Ziggy snubs Austria's 'Nazi' gov't

Ziggy Marley

VIENNA, Austria (AP):

REGGAE STAR Ziggy Marley has cancelled a planned performance in Austria in protest over the inclusion of a far-right party in the federal government, concert organisers said yesterday.

Son of the late Reggae superstar, Bob Marley, Ziggy, was to have performed June 17 at the annual Spring Vibration Festival in Wiesen, in the eastern province of Burgenland.

Festival spokesman Alexander Swoboda said Marley's agents informed organisers of his cancellation.

Marley "does not want to play in a country with a Nazi in the government," Swoboda said, citing a statement from the agents.

Ziggy and his siblings, the Melody Makers, were scheduled to visit Austria as part of a European tour, which begins on June 16.

Austria came under intense criticism when Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom party joined the government. Haider's past comments in praise of the Nazi era and Adolf Hitler's policies contributed to a decision by 14 European Union countries to impose sanctions on Austria.

He has since apologised for those remarks but continues to attack opponents in language often considered borderline.

Marley is one of dozens of musicians and performers who have cancelled events in Austria to show their opposition to the Freedom Party and its hard-line policies on immigration.

LOCAL NOTE: Rita Marley, matriach of the Marley family, told The Gleaner yesterday that the family had no intention of breaching blockades against Government's like that in Austria which practised racism.

"Ziggy has always been like that. He has followed in his father's footsteps and he wouldn't want to perform in any country where people's rights are not respected," she said. She pointed to a recent CD single recorded by him and his brother, Stephen, protesting against the verdict which followed the police shooting of Amadou Diallo in New York, recently, titled You Don't Care About Me.