Almost 200 artists have signed an open letter to Amazon vowing to boycott events associated with the multi-national company.
The letter ties its opposition to Amazon specifically to the company’s connections to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) as well as with other organisation that it states "commit human rights abuses".
Those who’ve signed the letter have pledge not to participate in Amazon-sponsored events, or engage in exclusive partnerships with Amazon in the future, until the company publicly commits to terminate existing contracts with military, law enforcement and government agencies, stop providing cloud services to organisations that assist in the US government’s deportation programme, end projects like facial recognition technology that "encourage racial profiling and discrimination" and, finally, reject any future engagements with all of the aforementioned groups.
The letter states: "We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies. We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us."
The move comes just over a week on from the launch of Intersect, a new music festival which has been branded as Amazon’s very first festival. Foo Fighters, Beck and SOPHIE are amongst the artists who’ve been booked to play at the festival.
The Black Madonna originally appeared on the line-up, but pulled out soon after its announcement, claiming that Amazon’s involvement in the festival was not made clear on any contracts she saw. Her name appears amongst the list of artists who’ve signed the letter to Amazon, which has been coordinated by activist group Fight For The Future.
Amongst those who’ve signed the letter are Circuit Des Yeux, Girlpool, Big Joanie, Car Seat Headrest, ZOLA JESUS and Deerhoof.
You can read the letter in full, and check the full list of signees, here.
