The Massive Attack defended the Kneecap from the attacks suffered in the United States, after the slogans against Israel at Coachella, and in England, after the spread of videos of old concerts in which they praised Hamas and Hezbollah and said that “the only good Tory is a dead Tory”.
After the message of the Rap Trio of Belfast, who apologized to the families of Jo Cox and David Amess, parliamentarians of the United Kingdom assassinated, and said he had never supported Hamas, nor Hezbollah, the Massive Attacks said their on social media, while in England on the right politicians they ask for the removal of the Kneecap from the cards of the summer festivals such as Glastonbury or Trnsmt.
“If high -level politicians are unable to find time and words to condemn, to give an example, the assassination of 15 humanitarian operators in Gaza or hunger illegally imposed on the civilian population and used as a weapon, or even the killing of thousands of children by a state that owns the most advanced precision weapons in the world, what weight we should give their advice on the artists to be invited to a festival?”
“As a band that for over thirty years has publicly took a position against illegal occupation, apartheid and the impunished killing of thousands of Palestinians, we are aware of the costs in terms of human lives of the silence of politicians and the economic implications deriving from publicly expressing solidarity to an oppressed people”.
With reference to the Kneecap phrases against politicians, the Massive write that “words count” and that the murders of Jo Cox and David Amess make it clear “that there is no room for lightness and irresponsibility”. Having said that, “politicians and right -wing journalists who build a wave of indignation from nothing for the words given on stage by a young punk band, while at the same time they hide or even ignore a genocide that is taking place at this exact moment (and which includes the killing of an unprecedented number of journalists) really have the right to intimidate the organizers of the festivals to push them to perform acts of political censorship? The news is not the Kneecap. The news is Gaza. The news is the genocide ».
The news, they continue, are “silence, acquiescence and support for crimes against humanity”. Therefore the group expresses “solidarity with artists who have the courage to denounce Israeli war crimes and the continuous persecution and massacre of the Palestinian people”.
Meanwhile, dozens of artists have signed a letter from Heavenly Recordings on the protection of the right of expression in the face of the appeals of conservative politicians so that the Kneecap are excluded from the posters of the summer festivals.
There are about forty artists (and not only) who have signed the appeal. Among them, Pulp, Idles, Fontaines DC, Paul Weller, Primal Scream, Pogues, Sleaford Mods, the same Massive Attack.
“Last week” reads “there was a clear and concerted attempt to censor and, ultimately, remove the Kneecap from the public scene”. Faced with this attempt, “we feel the duty to express our opposition to any form of repression” of the freedom of expression of the artists. And again: “In a democracy, no politician and no party should have the right to decide who can or cannot perform in concerts and festivals in front of thousands of people”.
If you share the ideas of the Kneecap or not, they write to Heavenly Recordings, «it is irrelevant. It is a fundamental interest of every artist that any form of creative expression is protected in a society that enhances culture, and that this interference campaign is condemned and ridiculed. It is also the duty of the figures who guide the musical industry to take action to defend the freedom of artistic expression and not try to silence opinions contrary to their own ».
