Willem Meijs – A friend and fighter for Palestine and a better world

Willem was first and foremost an activist in the wider
Palestine solidarity movement and a fighter for the oppressed and downtrodden
of this world.  Sue, who initiated the
academic boycott in Britain, found a partner who shared her passion for
justice.  Willem was also great company.

Willem was  the heart
and soul of our alternative choir at the Albert Hall some years ago when an
alternative performance was given to the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra at the
Proms.  For the first time ever Radio 3
took the Proms off air rather than allow its listeners to hear peoples’ outrage
at the visit of Israel’s musical ambassadors.

At the reception held afterwards I said a few words and read
out a tribute from Debbie Fink, a member of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods,
who was unable to be at the funeral. 
Also below is a tribute from Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi, who was also
unable to attend.

From Debbie
Fink, of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods:

I am sorry not to be here with you all today.

I knew Willem for over ten years through Sue and their
involvement in the Palestine Solidarity movement. I have many fond memories of
him. Sue & Willem treated me like family, particularly when I stayed with
them in Hoorn in 2012 after their fifth wedding anniversary and in Clare,
Suffolk, their other home, in 2015. They were very hospitable and took me on
sightseeing tours in both places and we shared many tasty meals.

They also stayed at my place, one notable occasion being
after we had disrupted the Israel Philarmonic Orchestra as part of the
uninvited choir at the Royal Albert Hall, with Sue’s parody of Ode to Joy- Ode
to Boycott. We had each carried a letter in spelling ‘Free Palestine’.
Apparently Willem held his letter up the wrong way! We stayed up most of the
night, watching Sue send off news releases, & went out for a hearty brunch
the next day.

Prior to this historical occasion, we recorded a longer
version of ‘Ode to Boycott’ in my flat to be posted on YouTube: Willem singing
the tenor line, Sue & Naomi sharing the alto line and myself on soprano.

This was not the only recording we made in my flat. A few
years later, Willem and I recorded another parody of Sue’s: ‘End Apartheid’, to
the tune of ‘Nessum Dorma’ by Puccini which we had sung at a demonstration
against UEFA, pleading that the finals would not be staged in Israel.

I also spent time with them in their house in Southall and
on Boycott Israel Network conferences. At one of these, Willem wrote out the
words to ‘On the Street where you live’ which he had played a recording of him
singing, as I was planning to sing it to a man I liked! He called it ‘The
stalking song from My Fair Lady’.

Sue and Willem were a double act. I will miss his humour,
his voice and contribution to the Palestine solidarity movement.

A fond farewell –
from Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi

I must apologise most humbly for not being with Sue and
Willem’s other loving family and friends to say farewell to the most genial and
supportive of comrades.

I’m pretty confident that Willem would have accepted my
excuses – no doubt with a wink and an affectionate reprimand – if I were able
to communicate with him about the reason for my absence. For some weeks now, a
number of us have been hard at work on a major project to expose attempts to
demonise us all simply for trying to call Israel to account for its injustices
against Palestinians. Sod’s law has come into play, and this project is being
launched publicly on this very day, March 27, in London. News of it should
emerge while you are all gathered in Hoorn in Willem’s honour.

Not only did Willem devote himself to supporting Sue in her
tireless campaigning efforts. He too put his shoulder to the wheel and applied
his talents when called upon.

Most famously, he joined Sue and me and Deborah in performing Sue’s alternative
wording for Beethoven’s great “Ode to Joy” as our highbrow contribution to
protests at London’s celebrated Royal Albert Hall in September 2011. The
occasion was a promenade concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,acting as
a cultural ambassador for the state of Israel. This attracted protests
outside the hall and also within, where more than 30 of us deployed ourselves
with military precision.

Sue’s “Ode to Joy” rang out from high up in the
choir stalls early in the concert, followed by other interruptions later
on,  taking the BBC’s radio broadcast off
the air the first time in the 75 year history of the Proms and making headline
news around the world.

Separately we recorded ourselves singing in three-part
harmony – Debbie the soprano, Sue and I altos and Willem the tenor.

It made me smile while preparing this message to hear his
voice and see his name on the YouTube clip that he
uploaded proudly after the event.

He and Debbie performed
together again at another protest, in June 2013,
braving unseasonably wet and windy weather to sing another one of Sue’s
parodies to the tune of NessumDorma, outside a Park Lane hotel where European
football’s governing body UEFA was meeting. This time the issue was UEFA’s
decision to hold its under-21 men’s football
final in Israel, in defiance of the Palestinian boycott.

It is desperately sad to have
to say farewell to Willem long before he should have left us.

Ik ben ontzettend trots om
hem als  vriend te kunnen noemen.

Veel liefs,

Naomi

Below are a series of photos that were taken after the funeral in Willem’s home town of Hoorn