i forget which there was a comment by someone from some obscure african tribe that was just dumbstruck by the fact that she’d used folks from their village to do some particular drumming technique/routine that not many folks remembered how to do or care about, and whoever it was who wrote the comment was just so pleased to discover those dying rythyms put on the record in an unexpected place …

   sorry that’s remarkably vague but it was a little thing about M.I.A.’s “style” that really showed “substance.”

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 9:15 am ¶

3. Thea Lim wrote:

   Excuse me but I am about to gush:

   I agree that MIA’s politics are a bit murky and confusing. I don’t really think you can be into the “ideology” of her music because I’m not exactly sure what it is. She’s not really clear about her specific beliefs – but I don’t think she intends to be. I also don’t know enough about Sri Lankan politics to criticise her affiliations.

   The reason why I love MIA is that I feel like she gives people of colour (and esp women of colour and esp Asian immigrant/refugee/displaced/diasporic/confused- identity women of colour) visibility – but in her own (as you say!) chaotic, totally wild, amazing way. And because her music is like nothing else out there, she gives us visibility not as victims, sexual objects, caricatures, or Hollywood war movie stereotypes, but as individuals – because her music and art is so super individual, if nothing else.

   I saw MIA in Toronto last fall, and even though I got separated from my crew and was essentially packed in on all sides by 100s of sweaty, gyrating and predominantly white hipsters, I couldn’t stop smiling. Her show was so wacky and unpredictable (at one point she climbed up onto a wall of 12 foot speakers and then couldn’t figure out how to get down), and there’s was something that was so amazing, so moving and so hilarious about seeing her do her own completely bizarre thing in her own way.

   I think her music, art, iconography has been totally co-opted by hipsters, but I think I co-opt it too in my own way. I have no connection to her experience (I’m not brown, a refugee and have no experience of war) but I can’t help but feel like her music, art, and everything about her is screaming a huge, colourful, joyous FUCK YOU in the face of every ridiculous, dehumanising and invisible-making stereotype there is about immigrant Asian women of colour – and I like to feel like she’s screaming it for me.

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 9:28 am ¶

4. Joanna Eng wrote:

   @ Thea Lim:
   Yes! Well said, and I totally agree!

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 9:47 am ¶

5. Kai wrote:

   MIA’s politics are not for the feint of heart or the cautiously fragile or the politically gullible. She invites the label “terrorist” because she knows — as all of us who have paid attention to world politics for the several decades know — that the word is essentially a meaningless snarl term which is hurled by government propagandists at all those in the third world who actively resist the imperial order of powerful nation-states. See Noam Chomsky’s definitions, for example, of “retail terrorism vs. state terrorism” to put the word in context. MIA’s father is the famous Tamil Tiger freedom fighter known by the nom-de-guerre Arular. Unlike most Western “progressives” who care more about feel-good image than directly combatting global deprivation and mass oppression, the Tamil Tigers aren’t playing around. They lay their lives on the line to fight for what they believe in. Yes, they innovated the suicide-bomber vest and MIA makes no bones about it (”Galang”, “Sunshowers”); that’s how they killed Indira Gandhi. Those who find this too upsetting or disturbing to get past, and who aren’t willing to dig any deeper, should probably just stay away from her music and denounce her politics and stay on the safe side of this whole discussion; because this discussion, and mainstream attacks on what she represents, are inevitably going to escalate.

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:19 am ¶

6. gatamala wrote:

   Thea I STAN for her too!

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:49 am ¶

7. Kai wrote:

   FYI I should probably mention that my last comment is partially informed by what I wrote about MIA in February 2005: “In the Bush-Blair era of paranoid xenophobia and with-us-or-against-us thought-conformity, M.I.A.’s unapologetic revolutionary politics are beyond bold. She’s not just a thug; she’s an insurgent … Of course, the pressing question is: What’s gonna happen when M.I.A.’s uncompromising real-world honesty collides with the many-layered bullshit of mainstream pop, where glitz-worshipping celebs are either molded in child-star farms like the Mouseketeers or mass promoted for mass consumption in hopelessly-fake reality-TV shows? The simple answer: Something’s gotta break — either the rules of the game, or the person trying to break them.”

