Recommendations of the Editorial team
It was an evening full of music, solidarity and political statements in the Wembley Arena (not: Wembley Stadium, which is nearby with his mega capacity)
On Tuesday (September 16), a remarkable alliance of musicians, actors and activists gathered for a special kind of solidarity gala: “Together for Palestine”. 69 artists appeared, it was about peace and humanity and also about gathering money for humanitarian aid in Gaza.
The guest list read like the line-up of a top-class festival: Damon Albarn, Bastille, Hot Chip, Pinkpantheress and Neneh Cherry provided the musical highlights, while Hollywood stars like Benedict Cumberbatch, Florence Pugh, Guy Pearce and Richard Gere were on stage-sometimes with urgent readings, or even With emotional speeches.
Artists and voices from Palestine
The event, which was largely initiated by electric pioneer and Israel critic Brian Eno, was artistically directed by the exiled Palestinian artist Malak Mattar.
So it was not a dominated charity spectacle, but a platform on which the focus was on Palestinian voices. Musicians: Inside like the oud virtuoso Adnan Joubran, rapper El Far3i and singer Nai Barghouti gave the matter a good pinch of authenticity.
The “political component” was largely slogans in the mirror of British observers and the press without a plate.
Readings, speeches and emotions
The journalist Yara Eid recalled the media representatives killed over 270: inside in Gaza and received thunderous applause. Film star Benedict Cumberbatch read together with the playwright Amer Hlehel poems by Mahmoud Darwish – and deliberately left out a line about the “smile of the dead”. US guest Richard Gere deviated from his prepared text and spoke improvised about “love, compassion and dance”.
Despite the isolated protests in front of the arena – and a short interjection in the audience (“It is genocide!”) – there was an almost devout mood inside. Neneh Cherry provided one of the loudest moments of the evening with Greenentea Peng and the hit “7 Seconds”, while pianist Faraj Suleiman with a jazz prog trio 12,500 listeners: inside captivated.
Merchandise from Designer: Inside, like Bella Freud and Katherine Hamnett, a digital donation campaign and the complete sale of the tickets, the event also made the event financially a success: In the evening, moderator Jameela Jamil proudly announced that 1.5 million pounds have been collected to date.
With its mixture of culture, protest and fundraising campaign, “Together for Palestine” is reminiscent of the great political music events of the 1980s (see: “Live Aid” or “Farm Aid” in the USA). However, with a modern, inclusive approach. Instead of mere symbolism, as presented by some western Poser bands again and again, the focus was on strengthening Palestinian voices in London.
Political dimension and effect
Even chief ideologist Brian Eno apparently did not show a poisoned Roger Water Affects. The daily newspaper “Guardian” gave him space for a fundamental article. In it he speaks of “censorship”, although anti-Israel hot-hot pork such as Kneecap or Bob Vylan are omnipresent with their thick trousers.
Eno writes: “More than any other conflict since the beginning of the modern communication age, even more than South Africa in the 1980s, the Israeli line -up of Palestine was conducted with words and pictures as well as with balls and bombs. And for this reason, those artists who are against the crew were committed to justice for the Palestinians, a cynical, harmful censorship, which aims to restrict the scope of the stories you can tell. “
Despite this conspiracy narrative of “strong restrictions”-from whom actually (?), If you make it clear how present yourself are currently anti-Semites, the London celebrity meeting has a sign of solidarity, humanity and a vigorous peace movement.