Everything you need to know about Kneecap's eagerly awaited Glasto performance
One of the most contentious topics at this year's Glastonbury Festival is the scheduled performance of Irish language rap group Kneecap. The issue has become a major talking point among festival-goers.
Despite facing pressure from British politicians and others, the festival organisers have chosen not to cancel the Irish band's appearance. This comes after allegations that the band displayed a flag in support of the proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah and chanted "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" during a gig in London last November.
One of the band members, Liam Og O hAnnaidh, is currently out on bail and set to reappear in court in August, following a court appearance earlier this month. He denies the charges, and the band has apologised to the families of murdered MPs, claiming that footage of the incident was "exploited and weaponised".
Kneecap is set to perform at Glastonbury on Saturday at 4pm, and an enormous crowd is expected to attend. The controversy has only added to the band's popularity, particularly among the festival's left-wing, anti-establishment, and pro-Palestinian attendees.
As a group known for their strong political voice, the band from west Belfast and Derry are likely to use their platform to express their views on Saturday afternoon at Worthy Farm. Worthy Farm is gearing up for an emotionally charged performance this weekend, with band lyrics and social media posts centring around the harrowing issue of child starvation in Gaza, reports Somerset Live.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and opposition leader, Tory MP Kemi Badenoch have piped up this week, insisting that the BBC should give the concert a miss on the telly.
But the group's run-in with the law and Mo Chara's recent court appearance has only boosted their fame, sparking loads of support all over social media.
Support is expected to be massive for the Pro Palestinian crew at Glastonbury, known for their unique Irish rapped tunes in a Northern Irish twang.
Hailing from west Belfast where pride in nationalism is painted on the walls, they're belting out messages for a united Ireland and stand against any sort of heavy-handed policing or government control.
You'll spot Palestine flags fluttering nearly everywhere you look in areas like Divis Flats and Falls Road, showing local solidarity from the heart of west Belfast.
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However, there's been a bit of a stir in Somerset as some high-profile locals have been bending the ear of Glastonbury Festival bosses, trying to get the band's slot pulled – but so far, the festival has not budged and hasn't given in to the noise.
The scene was buzzing outside Westminster Magistrates' Court when O hAnnaidh appeared with his mates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, decked out in "Free Mo Chara" gear, to a hero's welcome.
When he reappears in court in August, an even larger crowd is expected to rally in support, with numerous pro-Palestinian social media groups encouraging people to show their solidarity.
Their Glastonbury gig is set to be a full house, with youngsters already planning to arrive hours ahead of their 4pm kick-off.
Their distinctive Irish rapping on political issues, particularly Free Palestine, is sure to echo across the Glastonbury hills, much to the delight of the audience.
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The Journal
43 minutes ago
- The Journal
From less than a dozen marchers to tens of thousands: A history of Dublin Pride
Lauren Boland FIFTY-ONE YEARS AGO, on a mild, dry day in late June, a small group of less than a dozen people marched through Dublin to protest outside the British embassy. It was 1974 – the year the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association was founded, the year of the UVF's Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the year that Transition Year was first introduced to secondary schools – and the ten activists who took to the streets on the 27th of June were fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. At the time, same-sex relations were criminalised under the law, and they had been so since the 1800s under legislation that the British state imposed on Ireland which the fledgling Irish State had never repealed. The group of activists – which included David Norris, who went on to be Ireland's longest-serving senator – gathered outside the embassy to demonstrate against the laws that Britain had introduced and which were still criminalising homosexuality in Ireland more than a century later. 'That was really the beginning of what was then called the gay rights movement in Ireland,' said historian Mary McAuliffe. Today, in many countries around the world, June marks the festival of Pride – an event which is both political, in its calls for LGBTQ+ equality, and personal, in the opportunity that it gives members of the community to come together and celebrate their identities in the face of discrimination and oppression. Pride events like parades are held in many towns across Ireland throughout the summer, with the largest each year taking place in Dublin at the end of June. It's attended by tens of thousands of people – a long way from the group of just ten activists calling for decriminalisation outside the British embassy in 1974. The start of a movement The celebration of Pride in Ireland today has its roots in the boots-on-the-ground activism of the 1970s and 1980s. '1974 saw the foundation of the sexual liberation movement in Ireland. Second-wave feminism had begun, and then sexual liberation, and the idea of self-determined sexuality and decriminalisation of homosexuality,' McAuliffe, a lecturer at University College Dublin specialising in the history of Irish women and gender, told The Journal . 'There were a whole load of issues that people were beginning to galvanise around and organise around.' One of those organisers was Tonie Walsh, an activist who has been at the helm of projects and organisations over the years like the National LGBT Federation, the Hirchfeld Centre – an LGBTQ+ community space in Temple Bar in the 1980s – and the Irish Queer Archive. It was in 1979 that the first formal week-long event then known as Gay Pride was organised by the National LGBT Federation. In Ireland, there was no political or commercial appetite in the 1970s to sponsor or support events linked to LGBTQ+ people. The community had to have its own back. 'The Hirschfeld Centre was an example of a community resource that provided the people and the ideas and, crucially, the money needed to to roll out a full week festival of talks and pop up theater and live discos and live panel discussions, and all the other things that would happen during during Pride.' (The Centre burned down in 1987.) Declan Flynn In 1982, a 31-year-old gay man named Declan Flynn was brutally attacked in Fairview Park in Dublin and died from his injuries. A group of teenagers and young men between the ages of 14 and 19 saw him receiving a kiss on the cheek from another man while he was walking home through the park. They attacked him, stole the £4 that was in his pocket, and left him to die. The group were found guilty of manslaughter but were let away with suspended sentences and served no time in prison. 'That was a horrendous murder and the teenage boys who were charged with his murder were more or less just slapped on the wrist by the judge, and so it seemed like gay lives, queer lives, were seen as lesser, as not having the same value,' McAuliffe said. It sparked a protest march to Fairview Park in March of 1983 and a Pride parade that June, which went from St Stephen's Green to the GPO on O'Connell Street. 'It's impossible to forget the '83 March. There was only about 150 of us. I was one of the speakers, along with Jodie Crone had come out on The Late Late Show three years beforehand,' Walsh recalled. 'We redesignated the GPO as the 'Gay Persons Organisation'. It was a great day, because it was the first time it felt like we were reclaiming the streets, particularly in the light of homophobic violence and anti-women violence that was happening at the time in Ireland,' he said. But the 1980s were a difficult time to organise Pride marches. Many members of the LGBTQ+ community were not safe enough or comfortable enough to come out publicly. There were few resources at organisers' disposal. And, most hauntingly, the community was battling on another frontline at the same time: AIDS. 'The organisation that was necessary to run something as enormous as a parade just wasn't there because people's focus shifted towards the AIDS pandemic,' Walsh said. 'When you look back at the early history of Pride, what you see is a small group of people trying to do everything themselves. This was in a culture where there was no state funding of any sort, and corporate funding was didn't really exist, not to the extent needed,' he said. 'A week of events and running a parade demanded huge amounts of labour and also huge amounts of money, and both of these things were in short supply, particularly during the AIDS pandemic.' For much of the decade, there 'wasn't enough people to warrant doing a march or parade – so few people were publicly out'. 'The high points of Pride then was a picnic in Merrion Square, a balloon release on St Stephen's Green, a leaflet drop around all the major shopping precincts explaining the history of the Stonewall Riots and giving people a shorthand into the history of LGBT civil rights on the island of Ireland and of Ireland,' Walsh described. The 1988 Pride march. Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland The fight for decriminalisation At the same time as Pride was developing, there was a campaign spearheaded by David Norris to push the government to decriminalise same-sex relations. Norris brought the Irish government to the European Commission of Human Rights and then the European Court of Human Rights, argued that the criminalisation law violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The government actively fought to preserve the law. State papers from the 70s and 80s that were released to the National Archives in 2023, examined by The Journal , show the extent of homophobic attitudes embedded in the civil service at the time, like fearing decriminalisation would lead to 'public displays of homosexual relationships' and considering whether to leverage the AIDS crisis to defend keeping the law in place . Despite the State's extensive defence efforts, Norris won his case before the European Court of Human Rights and the government passed legislation that decriminalised homosexuality on 24 June 1993. That year's Pride in Dublin took place two days later on the 26th. For Eddie McGuinness – who would later go on to be the Director of Dublin Pride from 2017 for six years – it was his first time attending the parade. He's never forgotten it. 'A thousand of us stood outside the Central Bank and celebrated who we were, because it was the first time the State actually recognised us as part of our nation,' said McGuinness, who is also the founder of the Outing Festival for LGBTQ+ music and arts. 