Charges against Kneecap’s Mo Chara are the establishment’s attempt to distract from its complicity with Israel’s genocide, argues Dave Randall

‘This is political policing.

‘This is a carnival of distraction.

‘14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us.’

This was the sharp response from Irish hip-hop group Kneecap to news that their rapper Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) had been charged with a terror offence after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London gig. The arrest and ensuing media frenzy is indeed being deployed as a weapon of mass distraction. It’s classic ‘culture wars’ stuff: take the heat off a government and broader liberal establishment that has been complicit in genocide by forcing an issue of marginal significance to the top of the news agenda.

Even so, something else is also at play. Rulers recognise the political power of culture and will fight, often covertly, to quash dissent from the creative sector. This has been true throughout history and across cultures. From pharaohs to feudal lords, muftis to maharajahs, republicans to royals, rulers always have a music policy. All have given patronage to some musicians while suppressing the music of others.

On Friday 23 May we got a glimpse of why this is the case. On that day thousands of us chanted ‘Free Palestine’ in Whitehall at a rally for Gaza called by the Stop The War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Just hours later 20,000 Kneecap fans repeated the same chant during the band’s powerful set at the Wide Awake festival.

When the demands of the movement are amplified by high-profile musicians and taken up by their audiences, rulers know they’re losing the battle for hearts and minds. Conversely, when musicians choose the wrong side of history, warmongers and apologists for genocide are emboldened. On this issue, Radiohead and Nick Cave are among those who must be called to task. Not only have both ignored Palestinian calls for a cultural boycott of Israel but they have also attacked the Palestine solidarity movement.

If they, and those who have so far remained silent, change their minds and belatedly join us, we should welcome them. Most importantly, however, we must support, and where necessary defend, those who have consistently stood with Palestine. That’s why I will join the rally in solidarity with Kneecap at their pre-trail hearing: Westminster Magistrates Court, 18 June, 9:30am.

Dave Randall is a musician who has toured with Faithless, Dido, Sinead O’Connor and others. An updated second edition of his book Sound System: The Political Power of Music is published by Pluto Press in August.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet