Pubs fundraise for Palestine
This comes after nearly 300 nightclubs, musicians and collectives signed an open letter calling for the electronic music scene to “urgently speak out against Israel’s brutal and ongoing attack on Gaza”.
Since 9 October, Gaza has been under attack, two days after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched attacks on Israel, killing an estimated 1,400 people.
In an attack on the psytrance festival Supernova, 260 people killed. More are still missing or being held hostage.
Some 9,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in air and artillery strikes carried out by the Israeli military in response, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel has also severely restricted access to electricity, food and water supplies to the region, in which half of the population of 2.3m people are children. It has also sent troops and tanks into the territory.
The Derby Brewery Arms in Manchester, Greater Manchester, hosted an evening of music, food, talks and workshops on Thursday 2 November to raise emergency funds for the people of Palestine.
All money raised will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) who work for the healthy and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees.
Raising funds
Furthermore, east London club night ‘Barbershop’ will return to the basement of Homerton pub the Plough E9 on Friday.
All proceeds from the event will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Tickets are £5, and the event will host B2Bs DJs until 2am.
Dalston-based performance venue Café OTO will hold a matinee event on Sunday (5 November) to raise money for MAP. It will feature live performances by Dirar Kalash and Kareem Samara, plus a screening of Noor Abed's short film 'our songs were ready for all wars to come'.
It said: "We acknowledge that as long as there is no ceasefire, fundraising drives are not the solution. We add our voice to all those calling for an immediate ceasefire."
On Friday 27 October, the Old England pub in Bristol also hosted a Palestine solidarity fundraiser. The event, which kicked off at 8pm, brought local DJ talent to the pub, with all proceeds also going towards MAP.
Showing solidarity
The open letter, published by Ravers for Palestine, was signed by east London nightclub Dalston Superstore as well as artists including Ross From Friends, Tash LC and Shannen SP.
It read: “As DJs, producers, musicians and sound artists based in or connected to London, we note that our electronic music community offers critical sites of liberation, resistance and community, especially for queer and marginalised people.
“Yet we are troubled to see most of London’s electronic music venues and collectives have been silent in response to Israel’s horrifying and ongoing violence against the 2.3m Palestinians in Gaza, with the financial and political support of Western states.”
On Friday (27 October), the majority of nations – 120 countries – voted on a United Nations resolution calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce” in Gaza.
The next day (28 October), more than 100,000 people took part in London’s March against strikes in Gaza calling for a ceasefire.
The letter added: “We urgently call on London’s electronic music parties and spaces, as well as our fellow ravers and artists, to publicly declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the brutal violence they are currently experiencing in Gaza.”