'The feeling was scary but yet amazing. I still remember it,' he said. For Tonie Walsh, it's also a Pride that stands out strongly in his memory. Advertisement 'A group of people from Act Up Dublin – not surprisingly, all AIDS activists – decided to reinstate the parade in 1992. By 1993 there was about 1,000 people on parade, between 800 and 1,000 people, with a rally on the steps of the Central Bank,' Walsh said. 'Thom McGinty, The Diceman, did a striptease dressed up as prison convict because the government had reformed the old British legislation two days before – perfect timing.' Thom McGinty was an actor and street performer from Scotland known for performing as a 'stillness artist' and 'human statue' in Dublin city. He was a beloved figure in the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s and 1990s but died from complications of AIDS in 1995 at the age of 42. 'A lot of people who stood on those steps of the Central Bank are no longer with us,' said McGuinness. 'The likes of Thom McGinty, the Diceman… Junior Larkin, who was one of the youngest activists who had set up the first-ever LGBT youth group in Ireland, is no longer with us, and is sometimes forgotten about in our history,' he said. 'A lot of activists who were there back then are no longer with us. But there's still some of us who are fighting the fight, and still keep smiling and trying to make the rainbow shine even brighter.' Around 5,000 people took part in the 2010 march. Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland Women in Ireland's LGBTQ+ community Pride and the movement for LGBTQ+ equality gained momentum in many countries after the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City, when people attending the Stonewall gay bar fought back against police who were targeting them. As Pride parades developed, lesbians also started to organise 'Dyke Marches', which were for women in the LGBTQ+ community to create a space for them and to highlight the specific challenges they were facing in society. Ireland's first Dyke March was held on 26 June 1998 (and the first one in Dublin in decades was also organised for this year). 'Women, lesbians, have always been part of Pride, but there were also the separate Dyke Marches,' McAuliffe outlined. 'They were always inclusive of trans women. Irish LGBT activism has always been trans-inclusive, for the most part,' she said. 'In many ways, as a historian of LGBT histories, oftentimes, the majority of what you're talking or researching or reading about is about gay male homosexuality, mainly the campaign to decriminalise. That's very, very important. But you often see lesbians are kind of invisible in the narratives,' she said. 'It's important that lesbian visibility, trans-inclusive lesbian visibility, is there on the streets, in our histories, in our narratives of who and what we are in our activism. 'Women's lives often include motherhood, and there are issues around that still to be campaigned for, because lesbians are women, women who need, for example, full reproductive rights, women who need safety in society, women who've experienced sexual violence, domestic violence, all of those things.' McAuliffe's first experience of attending a Pride parade was in the late 1990s. 'Like many people, going on the first one, anytime I saw a camera pointed at me, I was hiding, because you may be marching down the street, but you're not that out and proud. It takes a while,' she said. 'I do remember that sense of belonging and community while at the same time feeling a little bit worried about being seen – and wanting to be seen. 'I think for younger people, it gives a way of feeling empowered, of maybe taking those extra steps in the coming out journey, because you have been with your community for a day and having great fun, great craic, and being involved in the political aspect of marching.' Into the 21st century Celebrations of Pride in Dublin and across the country have grown larger and stronger over the years. 'From 1993 onwards, what you saw was a really progressive development of pride, not just in Dublin but in the other urban centres around Ireland,' Walsh said. According to Walsh, that development was enabled by decriminalisation, by corporate sponsors starting to view the community as being 'of value to consumers' in a way that hadn't been a case before decriminalisation, and by a wider pool of people coming out in greater numbers and bringing skills with them that helped to organise Pride events. 'It is still a fabulous day out. Since my very first Pride event in Pride Week in 1980, I've missed very few,' Walsh said. 'There are a few that stand out over the years. Listening to Panti [Bliss] rabble-rousing on Wood Quay when the rally for the Pride Parade was in Wood Quay in the amphitheatre. That would have been 2014 or 2015. Myself, I remember being Grand Marshal in 2008 and getting everybody, four and a half thousand people in Wood Quay, to sing 'to be queer is to be special',' he recalled. More than 20 years after decriminalisation in 1993, another major step forward came in 2015 when the referendum to allow same-sex marriage in Ireland passed by a wide majority. 'I remember the one the year marriage equality was passed. That was fantastic. Such a celebratory one,' McAuliffe said. Two years later, Eddie McGuiness – a connoisseur of Prides in Ireland and abroad – became the Director of Dublin Pride. 