Musicians pulling out of SXSW Festival in Solidarity with Palestine
Musicians are calling for a boycott of SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, over their complicity in the defence trade worsening the Palestinian genocide.
On this dreary Monday morning, it was a message of hope and collective responsibility that met my bleary eyes as I logged onto Instagram – SPRINTS band were the next in a growing mass of musicians pulling out of SXSW festival. This comes exactly a week after the first musician pulled out of the Austin five-day festival, organised originally to ‘bring together artists, industry professionals, and music lovers from around the world to make connections, elevate their careers, and celebrate the magic of live music’.
The festival’s complicity in the defence trade is not at all hidden. The US Army are set to have an exhibition the festival. Collins Aerospace are also set to showcase what the launch of the second year of their ‘Powered by Collins™ Initiative, designed to foster technology innovation with Deep Tech small- to medium-sized enterprises’. This company directly profit from the Palestinian genocide and, as one musician put it, ‘supply weapons to the IDF paid for by our taxes’. Raytheon, now known as RTX Corporation, is a subsidiary of defence contractor BAE Systems, who have been constantly under fire from support groups and allies of the Palestinian cause for the last few months.
Squirrel Flower – Chicago-based witch rock performer Ella Williams – was the first to withdraw from the festival via Instagram on March 4th. Though many musicians will still play non-SXSW affiliated shows in the Austin area, other performers like Shalom, Mamalarky and Eliza McLamb quickly followed suit. Other withdrawals have come from wide and far: Proper, Gel and Merce lemon are some oversees bands who have pulled out, as well as Lip Critic, Scowl, and Lambrini Girls. Beloved Irish punk band SPRINTS are also abstaining from the festival as of this morning, Monday 11th March. This has rallied attention and support from the likes of English Teacher and hip-hop trio Kneecap, who had already shared a 4-paged infographic on their Instagram explaining their decision. Within this information they shared the below quote:
“That the organisers of SXSW have taken the decision to mix the arts with the military and weapons companies is unforgiveable. That they have done so as we witness a genocide facilitated by the US military and its contractors is depraved.”
Record labels have been following suit: hard-core label Flatspot Records have also withdrawn their showcase, and Get Better Records have shown support for the cancellation of performances, alongside the labour group ‘United Musicians and Allied Workers’
Meanwhile, SXSW have been shockingly quiet about this uproar; comments on their Instagram posts have been limited, and their excessive marketing tactic to showcase the plethora of arts and shiny celebrities they have under their belt continues two-fold. On their website, Kneecap are still proudly included as a performer. There has been no official comment, suggesting that their tactic now is to just ignore this all and hope no one notices the empty stages, the protestors who may inevitably make their way to the festival grounds. This shouldn’t end quietly.
The irony grows still: In their creation pipeline, SXSW Film have s movie called ‘Boycott’ scheduled. Though this is miles from the resistance to their involvement in the Palestinian genocide, it is set to cover stories in which people have sued in cases where they were required to choose between career and personal belief. The atrocity here cannot be missed.
Still Listening stand in solidarity with all of the artists taking the financially difficult decision to stand in alignment with their values and with our collective responsibility against meaningless suffering, especially when it is propagated by leading global powers. We await an update from SXSW expectantly.
Access the Palestine Solidarity Campaign here.