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:50 am ¶

8. Marisol LeBron wrote:

   I think the timing of this diss is an obvious ploy for attention/publicity. M.I.A’s “Paper Planes” is on the top 10 at iTunes and her work getting a lot of late attention because of that.

   I think Kai’s analysis is spot on. MIA represents a complicated position in anti-colonial struggles that is hard to stomach at times, but that is nonetheless a valuable commentary on the “world.”

   Also, the DeLon video absolutely relies on the same images of death, particularly the death of women and children, that has come to dominate our attention since 9/11. I think that is really unfair that DeLon is attempting to associate M.I.A and her words with extreme images of death and “terrorism.” That would be like using similar images to denounce a Palestinian artist who speaks about the realities of their everyday existence. Addressing the those things does not make someone a terrorist, and I hope that people can see past DeLon’s scare tactic attempt at publicity.

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 11:57 am ¶

9. Thea Lim wrote:

   I find M.I.A.’s politics confusing. She comes out in support of the PLO (and winds up having to pay for it when the US government wouldn’t let her into the country) and tries to draw attention to Liberia. She openly and audaciously disses the racism/sexism of indie rock reporting (in the process dissing her producer! see: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44529-mia-confronts-the-haters) .

   But at the same time she sells her songs for car commercials, tours with Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku 4, and claims to be THE voice of the civilian refugee (see the Sepia Mutiny post) – a claim which effectively silences any other artist who wants to talk about being a refugee.

   I think she’s a really complicated and contradictory figure. In a sense by being so slippery she refuses to be poster person for any cause. But is that an intentional move on her part? Who knows! Is she a revolutionary hero, or genius at media manipulation and self-promotion, or is she simply an inconsistent hipster rockstar and (it pains me to say) a hypocrite? Who knows!

   I think I wind up examining the politics of how she represents herself – and what that means to people who identify with aspects of her experience – because everything else just seems so tricky.

   Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 12:27 pm ¶

10. RainaWeather wrote:

    I was under the impression that most people knew about MIA’s politics by now. Go on any YouTube video, especially “Bird Flu”, and there will be bickering back and forth.

    I too agree with THEA. As a gay woman of color from New Orleans, MIA makes me feel powerful.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 1:12 pm ¶

11. pixilated wrote:

    dave@ #2 wrote:
    “some obscure african tribe”

    i’m sorry that this comment isn’t on topic, but it really bothers me when often anything to do with africa gets labelled as “obscure” or “remote” or somehow not occupying the same space/time continuum as the rest of the world. i’m pretty sure there must be a significant population for whom this “tribe” is anything but obscure – most likely they’re just another ethnic grouping in whatever the area is they live in. yes, it doesn’t only happen to anything african – most often i’ve observed developing countries as viewed from the perspective of developed ones – and i realise many people have written about this much more coherently and with greater intelligence, depth and insight than i am now (this topic has been dealt with on this blog to some extent as a matter of fact) but in this space i suppose i have come to expect – or at least hope for – a bit more consciousness in choosing words with which people label and conceive of a whole continent’s people. it just feels incredibly dismissive whether its referring to africans or to whatever group of people to which you don’t belong.

    no disrespect to the moderators or everybody else her: i don’t want to derail the discussion at all – i’ll just go back to lurking as usual.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 1:20 pm ¶

12. Pheagan wrote:

    It’s funny, as I read this “Paper Planes” came on in the cafe I’m at. I can’t name the source, but I seem to explicitly remember when MIA first came on the scene hearing her say something like “My father was in the Tamil Tigers, but I don’t support them.” And I really liked her for that. I believe those commenters who read the song as being about her family experiences than about her advocating for the Tamil Tigers are more on the mark. As for the murkiness of her politics, I believe much of the murkiness might come from her being a musician and not necessarily seeing the need to expicitly spell out her political beliefs. Also– isn’t she building a school in Africa? Team MIA.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 1:45 pm ¶

13. Pheagan wrote:

    Oh, and P.S., in regards to her selling her songs to commercial companies– don’t musicians often get a raw financial deal from the companies that rep them? Doesn’t Rihanna have 20,000 in her bank account? And MIA isn’t a quarter as commercially viable as Rihanna is. I can’t really blame a girl for trying to cover her ass (ets), especially when she does seem into using her money to make a difference.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 1:48 pm ¶

14. Dawud wrote:

    For heaven’s sake, don’t use Wikipedia for a link as a reference for the Tamil Tigers or anyone else!

