“We won’t stand by and allow other artists be threatened into silence or career cancellation”: Massive Attack and Brian Eno announce grouping of pro-Palestinian artists

Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Fontaines DC and Kneecap have announced the formation of a grouping for artists that have been speaking out about the ongoing horror in Gaza, artists which they allege have been subject to “aggressive, vexatious campaigns” by pro-Israel advocates in the UK.

In an Instagram post Massive Attack said that their intention at this stage is to protect up and coming artists from being “threatened into silence or career cancellation” by pressure groups like UKLFI (UK Lawyers For Israel).

Unless you’ve been hiding a rock these past few weeks you’ll know that two of the those acts are Bob Vylan and Kneecap. UKLFI were instrumental in stirring up the furore over the former’s appearance at Glastonbury – they reported the group to the police after they chanted ‘Death To The IDF’ during their set. In the initial days after the festival, many UK newspapers chose to splash the controversy on their front pages, rather than the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

And Mo Chara, rapper with Kneecap has been charged with a terrorism offence for displaying a Hezbollah flag at one of the band’s gigs – again, it was UKLFI that reported the band to the police.

The Massive Attack statement, which has been shared by Eno and others, says: “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.

It 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.”

As Massive note, they themselves have been subject to a UKLFI letter, in their case for including an image of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the collage of images that form the audiovisual part of their live show. The group have said the image of Sinwar should not be isolated and taken out of context.

UKLFI confirmed that they wrote to the group about this “and requested that future performances do not repeat these actions. We believe in free speech and artistic expression, however, we felt this performance crossed a line and made audience members feel deeply traumatised.”

Kneecap and Bob Vylan will surely not be the last groups to be subject to UKLFI letters; with every passing week it becomes clearer that for this generation of artists, Gaza is their Vietnam.