As the Edinburgh Fringe festival comes to a close, Steven McWilliam highlights some of the artists from Palestine as well as those who have stood in solidarity with the Palestinian cause

The Edinburgh Fringe festival is a comedy and performing-arts festival that floods the streets of Edinburgh every August with some of the most unusual and bizarre performances mixed with deeply heartfelt and moving stand-up sets or theatre pieces all while sitting in tiny chairs in the basements of random pubs that emptied a store cupboard to use as a venue. It can be whatever experience you want from magicians who do bubble magic to the Taiwan Season’s dance company. You will be watching a rising star of stand-up comedy one minute, then the next minute you are watching a clown pretend to be a knight who finds Excalibur and becomes king of England.

The madness contrasts so beautifully with the poignant moments the Fringe is able to bring to life and share with audiences and throughout this Fringe there were many moments where the topic of Palestine was raised.

Palestinian Acts

There were many artists from Palestine performing at the Fringe who were incredibly well received. Alaa Shehada performed his show The Horse of Jenin for sold-out shows throughout the Fringe earning him the Scotsman newspaper’s First Fringe Award. The show talks about growing up in occupied territory. Shehada is also a co-founder of the Palestine Comedy Club, a comedy production company established in the UK and Palestine with the goal of developing a stand-up circuit in the West Bank by providing space and funds for emerging talent. One such artist was fellow countryman Sami Abu Wardeh who also performed his show, Palestine Peace de Resistance, to rave reviews and became the winner of the Heart Award in the Besties section of the Scotsman.

Additionally, the group Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine put on four days of events highlighting poetry and artists from Palestine. Amidst this were stand-up performances by comedians such as Sami Abu Wardeh as well as theatre pieces by Mahmoud Alhourani and the Arab Puppet Theatre Foundation with many more events throughout the days it ran its mini-festival.

While there were many people in Edinburgh enjoying the sun, there was a notable absence of Glaswegian comedian Susan Riddell who was due to perform for the month. Unfortunately, she was restricted from entering Edinburgh due to ongoing bail conditions placed on her due to her involvement in direct action against arms firm Leonardo under the Shut Down Leonardo campaign. In July, the comedian was arrested for driving a van into the fence of the Edinburgh Leonardo factory along with two other women, Allegra Fitzherbert and Naomi Stubbs-Gorman. All three face the charge of malicious mischief, aggravated by having a ‘terrorist connection’ with Riddell also having a charge for dangerous driving. They have all made no plea in court.

Despite this, Riddell still put on a sold-out show. She packed a venue in Edinburgh full of people then performed a truly unique hour of stand up from Glasgow over videocall.

Fringe artists for Palestine

Riddell was well represented by her friends and fellow comedians Kim Blythe and Amanda Dwyer in Edinburgh though. Throughout the Fringe the group Fringe Artists for Palestine met at the Meadows park to raise awareness and spread the message of what is happening. Throughout the month, many famous comedians and other acts attended the gatherings to show solidarity with the people of Palestine including Fern Brady, Ivo Graham and Alison Spittle. On one of the last days of the Fringe, they were joined by Protest for Harmony, a local choir who performed songs in solidarity for an hour.

For many of the events I’ve mentioned so far, I was unable to attend due to being out of the country or because they sold out. However, on the last Saturday of the Fringe, I had the pleasure of getting a ticket to Mike and Vittorio’s gig for Palestine. There is something magical about seeing a theatre like the EICC get sold out for a Palestine benefit. As I watched it fill up, I was thinking about how excited I was to see so many amazing comedians, primarily. The line up was incredible top to bottom, but I also couldn’t help but feel moved knowing that everyone was here because they were aligned on at least this issue. That the comedians and the common folk were willing to stand up and say what our governments refuse to.

The show was incredible. It was a late-night show so I will not be repeating what Mike Rice said about Donald Trump. After this, my friend and I went to a club night hosted by Ivo Graham where comedians would pick DJ sets. After a few hours, Ivo brought the music down and raised Gaza, speaking to a demographic that is often difficult to engage in any sort of politics about what is happening. The crowd responded by starting a ‘Free, Free Palestine’ chant before Ivo played Kneecap and everyone went ballistic.

A month or so ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Stephen Kapos at the Glasgow stop of his tour. The event was excellent and hearing him speak was powerful. However, I bring this event up for another reason. Afterwards, a member of Counterfire sent a photo to the Glasgow group chat. They had drawn the panellists speaking. I loved it. It was art that captured this powerful moment.

I bring this up to affirm that the left is creative. The left is exciting. The left is on the correct side of these questions and we have the ability to really capture the minds of people and, for me, part of that is in building ourselves alongside local cultures, local music scenes, local comedy circuits. Let’s organise more events where we discuss politics, where we protest, where we stand seriously and say what needs to be said but let’s also organise fundraisers where we platform talent, where we laugh and dance, where we build the communities that austerity ripped away from us.

There is a quotation that became famous during the Aids epidemic that I loved as soon as I heard it; ‘We bury our friends in the morning, we protest in the afternoon, and we dance at night.’