By Finn McKenna
To turn the old Buffalo Springfield lyric on its head; “There’s something happening here, and what it is is exactly clear!”
State repression and the corporate silencing of artists who have proclaimed support for the besieged and tortured Palestinian people is the order of the day in many Western capitalist states. None more so than Britain, where numerous artists and musicians, many of whom are Irish, are being met with outrageous attempts to silence them. This trend is illustrative of the rottenness of the so-called ‘liberal democracies’.
The most high-profile targeting of an Irish artist is that of Mo Chara / Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh of Kneecap. Mo Chara is due to return to the London courts on 26 September, and if found guilty could face up to ten years in prison under the Terrorism Act. That a musician could face such a sentence for simply making off-the-cuff remarks during a concert is to quote Naomi Klein ‘too ridiculous to be serious, and too serious to be ridiculous’.
Rooney and the Wallopers
Next on the list of Irish dissenters is the writer par excellence Sally Rooney. The pen must be more dangerous than the sword to the British State, as Rooney’s explicit support for Palestine Action has meant that she could also face serious legal troubles, including arrest and imprisonment. As Rooney said of her continued support for Palestine Action: “If this makes me a supporter of terror under UK law, so be it”.
Kudos to Sally Rooney for causing at least a few migraines over at the BBC with her public declaration that she will use her residual royalties from the BBC to materially support Palestine Action. Bravo!
Next on the Starmer’s Nightmare Britain rotation is the censoring of the Mary Wallopers at the (badly named) Victorious Festival in Portsmouth late August. “No Paddy!”, they say, “Stick to the Irish songs about genocide, famine, ethnic cleansing, colonial oppression, mass emigration and suffering of the colonised – we don’t want your Palestinian flag here”.
It remains to be seen if the revolution will be televised, but what was captured and shared in a viral fashion was the silencing of the Mary Wallopers for their support of Palestine. Inspiration struck lead singer Andrew Hendy when the sound was cut off the microphones and it was looking as though the band had been successfully silenced, after his brother Charles started speaking some home truths about the shameful behaviour of ‘Victorious’. In Dundalk Eureka fashion, Andrew clocked that his banjo was still plugged-in to the speaker system, and through that the ‘Free Palestine’ chants bellowed.
A “Reeling in the Years” moment for Summer 2025 if ever there was one – with several Irish artists, including The Academic, refusing to play at Victorious after the Wallopers were censored. Hopefully a mass boycott of Victorious will cripple the festival for next year.
A thorn in their side
These artists have to be commended for their stance, which takes courage. They are an example to all others to follow. In contrast, those artists, celebrities, influencers and so on, who refuse to use their platforms to highlight the desperate plight of the Palestinians being systematically massacred, should be shamed and shunned.
Why is this wave of state repression and corporate silencing happening in Britain and across the capitalist West? The imperialists in the West support Israel and need Israel strategically for their selfish material and geopolitical interests. The rising culture of resistance is an extreme thorn in the side for the likes of Starmer’s government, which has politically and militarily supported Israel to the hilt. Their attempt at muzzling this culture of resistance indicates that they are growing fearful of how tenacious the Palestine solidarity movement is.
This anti-imperialist sentiment has the potential to give form to new political forces, as seen in the early stages of Sultana and Corbyn’s 800,000-strong, as yet unnamed party. Something is happening here, indeed.
