Prominent musicians including Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Fontaines DC and Kneecap have formed a syndicate to protect artists who speak out about Israel’s military assault on Gaza from what they describe as “aggressive, vexatious campaigns” by pro-Israel advocates.
The artists announced their initiative on Instagram, stating their aim was to shield other musicians, particularly those early in their careers, from being “threatened into silence or career cancellation” by organisations such as UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
Several musicians have faced legal action and cancelled performances after UKLFI interventions. The organisation reported band Bob Vylan to police for leading a chant of “death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]” during their Glastonbury set, with officers now investigating.
UKLFI also reported the BBC for broadcasting the set, and Bob Vylan subsequently had several scheduled appearances cancelled after UKLFI sent letters.
Mo Chara of Kneecap was charged with a terrorism offence, accused of displaying a flag supporting banned organisation Hezbollah at a gig after being reported by UKLFI. Kneecap also had performances cancelled following UKLFI interventions.
Artists cite industry intimidation
The Instagram post shared by the musicians states: “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,” the statement continues.
“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”.
The syndicate encourages other artists to contact them to make a collective stand on demands including an immediate and permanent ceasefire, immediate unfettered access to Gaza for recognised aid agencies and an end to UK arms sales and licences to Israel.
Massive Attack cites ‘screen-time genocide’
In a statement to The Guardian, Massive Attack said, “This collective action is really about offering some kind of solidarity to those artists who are living day after day in a screen-time genocide, but are worried about using their platforms to express their horror at that because of the level of censorship within their industry or from highly organised external legal bodies, terrifying them and their management teams with aggressive legal actions. The intention is clear and obvious: to silence them”.
The Instagram post highlighted a new documentary film about UKLFI projected by Led by Donkeys on Thursday night.
UKLFI responds to criticism
A UKLFI spokesperson said a Massive Attack show last month had prompted complaints by Jewish and Israeli audience members because it included comparison of Israel’s actions with the Holocaust and, separately, images were shown of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Massive Attack said the images were part of a digital collage that should not be isolated and taken out of context.
“We wrote to Massive Attack to convey this, and requested that future performances do not repeat these actions,” the spokesperson said. “We believe in free speech and artistic expression, however we felt this performance crossed a line and made audience members feel deeply traumatised”.
UKLFI is also believed to have contacted other musicians, people and organisations connected with them without publicising the fact, whilst the aforementioned actions were made public.
(information from The Guardian/image source: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)
