Barclays Bank suspends sponsorship of music festivals after boycott over links to Israeli genocide in Gaza

After numerous bands withdrew their participation in the annual Download hard rock festival held at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England, in protest, Barclays Bank announced last week that it was suspending its sponsorship of the event.

It has been revealed that the bank, the third largest in the UK, provides financial services to major arms companies and holds shares in companies that supply Israel with weapons during the genocide against the people of the Gaza Strip.

A picture of the main stage of the Download Festival 2014 (Photo by JunkersPVFC / CC BY 3.0)

Barclays has also ended its relationship with the Latitude and Isle of Wight festivals.

More than 100 artists boycotted the Great Escape Festival in Brighton in May because of the event’s links to Barclays.

Leading the campaign was the group Bands Boycott Barclays, which describes itself as “a group of musicians and music industry professionals using their cultural power to show solidarity with Palestine by boycotting all music festivals associated with Barclays.”

The revelation of Barclays’ activities prompted a number of bands to pull out of Download. Californian hardcore band Scowl, for example, announced: “We will not be playing at Download Fest this year because Barclays Bank is sponsoring the event and Barclays has ties to Israel and the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine. Free Palestine!”

Australian hardcore punk band Speed concurred, announcing that they had decided not to perform “due to recent news regarding Barclays Bank’s sponsorship of the event and its involvement in the war in Gaza.”

Leeds-based band Pest Control issued a statement on Instagram, arguing: “We cannot simply sacrifice the principles of this band and the scene we come from and represent for personal gain.” Hardcore band Zulu took a similar approach, pointing out on Instagram that Barclays is “actively committing genocide against Palestine.”

The BBC reported that “Mercury-nominated band Lankum, who are set to play at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk in July, were among the first to respond to the announcement (of Barclays’ withdrawal). ‘We welcome the news,’ they said on Instagram. ‘Since the campaign began, a number of bands, artists and fans have made a huge collective effort to get to this point. Standing together is the best way forward.'”

CMAT, Irish singer-songwriter (Photo by Collin Knopp-Schwyn / CC BY 4.0)

Irish singer CMAT also withdrew from Latitude, according to the BBC, claiming that she would not allow her music to be

“What I love so much is going to bed by force.” (Comedy panel game show) Breeder Star Joanne McNally cancelled her headlining appearance in the festival’s comedy tent. British comedian and author Sophie Duker also confirmed that she would boycott the event. On social media, she said she was “determined to minimise my complicity in what I believe to be a pattern of abhorrent, unlawful violence.”

In a May 2024 report titled “Barclays: Arming Israel’s Apartheid and Genocide,” the Palestine Solidarity Campaign argues:

British banks and financial institutions support Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian people and profit from them by providing investments, loans and guarantees to companies that supply Israel with weapons and military technology.

Our previous investigation published in July 2022 showed that Barclays, one of the UK’s largest branch banks, held shares in and/or provided loans and financial services to at least nine companies known to produce weapons and military technology that were sold to Israel and used in its military attacks on Palestinians.

The report continues

Barclays now holds more than $2.5 billion/£2 billion worth of shares in eight of the nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used in Israel’s unlawful violence against Palestinians. Barclays also provides more than $7.6 billion/£6.1 billion worth of loans and guarantees to seven of these companies.

Since our last study, published in July 2022, Barclays has increased the value of its holdings in the companies identified by over 55%.

These eight companies are BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, QinetiQ, Raytheon and Rolls Royce.

Barclays signed a five-year sponsorship deal with event giant Live Nation for festivals such as Download, Latitude and the Isle of Wight in 2023.

A spokesman for the bank told the BBC: “The aim of the protesters is to get Barclays to block arms companies. We remain committed to this sector as it is essential to the security of this country and our allies.”

The spokesman complained about alleged intimidation of staff and vandalism in its branches. “The only thing this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken the fundamental support for cultural events enjoyed by millions of people,” the bank told the BBC. “It is time for leaders from politics, business, science and the arts to stand together against this.”

The BBC added:

Barclays has previously said it recognises “the profound human suffering” caused by the “complex and protracted conflict” in Gaza. However, the company stressed that it does not make its own investments but provides financial services to companies, “including those in the defence sector”. This includes companies “that supply defence products to NATO and other allies, including Ukraine”. It added that “Barclays does not invest directly in these companies” and that “decisions on the implementation of arms embargoes against other nations” should be made by governments.

Bands Boycott Barclays called the bank’s termination of its ties to the Download Festival a “victory”. As musicians, the group continued, “we were appalled that our music festivals were working with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investments, loans and guarantees for arms companies that supply the Israeli military.”

The outrage over the monumental war crimes in Gaza, which are becoming more gruesome by the week, is entirely justified, and the principled actions and comments of the various gangs reflect a widely held opinion. A general antipathy has developed towards any association with the Israeli military and the Netanyahu regime, as well as its supporters and backers in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin.

However, Barclays’ activities are nothing unusual for such giant financial companies. This is how they all operate and will continue to operate as long as capitalism exists. Barclays can stop sponsoring music festivals, perhaps with a few grumbles, but the bank and Live Nation will continue their predatory activities unharmed and unchanged.

To be surprised or outraged by the activities of banks and other large corporations and to shake one’s fist at them is ultimately an expression of political impotence. The anger and energy unleashed by the horrors in Gaza must be directed towards abolishing capitalism, the source of the genocide, and towards the working class, the only social force capable of carrying out this historic task.

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