Jeremy Corbyn and the Peace and Justice Project are rather busy, at present. First, they’re taking ‘5 Demands‘ to the public (and crucially to the Tories and Labour) – preparing for the launch of the project on 13 April. But now, the team has also launched another initiative – this time, over Israel‘s ongoing genocide in Gaza and Barclays propping up of it.
Barclays: complicit in Israel’s genocide
Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project has launched the ‘Art Against The Arms Trade’ campaign. It’s calling on UK music festivals to cut ties with Barclays until the bank halts its complicity in Israel’s destruction of Gaza.
Research by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) shows Barclays Bank holds over £1bn in shares and provides over £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its genocidal attacks on Palestinians.
This includes General Dynamics, which produces the gun systems that arm the fighter jets used by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions, and artillery weapons used by the Israeli military.
By providing investment and financial services to these arms companies, Barclays is facilitating the provision of weapons and technology for Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.
PSC has been organising mass account closures and boycotts of Barclays, with thousands of people signing up – and signing out of the bank.
Meanwhile, UK festivals Latitude, Isle Of Wight, Download, and The Great Escape are among those sponsored by Barclaycard
Corbyn and Peace and Justice Project: music for humanity
In November, Corbyn and the Peace and Justice Project launched the ‘Music For A Ceasefire’ open letter signed by over 1,300 artists, including Sam Fender, Declan McKenna, The Last Dinner Party, IDLES, in a call for an end to the bombardment of Gaza.
Now, they’ve turned its attention to Barclays.
Launching the campaign in Huck magazine, Art Against The Arms Trade organiser Samuel Sweek said:
The whitewashing of those bankrolling wars around the world is perhaps more subtle than the greenwashing of fossil fuel giants, but it is equally grotesque.
Without urgently addressing the concerns of thousands of festival goers and artists, the organisers of festivals such as Latitude, Isle Of Wight, Download and Brighton’s The Great Escape place themselves firmly on the wrong side of history.
With fans and artists leading the way, Art Against The Arms Trade calls on music festival organisers to stand with them on the side of humanity.
You can get involved to. There’s a template letter people can fill in to send to festival promoters – urging them to cut ties with Barclays. You can do that here via Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project.
Featured image via the Peace and Justice Project/the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
