Last month, Pillow Queens announced they were no longer playing the Latitude Festival. The Irish indie rock band explained that the event is sponsored by Barclays, a bank that has financial ties to companies supplying weapons and military technology used in Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestinians. Since then, more acts have dropped off the lineup.

CMAT, Mui Zyu, and Georgia Ruth have all posted statements canceling their performances at the Suffolk festival, which takes place at Henham Park on July 25-28. Read Pillow Queens’ statement:

Last week it came to our attention that Latitude – a festival we were booked to play in the UK in July – lists its headline partner as Barclays. A May 2024 report by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) details Barclays financial ties to companies producing weapons and military technology used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. It reveals that Barclays has increased its financial ties with companies arming Israel. PSC urges people to boycott all Barclays services until the bank ends its complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.

As a band we believe that artistic spaces should be able to exist without being funded by morally corrupt investors.

It is for that reason that we have pulled out of Latitude Festival.

Saoirse don Phalaistín.

Read CMAT’s statement:

Hi everyone,

i am very sorry to announce that i am officially pulling out of playing the main stage of Latitude festival 2024.

You may or may not be aware, but Latitude’s main sponsor is Barclay’s bank, who have been revealed to have increased their financing of various companies who are supplying weapons and military technology to Israel. Specifically, it has invested over £100 Million into General Dynamics which provides gun systems to the fighter jets which are being used by Israel to bombard Gaza.

I made Latitude aware of what my decision would be weeks ago, but was hoping that with all of the press surrounding the brave artists who pulled out of The Great Escape festival for the same reasons, that Latitude would divest from Barclay’s or find another sponsor. This has not happened and it has been made clear to me that it will not happen. As such I am now officially pulling out. I will not allow my precious work, my music, which i love so much, to get into bed with violence. Myself, and the entire CMAT touring crew who i love so much, refuse to be complicit in genocide.

I want to say how utterly devastated i am that it has come to this. I love Latitude festival, they gave me one of my first big festival slots back in 2021, and playing the sunrise arena is one of my most cherished memories ever. (The image used here is me on my way to the stage. i was so excited!) It was the first time i’d met so many people who believed in me and i had been looking forward to the full circle moment this slot would have given me, the band, and my fans. I really hope to play this festival again in the future under different circumstances, and under a different sponsor.

I also want to say i am so so sorry to be letting down anyone who was coming to see us at Latitude. I really hope i can make it up to you somehow, and i hope you can understand my choice to not play. I toyed with the idea of playing and donating our fee, but it honestly just isnt what the BDS movement is asking me to do, and i could never claim to know more than them.

Let me be clear. There is a genocide happening in Palestine right now. All i can do as a citizen is turn up to as many demonstrations as possible and try to follow the advice of the BDS boycott list as closely as i possibly can. This falls under that action. I hope that as many of you reading this as possible will choose to show your solidarity with the Palestinian people in whatever way you can.

Boycott Barclays.

Free Palestine.

Lots of love,
CMAT x x x

Read Mui Zyu’s statement:

I am pulling out of Latitude Festival. The festival is sponsored by Barclays who are continuing to profit from the genocide in Palestine.

Barclays are on the BDS Movement’s boycott list. Throughout the last six months they have continued to increase their financing to companies making weapons that are then used on Gaza where at this moment over 37,000 people have been killed and over 82,000 people injured (many of whom are children).

As a small artist this may not have much impact on the festival, but if others join it can. If you are planning to attend the festival please consider using your voice as a customer to speak out against your money going towards a genocide.

Follow Bands Boycott Barclays who are leading this movement. Familiarise yourself with the BDS Movement, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Lastly, read Georgia Ruth’s statement:

Sadly, I will no longer be performing at Latitude while they continue to be sponsored by Barclaycard.

In a recent report, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Campaign Against Arms Trade and War on Want state that Barclays “now invests over £2 billion in, and provides loans and
underwriting worth £6.1 billion, to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology are used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians”.

Barclays’ committed investment in the Israeli arms trade, which continues to enact devastating genocide in Palestine, must be challenged.

I was inspired by the effective boycott of Hay Festival this week by participating authors, which led directly to Baillie Gifford being dropped as main sponsor. We can make a difference; festivals can make meaningful change.

I urge Latitude to cut financial ties with Barclaycard.

GRX

 

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