Massive Attack have launched a new alliance to support musicians who say they are being intimidated from within the music industry for voicing support for Gaza and Palestine.
The English trip hop group shared a statement to Instagram, declaring their intention to stand against “organised censorship.” A number of high-profile musicians have already voiced support for the initiative, including Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., Brian Eno, and Garbage.
“The scenes in Gaza have moved beyond description,” they wrote. “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. Because of our expressions of conscience, we’ve been subject to various intimidations from within our industry (live and recorded), and legally via organised bodies such as UK Lawyers for Israel – whose range of activities has now finally been exposed in a new documentary film projected last night by the Led By Donkeys collective.”
The band continued: “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 vulnerable professional positions – to be threatened into silence or career cancellation.”
“In this spirit, we encourage artists who’ve been placed in this position, or those who now wish to use their platforms to talk about Palestine but are concerned about industrial or legal repercussions, to contact us.”
The statement concluded with a call for “immediate, unfettered access to Gaza for recognised international aid agencies without military threat” and “the end of the atrocious targeting of medical and aid workers.”
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In a follow-up statement to The Guardian, Massive Attack expanded on their motivation for launching the initiative:
“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,” they said.
“The intention is clear and obvious: to silence them.”
Kneecap took to social media in support of the alliance, writing: “End threats and censorship against artists who speak out against the genocide in Palestine.”
“Speak out. Stand up. We are the majority.”
The Irish rap group recently had a police investigation dropped due to “insufficient evidence” following their Glastonbury Festival performance, during which they reaffirmed their support for Palestine and led a chant targeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
They described the now-abandoned investigation as “political policing intimidation” and said their Glastonbury appearance was a “celebration of love and solidarity.”
Prior to the performance, Starmer had suggested Kneecap should be barred from performing, stating: “I think we need to come down really clearly on this. This is about the threats that shouldn’t be made. I won’t say too much because there’s a court case on, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
Kneecap member Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) is currently facing a terror charge in the UK for allegedly displaying the Hezbollah flag and voicing support for Hamas and Hezbollah at a concert in November 2024. Both organisations are designated as terrorist groups in the UK, making public support for them a criminal offence.
