Pride & prejudice: Promoting behind enemy lines
IQ talks with artists and professionals who risk their lives to help change attitudes in intolerant nations and learns the true power of live music as social activism
Feature By Lisa Henderson | 30 July 2021
Palestinian artist Bashar Murad is used to risking his life to perform. As a queer Arab and a resident of East Jerusalem, Murad has learned to live with oppression and the threat of violence, both onstage and on his doorstep.
Neither, however, has deterred him from openly addressing loaded issues such as the Israeli occupation and LGBTIQ+ rights in the Middle East. “But the more vocal I become about these issues, the greater the danger is,” he tells IQ.
In…