    Regarding the Tamil Tigers, they are the leading single organization regarding suicide terrorism from 1980 – 2005 according to Dr. Robert Pape, terrorism expert at U of Chicago.

    No just cause can be advanced through suicide bombings. That goes for oppressed peeps in Sri Lanka, Palestine or anywhere else.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 2:15 pm ¶

15. Thea Lim wrote:

    @Pheagan:

    I remember reading that M.I.A. defended the sale of her songs to corporations by saying that she was never going to make as much money as a megastar like (I think?) Gwen Stefani… essentially she was saying what you are saying – you gotta make money somehow.

    I don’t necessarily fault her for selling her songs – I think it just makes her a bit more complicated.

    On the one hand she appears to be a really fierce character who will say whatever she thinks and believes, who appears not to play into marketing (ie she will say all sorts of controversial things, giving the impression that it’s more important to her to speak her mind, even if it may impact her sales or her ability to travel freely etc…) and isn’t for the faint of heart (as Kai points out).

    On the other hand she comes across as very rash, is played up as flighty and unpredictable, and will take arguably questionable gigs in order to make money.

    Whatever, I still adore her! And actually she’s never done anything (that I know of) that directly contradicts an articulated opinion. But exactly what her politics are sure is puzzling. As you point out though, she’s a musician and puzzling politics is a liberty she can take.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 3:00 pm ¶

16. DEAF FEMINIST PUNK!! wrote:

    MIA is a singer and performer. She is not a politician and she does not have to defend herself or explain her politics to anybody.

    MIA is an ENTERTAINER and not a political machine!

    MIA is a true inspiration to me and for all other South Asian females struggling to make it big in movies, music, theatre, literature and other forms of artistic expression.

    People can talk shit all they want. I am on Team MIA and never will budge.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 3:14 pm ¶

17. Collie wrote:

    In the video for Galang, there is imagery involving cell phones. From this we can deduce that M.I.A. is secretly working for Big Telephone. I can only hope that some rapper points this out in an attempt to gain some name recognition for himself- er, I mean, to protect us from M.I.A.’s horrible scary politics.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 3:28 pm ¶

18. June wrote:

    I really MIA but there is another hip hop artist I respect more: K’naan. He’s a Toronto based Somali artist who spoke out in front of the UN about Somalia and was a Messenger of Peace for the UN. His video “Soobax,” shot in the Little Somalia are of Kenya, directly address war lords to come out and face the music.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 5:13 pm ¶

19. Fatemeh wrote:

    lol @ Collie’s comment.

    Great guest post; I think this is what Racialicious is about. A post, a bunch of different opinions, and everybody being cool.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 6:23 pm ¶

20. Van wrote:

    Even though I have read about the politics of Sri Lanka and the separatist movement(Tamil Tigers) I am only vaguely familiar with the aforementioned artists.
    But I found the comment that you are quoting quite remarkable Latoya( i.e. that of Sonali from New Orleans). The analysis is spot on.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:00 pm ¶

21. kakodaimon wrote:

    I respect where M.I.A. is coming from, and I think DeLon is a crap rapper – on the other hand, I echo one of the commentors who really, really wished someone had done a more thoughtful critique. I think one of the reasons white kids have such an easy time dancing blissfully away to some of the more violent lyrics on Arular is precisely because Sri Lanka’s politics matter so very little to them.

