Bandcamp will donate 100% of their proceeds from sales on Friday (February 3) to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
ACLU are at the vanguard of the ongoing legal challenges against US President Donald Trump’s recent travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – which has drawn massive criticism and outrage across the world.
Bandcamp have today (January 31) announced that they will donate the proceeds from Friday’s sales – the store makes 15% from all digital sales and 10% from all merchandise sales on the site – to help fund the ACLU’s legal challenge against Trump. The founder and CEO of Bandcamp, Ethan Diamond, praised the “tireless” work of the ACLU “to combat these discriminatory and unconstitutional actions.”
Getty Images“Like 98% of U.S. citizens (including the President), I am the descendant of immigrants—my great-grandparents came to America from Russia and Lithuania as teenagers and worked in sweatshops until they were able to afford to bring the rest of their families over,” Diamond wrote. “Most everyone you speak to in this country has a similar story to tell, because we are, in fact, a nation of immigrants, bound together by a shared belief in justice, equality, and the freedom to pursue a better life. In this context, last week’s Executive Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States is not simply immoral, it violates the very spirit and foundation of America.”
Elsewhere, Bruce Springsteen joined the wide condemnation of Trump’s executive order from the music and entertainment world by openly criticising the President’s policy on stage in Adelaide, Australia.