Irvine Welsh: “More power to Kneecap”
Instead of persecuting those who draw attention to the atrocities in Gaza, we must unite and support them, the author argues in an exclusive feature for THE FACE.
Society
Words: Irvine Welsh
Photography: Lo Harley
Throughout their career, Kneecap have been using their platform to raise awareness about the suffering in Palestine and to criticise Israel. Following a media backlash to their political messages during a high-profile performance at Coachella in April, Kneecap member Mo Chara – real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – has been charged under terrorism laws for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag on stage in November 2024.
Keir Starmer has said that it’s “not appropriate” for Kneecap to perform at Glastonbury, while Kemi Badenoch has argued that the BBC should not broadcast their set. Many influential music industry professionals have signed a private letter pressuring the festival to drop the performance. Here, Irvine Welsh voices appreciation for those speaking up about Palestine.
When you see the mass slaughter of children happening in Gaza in real time, when we see bits of kids literally being picked up and loaded into bags on our screens, it’s just such an overwhelming sight. And it’s something that, within the conceit of this kind of pluralistic democracy in the West, we believed we would never have to witness.
But it brings home the extent to which we’ve not been able to get past colonialism, and the violence and the controls that go along with that kind of system of exploitation.
This has been something that is an ongoing, driving issue in our culture: how do we reconcile our imperialist past, one of conquest and exploitation, with having a viable future? You can bring people together, you can heal, you can share the wealth and resources of the planet, and we can hopefully live in peace and live together.
Or you can double down. You can lock yourself into a system of perennial war, perennial conflict, profit for the very, very richest people in society, while the children of the poorest are killed in droves.
There are people who are revolted and appalled by these crimes. People who know real racism from the smoke-and-mirrors nonsense put together by the right, who are, horrifically, trying to conflate anger about these crimes with antisemitism. But there are also many people on the right, the centre and the left who are turning a blind eye.
“The extermination of children should be a bridge too far for us all”
Anybody with an ounce of personal morals, with a grasp on reality, whatever they think about the geopolitics of the Middle East… the extermination of children should be a bridge too far for us all. It should be the ultimate atrocity that unites us. And it’s not Muslim children or Christian children or Jewish children who are being exterminated – it’s kids. Kids who don’t have any choice in the cultural legacy they’re born into. Babies, literally, being exterminated.
Three young musicians from Derry and West Belfast are bringing this to our attention. They’re pointing to this line in the sand that we shouldn’t cross.
And when all the British state can do in response is persecute a band for this – to try to stop them from playing music and from touring internationally with these ridiculous, nonsensical charges – it really is just an embarrassment to us all. A total embarrassment. It makes you feel embarrassed to be breathing the same air as the people who try to do this, who try to silence these voices.
But they won’t be silenced. They can’t be silenced. There’s nowhere else to go.
So let’s get it together. Whatever our political perspective is, let’s say: this is an atrocity. It doesn’t matter who’s perpetrating it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s children of Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists — if children are being destroyed in this way, we have to rediscover our common humanity. Because we all believe, when you sit people down – take them offline, take them out of the noise – there is not one person who believes that children should be blown apart with bombs. That should be the unifying ideology.
So let’s stop it. Let’s be inspired by people like Kneecap. Let’s be inspired by people who are speaking up in their own voices, from their own culture, from their own places, and saying: No. This isn’t acceptable.
More power to Kneecap. And more power to everybody speaking up against these atrocities.
