LONDON – The Glastonbury Festival is making headlines for controversy rather than music.
The likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Rod Stewart, Neil Younger, Charli XCX, Busta Rhymes and Doechii performed to tens of 1000’s onsite, and hundreds of thousands extra on TV, throughout Britain’s greatest and most well-known music extravaganza. But it surely’s little-known rap-punk duo Bob Vylan attracting politicians’ ire — and a police probe — after main a chant calling for “dying” to the Israeli army.
This isn’t the primary time politics has collided with pop on the competition. For half a century, Britain’s huge political and cultural divides have discovered their manner onstage at Glastonbury.
Glastonbury grew from the counterculture
The Glastonbury Pageant of Modern Performing Arts, to present it its full title, was based by Michael Eavis in 1970 on his Worthy Farm, 120 miles (some 200 kilometers) southwest of London. It’s nonetheless run by the 90-year-old farmer and his daughter, Emily Eavis.
Initially a hippie taking place with a 1 pound ticket worth (about 20 kilos or $27 right this moment), Glastonbury has largely shed its counterculture cachet. Lately, tickets for the three-day occasion price near 400 kilos. But it surely stays well-known for its eclectic lineup, distinctive environment and dedication to environmentalism and different progressive causes.
This yr’s occasion drew about 200,000 people to see nearly 4,000 performers on 120 levels, alongside movie screenings and dwell debates on quite a lot of points.
The competition has all the time had a political aspect
Glastonbury was based in a spirit of hippie idealism that has by no means totally light. Within the Eighties, the competition donated a few of its earnings to the Marketing campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which protested U.S. nuclear weapons on British soil. It continues to assist charities together with Oxfam and Greenpeace.
By the late Eighties, attendees included New Age “vacationers” concerned with the U.Ok.’s unofficial and anarchic rave scene. In 1990, some vacationers clashed with safety on the website, resulting in important injury and greater than 200 arrests.
Since then, the competition’s safety and group have grown more and more skilled, sparking remorse from some followers who really feel it has misplaced its various spirit.
The 2016 competition coincided with the U.Ok.’s referendum on European Union membership, and the choice to go away the bloc — which most younger individuals opposed — overshadowed the occasion. Many performers talked about Brexit and the dispirited temper, together with headliner Adele, who urged individuals to “take care of one another.”
Performers have usually vented their opposition to politicians from the stage. In 2019, rapper Stormzy led the group in “F___ Boris” chants geared toward then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This yr, Irish rappers Kneecap directed the identical expletive at Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Feelings are excessive over the Gaza struggle
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has provoked heightened feelings that spilled over onto Glastonbury’s levels.
Earlier than the occasion, some politicians referred to as for Glastonbury to cancel a efficiency by Irish-language hip-hop trio Kneecap, whose pro-Palestinian feedback, critics say, have crossed a line into assist for violence.
Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has been charged below the Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed group for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a live performance in London in November. He denies the cost, and Kneecap has accused critics of making an attempt to silence the band due to its assist for the Palestinian trigger.
Kneecap’s energetic set included loads of pro-Palestinian feedback and criticism of the federal government. But it surely was the act that preceded them, Bob Vylan, that induced a furor when a member of the duo led chants of “dying to the IDF,” the Israel Protection Forces.
The Avon and Somerset Police drive mentioned officers would evaluate video proof “to find out whether or not any offenses might have been dedicated that may require a legal investigation.
Michael and Emily Eavis mentioned Bob Vylan had “very a lot crossed a line.” They mentioned “there is no such thing as a place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
The BBC is going through criticism
Britain’s publicly funded nationwide broadcaster is below hearth for displaying Bob Vylan’s set, considered one of dozens of Glastonbury performances it streamed dwell on-line.
The BBC mentioned Monday that it ought to have lower off the printed after the “antisemitic” and “completely unacceptable” feedback, and has eliminated the efficiency from its web site. However the authorities is demanding to know what “due diligence” it did on Bob Vylan earlier than the printed.
Some media consultants say the broadcaster is in a tough place. Steven Barnett, professor of communications on the College of Westminster, mentioned Britain’s influential right-wing press,” together with newspapers such because the Day by day Mail and The Solar, steadily assault the BBC, “for each business and ideological causes.”
Proper-leaning newspapers featured the Bob Vylan story prominently, and Barnett mentioned that spotlight “places any political chief below monumental strain” to specific an opinion.
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