The Grammy-nominated rapper is set to perform on Saturday at a Christmas festival sponsored by Unitel, a communications company controlled by President José Eduardo dos Santos’ family.
Dos Santos has led Angola for 36 years, despite having never been formally elected. He stands accused of abusing the country’s oil wealth to enrich himself, his family and a narrow elite while failing to deliver housing, education and jobs to the majority.
The Human Rights Foundation president, Thor Halvorssen, said that as a “global artist”, Minaj should cancel her appearance at the festival.
“Millions of people look up to her for creative inspiration,” said Halvorssen. “There is no good reason for her to do business with the corrupt Angolan dictatorship and endorse the ruler’s family company.”
Seventeen Angolan activists were detained in June for organizing a reading of American academic Gene Sharp’s book From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. One of those detained is Luaty Beirão, a rapper. In a further blow to freedom of expression, prominent Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais was given a six-month suspended jail term this year for “defaming” the army in a book that revealed killings in the country’s diamond fields.
HRF outlined this and other alleged human rights abuses in a letter to Minaj via her representative Brian Sher at Category 5 Entertainment.
“Considering the information above – and with great appreciation for your work as an artist – HRF believes that your participation in a performance sponsored by a thuggish kleptocratic dynasty involved in gross human rights violations would be improper,” Halvorssen said. “Furthermore, it would be disastrous for a public figure of your standing who has articulated a commitment to education and social justice.”
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Minaj, who this week celebrated the first anniversary of the release of her triple platinum album The Pinkprint, has not responded publicly to the letter. The rapper could not be reached for comment.
Her scheduled performance at Show Unitel Boas Festas, in Angola’s capital, Luanda, was also criticized by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights group.
The group’s Africa policy director, Jeffrey Smith, told the New York Daily News that Minaj was “callously taking money from a dictator who’s been in power for nearly four decades and who has effectively and ruthlessly choked free expression, setting a horrible precedent not only for Angola, but for the entire region”.
Singer Mariah Carey was criticized after performing for Dos Santos in 2013, earning an alleged $1m for the show. That concert was preceded by her performance at a New Year’s Eve party organized by the son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, in 2009.
She said later that she had been “naive and unaware of who I was booked to perform for,” was “embarrassed to have participated in this mess,” and said it was “a lesson for all artists to learn from”.
Carey is one of several American pop stars to perform at events organized by the Gaddafi family. Beyoncé performed at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by Muammar’s son, Hannibal, in 2009. Jay Z, Lindsay Lohan and Usher were also at the party, for which Beyoncé was paid as much as $2m.
After Beyoncé’s performance at the private party on St Barts, the singer said she gave the complete payment to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Rapper 50 Cent, who performed a private concert for the Gaddafi family at the 2005 Venice Film festival, said after the gig that he would donate money to Unicef to support their “vital relief [work]” in Libya. Usher also donated his fee to “various human rights organisations”.
theguardian
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