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If Lorde Is Serious about Her Politics, She Should Boycott Her Native New Zealand
(Tablet) Liel Leibovitz - Lorde, the singer and songwriter, canceled her scheduled performance in Israel this week, succumbing to pressure from advocates of boycotting the Jewish state. However, if she made her decision on the basis of principles and not craven submission to bigots, she should announce her refusal to perform in her native New Zealand, a country that is guilty, in spades, of the crimes BDS supporters falsely attribute to Israelis. Is Lorde a foe of colonial occupation? In 1831, fewer than 1,000 Europeans were living in New Zealand. Fifty years later, that number skyrocketed to half a million, courtesy of British policy that encouraged settlers to sail to distant shores and remain there. Unlike the Jews returning to their homeland around the same time, these colonialists had neither a historical nor a legal claim to the land. Does Lorde abhor violent land theft? Unlike the Jews, who returned to Palestine and set up the Jewish National Fund to fairly purchase their historic homeland from its occupants, the British colonialists passed the New Zealand Settlements Act, which enabled them to thieve 4 million acres of Maori land without even the pretense of due process.