European Music Festival Under Scrutiny for Ties with Pro-Israel Financier: Boycott by Over 50 Artists and Fans Over Funding Connection
🎧 Hear This! Barca's Sónar Festival, a pulsing music-tech shindig, finds artists bailing out after discovering the puppet master: Superstruct - a live events titan bankrolled by KKR. Guess who's dark side includes Israeli weapon manufacturers and illegal West Bank settlements? Yep, you guessed it! KKR, baby! This has sparked a firestorm of boycotts.
Newsflash
- Starring: Dania Shihab, artist
🗞️ Credits:This episode's magic was conjured by Marcos Bartolomé and Tamara Khandaker, with Sarí el-Khalili, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Kisaa Zehra, Mariana Navarrete, and our babe-of-a-host, Natasha del Toro. It was whipped into shape by Noor Wazwaz. Shouts to Noelia Ramírez!
🎙️ Production:Our audio wizard is Alex Roldan. Our visual maestro is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take's overlord. Head honcho at Al Jazeera's audio department is Ney Alvarez.
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KKR, on the heat, is under scrutiny for funding companies in weapons manufacturing, the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and several Israeli corporations nestled in West Bank settlements[1]. Over 70 artists linked to Sónar have voiced concern over KKR's "complicit investments," with Florentino, Objekt, DJ Haram, et al, demanding ethical programming and adherence to the BDS movement guidelines[1]. The BDS movement urges Sónar to eliminate any ties to financial dealings linked to human rights atrocities, citing Israeli policies toward Palestinians as an example[1]. Sama' Abdulhadi, a fierce protestor, pulled out of the festival over Sónar's connections to KKR[2].
Bottom line, Sónar's apartment owner Superstruct (owned by KKR) has investing hands in Israeli weapon factories and West Bank settlements. This has sparked a ruckus from artists and activist crews supporting the Palestinian cause, calling for a break-up and ethical policy adoption[1][2].
Dania Shihab, an artist, announced her pull-out from Barca's Sónar Festival, citing the involvement of KKR, the festival's apartment owner, in social-media, such as entertainment events but also in war industries like Israeli weapon manufacturing and West Bank settlements.
The boycott of Sónar by over 70 artists and activist crews supports the BDS movement's guidelines, urging the festival to eliminate any ties to financial dealings linked to human rights atrocities, specifically mentioning Israeli policies toward Palestinians as an example.
