Latitude, Download and Isle of Wight festivals drop association with Barclays over its ties to Israel weapons companies
Latitude, Download and Isle of Wight festivals drop association with Barclays over its ties to Israel weapons companies
Latitude and Download festivals have seen a number of acts pull out over Barclays' ties to weapons companies linked to Israel.
Barclays' statement went on: "The protestors' agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe.
"They have resorted to intimidating our staff, repeated vandalism of our branches and online harassment. The only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions.
"It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against this."
Get fucked Barclays.
I mean, it would have been better if they had dropped their ties with the weapons companies.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Barclays will no longer sponsor Latitude, Download or Isle of Wight festivals after musicians and comedians dropped out in protest over the bank's ties to the Israel-Hamas war.
Palestine Action, a group whose members attacked 20 of the bank branches across England and Scotland last week, has accused Barclays of having financial interests in both Israel's weapons trade and fossil fuels.
In a post shared on her Instagram account last week, Irish singer-songwriter CMAT said she would boycott Latitude, writing: "I will not allow my precious work, my music, which I love so much, to get into bed with violence."
"As musicians, we were horrified that our music festivals were partnered with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investment, loans and underwriting of arms companies supplying the Israeli military.
Greenpeace UK's co-executive director Areeba Hamid said: "This bank is the biggest fossil-fuel funder in Europe, bankrolling oil and gas to the tune of billions of pounds, and has now been linked to arms companies involved in the conflict in Gaza.
Activist group Fossil Free Books urged high-profile figures to distance themselves from the literary event, which saw performers including comedian Nish Kumar, singer Charlotte Church and Labour MP Dawn Butler pull out.
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