Festival backtracks after labelling “Free Palestine” chant ‘discriminatory’ and promises donation to Palestinian cause
A number of bands pulled out of the ‘Victorious’ music festival just before they were due to perform at the weekend after Irish folk group The Mary Wallopers said that organisers ‘cut them off’ for displaying a Palestine flag in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The protesting groups included The Last Dinner Party, the Academic and Cliffords, who all said on Saturday that they would now not be performing at the Portsmouth festival in Portsmouth following the organisers’ actions on Friday.
The festival had said that it cut the band’s set cut short after members used a “discriminatory” chant – which was simply “Free Palestine” – but later apologised and said they would be making “a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people” to make amends.
Members of The Last Dinner Party said on Instagram on Saturday that they were “outraged” at the action against solidarity with the Palestinians facing genocide and forced starvation and would be boycotting the festival:
We are outraged by the decision made to silence The Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious. As a band we cannot co-sign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.
As Gazans are deliberately plunged into catastrophic famine after two years of escalating violence, it is urgent and obvious that artists use their platform to draw attention to the cause.
To see an attempt to direct attention away from the genocide in order to maintain an apolitical image is immensely disappointing.
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Well done all the bands for fighting back against the Right Wing Political Clack!
I wrote a lovely song ‘I Believe In Love’
which started with Pro Palestinian
marchers chanting “Stop the Genocide!
Free, Free Palestine!”
Wonder if it will ever get played on the radio?
Who fecking cares but perhaps one day when the history of Gaza is written it will
be there amongst all the many other of our primary sources on the side of the oppressed; you have to be on the right side of history or you might as well have never have existed.
Solidarity.