“Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don’t criticizeWhat you can’t understandYour sons and your daughtersAre beyond your command”

In 1964, Bob Dylan’s lyrics to “The Times They Are A-Changin’” challenged the established order, captured the shifting mood in America and inspired the youth movement that led to the enormous political and social upheaval of the 1960s. More than 60 years later, we find that the times are also a-changing, and not necessarily in a good way.

The Seattle-born rapper Macklemore has been dropped as a support act on Ed Sheeran’s US tour over expressing support for Palestine during his performance in New Jersey. In a short political discourse, he proclaimed “Free Palestine”, and went on to perform his song “Hind’s Hall”, an explicitly pro-Palestinian protest song, against a backdrop of images from the conflict in Gaza.

Understanding the particular sensitivities of his stance, he followed this up by addressing the audience: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you”. But this was not sufficient........

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