    I’m from Northern Ireland, and as a note to illustrate this, I find that the further people are from that political scene, the more inclined they are to go “Yeahh! IRA!” or whoever they think is obviously right (IRA is the more popular choice among people with Irish grandmothers in North America, though). The Troubles scene seems to be much MORE important to them, from how often it comes up – but only because it is in fact LESS. Does that make sense? And I think the same principle is definitely at work with other conflicts, like the one in Sri Lanka. That may be one of the reasons M.I.A. herself doesn’t have such a black-and-white, “developed” perspective on such politics: because she has lived too much of it.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:37 pm ¶

22. AgapeA wrote:

    One of the various reasons that I have a lot of love for MIA is that she is so obviously random and confused and ballsy yet vulnerable. And the sheer internationalness (new word!) of her style makes her even more compelling.
    As for the politics, I went to a high school with a big tamil population and i don’t know if i’ve ever known a single tamil person who doesn’t, to a certain extent, at least sympathize with the tamil tigers. most of the kids i went to school didn’t have what MIA has: a method to express the messedupness that is a result of refugee experiences. it’s no coincidence that there’s such a problem with gangs in the tamil community (at least in toronto). it’s like MIA, in her own crazy way, serves the same function as 90s gangster rappers…

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 8:32 pm ¶

23. South Canaindian wrote:

    I`m confused .

    I thought that paper planes was a song against the tamil tigers .

    ” All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
    And (KKKAAAA CHING!)
    And take your money ”

    I interpreted that she was talking about how the LTTE get money. I`m a South African and I guess of tamil decent and there are people who go around and like try to get money from older tamil people by preying on their pride / sense of nationalism , and then using that money to kill ” (BANG BANG BANG BANG!) ” . My father had to sit my grandfather down and explain to him what was really going , and what / where his money was truly going .

    =/

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 9:18 pm ¶

24. Restructure! wrote:

    M.I.A.’s father was not even part of the Tamil Tigers/LTTE. He founded the The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), which has the same aim of creating an independent Tamil state within Sri Lanka, but it’s a separate group.

    Yes, M.I.A. uses a lot of tiger imagery, but that doesn’t indicate that she is supporting the Tamil Tigers specifically. The tiger could symbolize the support of independence (since the Tamil Tigers also want independence), and imagery works by association rather than logical structure. Or, it could just symbolize that she’s a badass, just like wearing army camouflage print doesn’t necessarily mean that you support war.

    I’m just putting it out there, because I don’t find her contradictory.

    M.I.A. interview part 1*:

    M.I.A.: … A lot of journalists were sort of writing that my dad was associated with the Tamil Tigers, but he wasn’t, you know, he was part of a group called EROS, which isn’t, you know, functioning or hasn’t been function since the 80s, 90s, and you know, since then my dad’s been like a representative for, you know, a lot of what’s going on on both sides, whether it’s like the Tamil side or the Sinhalese side.

    (later)

    M.I.A.: This is the same shit that kept me out of the country for 10 months, you know what I mean? People going, “And her dad is a Tamil Tiger! And she’s like supporting suicide bombings!” … My whole point is that it’s so much more complex than that, you know. You just can’t, it’s not a soundbite, like you know what I mean? The situation’s really complex, and that’s what creates so much confusion and stuff for me, and that’s what I try to explore in my work.

    She doesn’t seem contradictory to me at all, and her thoughts seems quite clear and coherent to me. I don’t think it’s M.I.A. being confusing, but it’s that politics is not simple; it’s not something that you can summarize in one sentence for any idiot to understand.

    * Let me know if the video is not accessible outside of Canada, just for my information.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:00 pm ¶

25. Restructure! wrote:

    I also didn’t mean that anyone who doesn’t understand Sri Lankan politics is an idiot. I know very little about it. However, I don’t perceive M.I.A as contradictory, as I don’t think there are only two sides, for or against.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:38 pm ¶

26. Pheagan wrote:

    @ Thea Lim– I hear you. I don’t tend to have a problem with musicians going commercial, just because it seems impossible to be totally ethical at all in this world. I mean, the gas footprint of touring is pretty large, right? Is touring with Gwen Stefani what you find questionable? Is it because of the Harajuku girls? I won’t argue with that, I’d just like to know. And I feel like I’d rather MIA get some money and thereby get some power and put it to good use– like you say it’s not like she plays down her politics or opinions in order not to lose contracts, and as long as she stays like that I’m cool with her. And yeah, she is PLAYED UP as flighty and unpredictable. Wasn’t there some Lauryn Hill-ish to-do about her male collaborators being more responsible for her sound than she is? I think it’s just the usual misogynistic music reporting there.

    Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 10:55 pm ¶

27. Jaye wrote:

    I thought ‘Paper Planes’ was about the immigrant experience, and how immigrants are portrayed as being criminals, drug dealers, murderers, etc., and the song is playing up on that idea.

    Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 2:31 am ¶

28. Collie wrote:

    Something occured to me last night regarding the interpretation of M.I.A.’s use of tiger images. Like Restructure! wrote, maybe she’s just using them to say “I’m kickass”. I thought that if anyone else used these images, that would probably be what is assumed UNLESS they came out and said “The tigers represent such-and-such to me”.

    Maybe because M.I.A. is a woman, and South Asian, it’s assumed that the tiger can’t represent how she views herself. Tigers are powerful and scary. They’ll jump you and drag you away. They’re not often seen, but they’re respected. Maybe there are people who can’t comprehend a woman who was not born in the West as seeing herself as being like these powerful creatures. Instead, they look PAST her to try and find something that fits more with their preception of non-Western people (especially women) of color (in this case, the scary-extremist-immigrant).

    I may just be reading into this too much, though.

    Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 8:09 am ¶

29. Restructure! wrote:

    Oh, when I said ‘kickass’, I didn’t mean that the tigers could be used by non-Tamils with the same meaning. I meant like, say, a Hong Kong Chinese person using Triad imagery in their music video; it doesn’t necessarily mean that they support crime, but it’s supposed to look badass.

    Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 8:38 am ¶

30. Joanna Eng wrote:

    Thank you to all the commenters for sharing so many complex and alternative perspectives on this!

    After I originally posted this on my blog, I was feeling a bit insecure about what I wrote. I felt that I didn’t have enough information about the subject. And honestly, even though I was highly skeptical about it, the video and some of my commenters freaked me out enough that I avoided listening to M.I.A. for weeks!

    Anyway, thanks to the Racialicious community for reminding me of the point of blogging about this in the first place!

    And I’m ready to appreciate her music again.

    Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 9:40 am ¶

31. SP wrote:

    Can’t anyone see why Delen hates MIA. Because, nobody knows who Delon is, except for the fact that he insulted a international superstar, like MIA?

    Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 11:25 am ¶

32. x0x wrote:

    I’m sorry, it’s just too much to bear. Most of my friends who listen to the music are just consumed by it’s melody, but I find the overall attitude of the song itself offensive. If she has a message she is trying to get across, she would be better off employing them in a tactful manner, rather than harmonizing with the sounds of violent gunshots and cash registers. I bet the latter is exactly what the producers heard when they decided to sign her to their label. There’s no excuse for being this socially irresponsible. Does she really think the people listening to her music are looking for these messages, or just enjoying the upbeat melodies of her music.

    Posted 04 Sep 2008 at 2:20 am ¶

33. Roxie wrote:

    xox, the song is about the U.S. not allowing her green card based on the idea that her father was associated with the Tamil Tigers.

    Basically it’s like what the govn’t thinks she’s gonna do while she’s here. Forge visas and rob places.

    I love MIA.

    She’s building a school in Liberia, btw. Check out her myspace blog.

    Posted 05 Sep 2008 at 9:49 pm ¶

34. x0x wrote:

    Even still, there are other ways to get one’s message across. How many people will see through the melody and it’s aura of hardcore-ness to it’s real meaning amongst a sea of musicians that glorify guns and violence?

    Posted 05 Sep 2008 at 11:03 pm ¶

35. Roxie wrote:

    If an artist where to worry about every single person who might see what they’ve done in a different light from which they meant it to be seen there would never be any art.