'One of my biggest honours has always been to have gone on to manage and develop Dublin Pride – my first type of Pride – for nearly seven years, only stepping away the last couple of years because I was diagnosed with cancer,' McGuiness said. He also fondly remembers hosting Pride in his home town of Dundalk when it had its first significant parade a couple of years ago. The Pride parades in Limerick and Cork 'always give [him] a warm feeling', while Carlow Pride is 'so quirky and fun; the volunteers there put so much time and effort into it'. David Norris marches in the 2019 parade. Leah Farrell Leah Farrell The politics of Pride Within the LGBTQ+ community, there's a debate that's rolled on for many years about what the nature of Pride should be – whether it's right that it's taken on a celebratory, festival nature, or whether it should go back to its roots as a protest march. 'From the early 2000s, the marches became more like Mardi Gras. They were less political – but I think pride is political, and I think it is important that it is political and that it remains political,' said McAuliffe. 'Even though we have marriage equality in Ireland, there's still a lot of transphobia and there's rising homophobia and lesbophobia, and it's very important for people to still campaign around inclusion and acceptance of all in society,' she said. 'The far right are very homophobic, very transphobic, a lot of them… they don't want queer Irish people, they don't want trans Irish people, they don't want lesbians and gays. That has brought around a rise in virulent homophobia and transphobia, both online and in real life, and so I think we need to be more political around pride.' McGuinness said that 'when you look at the Pride movement, starting in New York in 1969 with the Stonewall riots to where we are now, there is still resistance within mainstream politics and society'. 'This is not just an LGBT issue. This is an immigrant issue. This is a women's issue. No matter who you are, if you're a minority, if you're a Traveller, right across the board, so-called mainstream society tries to downtrodden you, and we need to stand up to that. That is what Pride is all about. It's giving a voice to those who don't have a voice,' he said. For Walsh, Pride is about 'being visible and making a statement about unfinished political business, and it's a statement of celebration – but it is also an invitation by Irish LGBT people to mainstream Ireland to join us on our journey of liberation and acceptance and visibility'. 'It's important that mainstream Ireland embraces that invitation, understanding that the journey that Irish queers have taken to get to the place we find ourselves in today hasn't just been about us. That journey is about Irish society finding its collective empathy and understanding,' Walsh said. 'Every year, you hear some people asking, 'why do they need Pride?' But remember, people are still being beaten up and murdered in some parts of the world. We had homophobic murders in Sligo just a few years ago. Trans men and women are still being beaten up with impunity,' he said. 'There is much work to done. There are still people living in the shadows, even in Ireland, for all of our liberalism. Pride is a reminder that we need to turn our attention to all of that unfinished business.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Kneecap to perform at Glastonbury amid calls for them to be banned
Irish rap trio Kneecap are to perform at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday after a number of politicians called for them to be banned from the event. It comes after one of the band's members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 27, was charged with allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah, while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year. Last week the rapper, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in Free Mo Chara T-shirts. The 1975 headlined on Friday at Glastonbury Festival (Yui Mok/PA) He was released on unconditional bail until the next hearing at the same court on August 20. Last week British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it would not be 'appropriate' for them to perform in the slot, which is due to go ahead on the Somerset festival's West Holts Stage at 4pm on Saturday. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also said the BBC 'should not be showing' the trio's set in a post on social media last week. Badenoch said in an X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times which said the BBC had not banned the group: 'The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. 'One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. 'As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism.' Kneecap are not listed as one of the acts being shown live by the broadcaster. Ahead of the group's set, an Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson told the PA news agency: 'Ticket-holders can once again expect to see uniformed officers on site at Glastonbury Festival 24/7 throughout the festival as part of our extensive policing operation ensuring it is safe for everyone attending, as well as those who live nearby.' Neil Young, best known for songs such as Rockin' In The Free World, Like A Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl, will headline the festival's Pyramid Stage on Saturday night with his band the Chrome Hearts. Lorde performing on the Woodsies Stage (Yui Mok/PA) Young's set will now be shown live on the BBC, after the broadcaster had previously said it would not be shown 'at the artist's request'. A