Ask ‘Imagine Dragons’ To Cancel Their Concert In Genocidal Dictatorship Azerbaijan
Ask ‘Imagine Dragons’ To Cancel Their Concert In Genocidal Dictatorship Azerbaijan
Why this petition matters
Imagine Dragons (an EXTREMELY popular rock band in America with various music award wins and tens of millions of social media followers) are performing in Azerbaijan on September 2nd 2023.
Azerbaijan has presently blockaded and entrapped 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh (the ancestral land of the Armenians). There is no way to get any food, medicine, and other essential supplies to the Armenians because of the Azerbaijani government's ongoing illegal blockage. Pregnant women are miscarrying and children are starving because of Azerbaijan.
Links with evidence below of the humanitarian catastrophe currently unfolding:
1. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/11/asia/nagorno-karabakh-armenians-genocide-intl-hnk/index.html
3. https://jacobin.com/2023/08/the-wests-double-standards-in-the-armenian-crisis
It should also be noted that Azerbaijan is a petro-dictatorship ranked WORSE than Iran by Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org/country/azerbaijan/freedom-world/2023) and WORSE than Libya by Reporters Without Borders (https://rsf.org/en/country/azerbaijan).
In fact, Freedom House have placed Azerbaijan on it's official "16 OF THE WORST OF THE WORST COUNTRIES LIST" (along with countries like North Korea, Sudan, and Afghanistan).
President Aliyev has even been added to the Reporter Without Borders “PREDATOR LIST” along with the likes of Kim Jong Un (https://rsf.org/en/protagonist-ilham-aliev-0) and he was awarded the title "CORRUPT PERSON OF THE YEAR” by The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (https://www.occrp.org/en/poy/2012/) because of his history of money laundering into offshore bank accounts.
The reality is that Azerbaijan imprisons & tortures it's journalists on bogus charges, there is no genuine political opposition in the country, and the media is entirely under government control. Azerbaijan is also one of the most highly internet censored countries in the world (https://cpj.org/2015/04/10-most-censored-countries/).
Furthermore, there has not even been a single legitimate election in Azerbaijan in more than 30 years, and it has been ruled by one corrupt family (the Aliyev's) since 1993. President Aliyev has even appointed his own wife as Vice President of Azerbaijan (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/10/09/oops-azerbaijan-released-election-results-before-voting-had-even-started/).
Imagine Dragons are also supporters of the LGBT community and Azerbaijan is ranked as having the WORST human rights records for LGBT in all of Europe (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/azerbaijan-worst-country-gay-lgbt-ilga-europe-law-a8912456.html).
Furthermore, Imagine Dragons performed (and have acted as a spokesperson) for Amnesty International's "Bringing Human Rights Home Concert". Amnesty is one of the the most anti-Azerbaijan human rights organizations in the world and have recently condemned Azerbaijan for it's blockade/starvation/attempted genocide of 120,000 Armenians (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/azerbaijan-blockade-of-lachin-corridor-putting-thousands-of-lives-in-peril-must-be-immediately-lifted/).
Lastly President Aliyev has referred to Armenians as "DOGS", "DISEASED", and "VERMIN" (including even worse!) plus this horrific tweet he wrote (https://twitter.com/presidentaz/status/560718307515318272) referring to Armenia as "NOT EVEN WORTHY OF BEING A SERVANT".
Imagine Dragons needs to be made aware they are being USED to white-wash the criminal & genocidal Aliyev regime of Azerbaijan.
To All Supporters - PLEASE sign and then message this petition and your own personalized messages in support to Imagine Dragons official twitter account (https://twitter.com/Imaginedragons) and/or instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/imaginedragons) AND the lead singer's official twitter account (https://twitter.com/danreynolds) and/or instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/danreynolds).
Also please send this petition to Serj Tankian (lead singer of System Of A Down) via twitter (https://twitter.com/serjtankian) or instagram (https://www.instagram.com/serjtankian/) as he (a proud Armenian) is very passionate about this subject (along with other famous Armenians like Kim Kardashian, Cher, Joe Manganiello, Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian, Moderna Founder Noubar Afeyan) and he may be able to communicate directly with Imagine Dragons and lead singer Dan Reynolds.
Imagine Dragons - if you are reading this, please understand that Armenians in Armenia (a DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY), the starving Armenians living on their ancestral land in Nagorno-Karabakh (that are currently being held hostage by Azerbaijan), and the global Armenian community (including the very large Armenian community in Los Angeles) HOPE YOU WILL PLEASE cancel your concert in genocidal petro-dictatorship Azerbaijan and not allow Dictator Aliyev to exploit Imagine Dragons to whitewash their current genocide against Armenians.
Thank You All For Your Support.