SXSW Festival Takes A Step Down The Road To A Police State

Hat tip to Atrios for highlighting the story that the famed SXSW festival is now warning foreign acts that come and perform at the festival that they will be reported for deportation if they perform outside the SXSW venue. They have enshrined this warning in their contracts which now say, “SXSW will notify the appropriate U.S. immigration authorities of the above actions. International Artists entering the country through the Visa Waiver Program (WVP) B visa, or any non-work visa may not perform at any public or non-sanctioned SXSW Music Festival DAY OR NIGHT shows in Austin from March 13-19, 2017. Accepting and performing unofficial events may result in immediate deportation, revoked passport, and denied entry by US Customs Border Patrol at US points of entry.”

For many international acts invited to the festival, outside shows are a chance to expose their artistic talents to more people and restricting them to just the one SXSW appearance probably doesn’t make coming to the festival very appealing.

More importantly, actions like this are the first signs of being sucked in to supporting a police state. SXSW organizers are essentially now on record as potentially being informants for US immigration authorities. The fact that this is coming from SXSW is especially frightening. The US is not East Germany but moves like this are probably how the Stasi state actually began. This is not normal.