    Posted 06 Sep 2008 at 12:50 pm ¶

36. dave wrote:

    @pixilated: just saw this. in a sense, i feel like saying “some obscure african tribe” is on par with saying “some town in the midwest” or “a city in the former USSR” and considering that i was phrased everything in such a way as to apologize for not having specific info, i think you may be misrepresenting the comment.

    however in the context of post-colonialism i’ll try to stay on top of the issues of exclusions you were getting at.

    Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 11:59 am ¶

37. dave wrote:

    @Roxie: cosign.

    @xox: Sign is not always the signifier, and to expect that it will be is to analyze in just one dimension, not even two. I think its okay to have a knee-jerk 1-dimensional response to something, but before really engaging someone’s ideas on something I’d want to at least see they’d looked beyond the obvious to the intention and the context.

    Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 12:02 pm ¶

38. Roxie wrote:

    M.I.A. just updated her myspace blog about this very topic.

    http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2225872&blogID=431535685&Mytoken=C4ADC790-1B78-47DA-A678815ACE377A7856983075

    Posted 09 Sep 2008 at 8:30 pm ¶

39. wendi muse wrote:

    to echo a few of the comments above, i have always liked mia for the music…i tend to ignore what she says. . . mainly because i listen to music for the sake of dancing and to get away from my thoughts…so i don’t want to be hit over the head sometimes with political consciousness when i just trying to dance at the club. mia strikes me as the typical conflicted artist…which is more important, message or money? and at the end of the day, it’s a mixture of both. mia has an apt in bedstuy for god’s sake, but not because she couldn’t afford one in, say, the village, but because she wants to look like one of the people. . . she wants to be down. . . among the commonfolk…but at the endof the day, this apparent act of community altruism is to make her image more credible. mia is more than a person – - over the years, she has become a brand. i saw her a few years ago when she performed at the central park summer stage (This is pre_Kala, pre-MTV) and she had two backup dancers wearing clothes from h&m and diplo was her music source (and, well, still is as he helped produce a lot of the tracks on kala as well). i think at the end of the day, she’s just like anyone else. sure, she is using her publicity to kind of say something political, but it seems like that is more of the brand than a call for action. i mean, how many NGO sign up sheets do you see getting passed around at the end of her shows?

    Posted 10 Sep 2008 at 6:53 am ¶

40. lions4life wrote:

    regardless of the fact that MIA makes good music, she does have connections to the LTTE and does use their logos in her songs. that is no secret. I unforunatly do not and cannot support an artist who sides with terrorism.

    I think DeLon is taking a stance against what has been going on in his country for a long time now. and it’s not just MIA he’s making people aware of all forms of terrorism in his Country. MIA Jus happens to be one of the most public faces of it. unfortunatly. because music wise she’s really good. idk I’ve been following the news about this for a while now. (I started out being a big MIA fan.) I was at first very skeptical of DeLon’s message and what he was trying to portray MIA. but I did google what he was saying (if you don’t believe me, google it yourself about MIA and terrorism/ltte) and I can say, I am not a fan of what the image behind her music is. thank you for reading my opinion. i hope we can communicate the matter like adults.

    Posted 15 Sep 2008 at 3:47 pm ¶

41. Imran wrote:

    look…M.I.A..supports the LTTE its very clear….and as the author states…those hipsters go to her concerts..paying money and have a good time etc….but their good time comes at the price of sri lankan lives…as they help fund that next suicide bomb….that kills innocent women children and men alike…

    We cannot hope to make you understand…but what Delon shows and says in his video IS THE TRUTH AT GROUND here in my country….no politician or otherwise has to propagate the savagery of the LTTE…every sri lankan feels it at heart….

    would you willingly fund Al-Queda had have the blood of more Americans in your hands……? Please help me save my countrymen…boycott M.I.A

    Posted 18 Sep 2008 at 3:31 am ¶

42. Kavi wrote:

    With u Imran. Most of the people who hv commented in this page dont know the smell of blood. They havent seen their parent killed by bombs. But we have. Thats Why We feel it. All the others who live in their cozzy rooms think about this… Be realistic.. U ppl r few feets off the ground…. Boycott M.I.A

    Posted 16 Oct 2008 at 12:36 pm ¶