Massive Attack announce alliance of musicians speaking out over Gaza against “intimidations from within our industry”
Massive Attack have announced an alliance of musicians speaking out over Gaza against “intimidations from within” the music industry.
Last night (July 17), Massive Attack took to social media to share a statement announcing that they are forming an alliance of musicians who have spoken out over the Israel-Palestine war and have faced attempts of censorship and other forms of career cancellation, including being removed from festival line-ups and more.
“The scenes in Gaza have moved beyond description. We write as artists who’ve chose to use our public platforms to speak out agains the genocide occurring there & the role of the UK Government in facilitating it,” they wrote. “Because of our expressions of conscience, we’ve been subject to various intimidations from within our industry (live & recorded) & 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.”
They go on to say later in the post: “Having withstood these campaigns of attempted censorship, we won’t standby & 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. 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 concerted about industrial or legal repercussions to contact us.”
The post ends with a list of collective demands that Massive Attack and supporting artists have put together, including “immediate, unfettered access to Gaza for recognised international aid agencies without military threat,” “the end of the atrocious targeting of medical & aid workers”, “an end to to UK arm sales/licenses to Israel,” “an immediate & permanent ceasefire” and “a free Palestine”.
You can see Massive Attack’s full post below.
Other artists who have thrown their support behind the alliance include Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., Brian Eno and Garbage among others. Kneecap added in their own post: “End threats and censorship against artists who speak out against the genocide in Palestine. Speak out. Stand up. We are the majority.
Brian Eno and Garbage also shared the alliance message onto their respective Instagram accounts, while Fontaines D.C. shared the message on their Instagram stories.
Massive Attack’s alliance formation comes after Led By Donkeys premiered a new documentary last night about the UK Lawyers For Israel (UKLFI) organisation and their operations, including the attempted silencing of Bob Vylan following their fiery Glastonbury 2025 performance. Following their performance, the UKLFI launched a complain to the authorities, resulting in the duo being placed under investigation.
The UKLFI have also claimed responsibility for getting Bob Vylan booted off festival performances, as well as numerous actions against Kneecap, including filing reports against the group that led to rapper Mo Chara’s terrorism offence charge. Mo Chara will return to court in August.
Check out Led By Donkeys’ documentary exposé on the UKLFI below.
Led By Donkeys are a UK political campaign group that was formed in 2018 as an anti-Brexit group. The group have since criticised the Conservative and Labour governments for their operations, and has defined itself as an “accountability project” aimed at calling out the hypocrisy displayed by UK politicians.
This is far from the first time that Massive Attack have spoken out against what’s going on in Gaza. They have boycotted performing in Israel since 1999, and in April issued a statement supporting Kneecap and urging the focus to remain on what they call a “genocide” against the Palestinian people after it was announced that the Irish trio were under investigation by counter-terrorism police in the UK.
In early May, Massive Attack, Brian Eno and other artists signed an open letter to Field Day, urging it to distance itself from global investment firm KKR. Later that month, Massive attacked were joined by Dua Lipa, Primal Scream, Benedict Cumberbatch and other high-profile names urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “end UK complicity” in Gaza.
In addition to speaking out regularly on the subject of Palestine and boycotting Israel, Massive Attack also teamed up with Fontaines D.C. and Young Fathers on a single in 2023 to support the charity Médecins Sans Frontières’ emergency operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
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Surej Singh
NME