spokesperson said: 'We are delighted to confirm that Neil Young's headline set from Glastonbury on Saturday will be broadcast live to audiences across the UK on the BBC.' The set will be shown on the BBC iPlayer Pyramid Stage stream from 10pm, as well as broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Radio 2. Another act expected to draw a big crowd is Brat star Charli XCX, who will headline the Other Stage around the same time Young and Grammy Award-winning rapper Doechii will also perform. The 1975 headlined the festival's Pyramid Stage on Friday night, with the performance seeing singer Matty Healy joke he was his generation's 'best songwriter'. After performing Part Of The Band he sat on a stool while smoking and sipping his drink, Healy said: 'What this moment is making me realise is that I probably am the best songwriter of my generation. 'The best what they say, a poet, ladies and gentlemen, is what I am. 'Generational words and I just wanted to remind you, over the next couple of minutes, these lyrics are poetry, I believe.' The band then launched into Chocolate from their 2013 self-titled debut, before Healy remarked 'I was only joking about being a poet' at its conclusion. Made up of four school friends, the group comprised of singer Healy, bassist Ross MacDonald, guitarist Adam Hann and drummer George Daniel were headlining the festival for the first time. Friday also saw a performance from Scottish music star Lewis Capaldi who told the Glastonbury crowds 'I'm back baby' as he played a surprise set, two years after a performance at the festival during which he struggled to manage his Tourette syndrome symptoms. The musician, who announced a break from touring shortly after his performance at the festival in 2023, has just released a new song called Survive. Lewis Capaldi performing on the Pyramid Stage (Yui Mok/PA) He told fans: 'It's so good to be back. I'm not going to say much up here today, because if I do, I think I will probably start crying.' He ended his performance with Somebody You Loved, the track that Glastonbury crowds helped him to sing when he struggled with the condition which can cause physical and verbal tics in 2023. Earlier on Friday, alternative pop star Lorde surprised fans with a secret set at Worthy Farm, performing her latest album Virgin, which was released on Friday, in full. Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand brought out former Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi during their Other Stage set while they were playing Take Me Out, one of their best-known songs. Celebrities who have been spotted at the festival include singer Harry Styles, Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne and Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn. Harry Styles was among the stars attending the festival (PA) Avon and Somerset Police said there had been 38 crimes reported at the festival and 14 arrests made. Performing in the coveted Sunday legends slot this year is Rod Stewart, who previously said he will be joined by his former Faces band member Ronnie Wood, as well as other guests. Stewart's performance will come after he postponed a string of concerts in the US, due to take place this month, while he recovered from flu. The BBC is providing livestreams of the five main stages: Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Woodsies and The Park.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
At least 49 people killed in latest Israeli strikes on Gaza
At least 49 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes on Friday night and Saturday morning, health workers said. Twelve people died near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more were killed when apartments were hit, according to staff at Shifa hospital, where the casualties were brought. Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital. The strikes come as US president Donald Trump said there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. READ MORE Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Mr Trump said: 'We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.' An official with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press that Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, would arrive in Washington next week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Talks have been on and since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the dire humanitarian crisis. Some 50 hostages taken during the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel remain in Gaza, though fewer than half of them are believed to be alive. Some 250 were hostages taken by Hamas, and around 1,200 people died in the attacks, according to Israeli tallies, sparking the 21-month-long war. The war has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. There is hope among the families of hostages that Mr Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre in Khan Younis, Gaza. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support after the recent Iran war and its achievements. He may feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu says he will end the war only once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected. Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for more than two months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. Palestinians have been shot and wounded while seeking food at aid sites run by the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza health officials and witnesses. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites. – AP
