Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Kneecap and Fontaines DC have formed an alliance of musicians speaking out about Israel’s ongoing miltary assault on Gaza.
Launching the collective via posts shared on Instagram, they will aim to support others who are subjected to “aggressive, vexatious campaigns” by pro-Israel advocates for challenging the government and military’s actions towards the Palestinian people. They said the support will particularly focus on those who are at the early stages of their careers, in order to stop them from being “threatened into silence or career cancellation” by organisations such as UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
UKLFI reported the duo Bob Vylan to police for leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]” during their Glastonbury set last month – an investigation into the matter is still ongoing. The organisation also reported the BBC for broadcasting the set, while Bob Vylan have subsequently seen several scheduled gigs cancelled after UKLFI applied pressure to promoters who had booked them.
Mo Chara of Kneecap was charged with a terrorism offence in May of this year, having been accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig. The matter was reported to the police by UKLFI as Hezbollah are a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. Kneecap also had gigs cancelled following pressure by UKLFI.
The post shared today by Massive Attack, Eno and others said: “The scenes in Gaza have moved beyond description. We write as artists who’ve chosen to use our public platforms to speak out against the genocide occurring there and the role of the UK government in facilitating it.
“We’re aware of the scale of aggressive, vexatious campaigns operated by UKLFI and of multiple individual incidences of intimidation within the music industry itself, designed solely to censor and silence artists from speaking their hearts and minds.
“Having withstood these campaigns of attempted censorship, we won’t stand by and allow other artists – particularly those at earlier stages of their careers or in other positions of professional vulnerability – to be threatened into silence or career cancellation.”
It also encourages other artists to join their alliance and to get behind their call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. They’ve also demanded that aid be immediately fully distributed to people in Gaza, and that the UK end the sale of arms to Israel.
