A Brighton music festival and bank were both hit yesterday by pro-Palestine protests.
Barclays bank on North Street was splashed with red paint while the ticket booths for The Great Escape set up in Jubilee Square were picketed by protestors.
While police investigate, some of the red paint on the bank branch’s frontage has already been washed off with a pressure washer.
A banner held by protestors yesterday afternoon in front of wristband exchange booths said: “Barclays, don’t bank on apartheid.”
The bank, which is sponsoring the festival, is accused by protestors of facilitating investment in a number of companies that supply arms to Israel.
More than 125 artists have now pulled out of the festival over its ties with Barclays, which is around 25 percent of the artists booked to play, including Alfie Templeman, Bimini and Picture Parlour.
NOW!
.@thegreatescape in New Road being severely picketed as their box office opens for business, or what's left of it, after over 25% of acts pull out.#BoycottBarclays 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/PTXidDbfqd— Brighton PSC (@BrightonPSC) May 15, 2024
Others, such as Big Special, have announced their decision to play but donate their fee to the Palestine Child Relief fund.
Singer-songwriter, Alfie Templeman, said in a statement on Instagram: “My morals cannot and will not align with the amalgamation of entertainment and human suffering.
“Solidarity to everyone else on the line-up that has dropped out and used their platform to direct attention to the boycott.
“I really hope that together, our absence from the festival will make other events around the world prioritise being ethical when choosing their partners.”
Barclays also sponsors a number of other festivals, including Latitude, Download and the Isle Of Wight Festival.
💥💥💥 BREAKING!
On #NakbaDay Brighton's @Barclays bank has been sprayed blood red!
People will not accept complicity in Israel's apartheid & genocide.
Today is also the start of @thegreatescape festival in Brighton who are sponsored by #Barclays pic.twitter.com/XChBCmHOAo— Brighton PSC (@BrightonPSC) May 15, 2024
On their website, Barclays addressed criticism and protests on a frequently asked questions page.
A spokesperson for Barclays said: “First and most importantly, we recognise the profound human suffering caused by this conflict.
“This is an exceptionally complex and long-running conflict, and we urge governments and the international community to work together to find a lasting, peaceful solution.
“We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do.
“We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares.
“We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.”
A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: “Police received a report of criminal damage relating to a Barclays bank in North Street, Brighton, on Wednesday afternoon (15 May).
“Enquiries are ongoing to identify and locate any suspects. The incident is not believed to be related to any wider planned protest activity in the city.
“Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to contact police online or via 101, quoting serial 597 of 15/05.”
The Great Escape have been contacted for comment.
Barclays also profited from apartheid in South Africa. They know exactly what they’re doing. Absolutely horrendous company.
Keep lending the money chaps, let’s finish to job in Gaza. Apartheid in Israel? You mean the only place in the middle east where over a million Arabs have the same rights as the Jews?
When talking about apartheid Israel, we are not talking about Palestinian citizens of Israel (those who survived the ethnic cleansing/Nakba), even though they suffer severe discrimination. Apartheid is the system Israel uses to control the West Bank. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, where Palestinians to this day live under Israeli military rule. Palestinian cities are in enclaves surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements, separation walls, and roads that only settlers can use. The Palestinian cities are not joined together, these are Israeli checkpoints inbetween them, walls, inaccessible settler roads. There are streets in Hebron (nowhere near Israel proper) that Palestinians have to walk on the other side of the road. Palestinian villages, outside the main enclaves, live under constant threat of demolition, settler and IDF attacks, and cannot get building permits (which are issued by Israel). Look up an Area A, B, C map and see it change over time, how Palestinians are squeezed into smaller and smaller areas, with 70% of the West Bank inaccessible to them. Israeli settlers have great infrastructure, water 24 hours a day, whereas Palestinians in their own villages (area B) cannot get building permits for a simple well. It’s full on apartheid, but in some ways worse than South African apartheid (Israel aims to replace the population as opposed segregate and exploit). The UN and pretty much every major human rights institution agrees that it’s apartheid, and if you just look at all the facts on the ground, it is clear.
Punishing festival goers. Right on. That’ll affect barclays about as much as this comment.
So you all boycotting your mobiles, remember some components are made in Israel or were developed by Israeli companies. Intel processors for one.
No? How strange
Exactly. But these morons don’t want to know that.
Does one need to boycott everything all at the same time to be able make a point or to not be a hypocrite?
When the bands are boycotting the festival who are they punishing; the festival goers, the small music venues trying to make money in a cost of living crisis and who were badly affected by covid, the festival trying to promote new music/small and up and coming bands….. or Barclays? I think they could have used the festival to voice their protest and, like Big Special, donate their fee to the cause they support.
Before these idiots buy items, do they check with the shop that they don’t bank with Barclays? Do they ask their employers (assuming any of them have a job) if they bank with Barclays? No of course not, they just target the easy options.
Why are you upset that they are boycotting Barclays? I’ve moved my mortgage from them and will continue to try and make changes where I can in the future.
Hatred rather than dialogue gets us nowhere.
Name calling ‘idiots, morons, terrorists’ etc a refuge in part for those too upset or frightened to face the situation and the people we are talking about objectively. It is my personal experience that most people are appalled at the behaviour of both Hamas and the Israeli government. No one group of people is more important or should have more rights than any other. I personally believe that the situation in Palestine/Israel is not that complex and those that say it is are often actually trying to put people off learning about it! An analogy being certain groups lobbying the Govt to reduce the numbers of our kids going to university .. muttering about ‘over educated’ in reality afraid of change.
The good thing about the boycott is you can now be safe in the knowledge that all the bands playing are explicitly pro-genocide.