Speaker 1: Already, and this is the daily This is the Daily
Speaker 1: os Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome
Speaker 1: to the Daily Odds. It's Tuesday, the first July. Happy
Speaker 1: new financial Year. I'm Lucy Tassel.
Speaker 2: I'm Sam Cauzluski.
Speaker 1: Over the weekend, Britain's biggest music festival, Glastonbury, was held
Speaker 1: on a farm in southwest England. This year's edition made
Speaker 1: more headlines than usual due to a pair of acts
Speaker 1: Irish rap group Kneecap and English punk pair Bob Villain.
Speaker 1: Kneecap's inclusion on the lineup was already newsworthy due to
Speaker 1: one of its members facing a terrorism related charge, while
Speaker 1: Bob Villain sparked a discussion by calling for quote death
Speaker 1: to the IDF the Israeli Defense Forces. Mid set in
Speaker 1: today's show, we'll break down the conversation around the two performances,
Speaker 1: the government's reaction, and a woman named Helen from.
Speaker 2: And Lucy. The first thing to say before we get
Speaker 2: into this, as I'm sure listeners could already identify, is
Speaker 2: that there's some pretty strong language in this episode. So
Speaker 2: that's what it's saying upfront. The other thing, w what
Speaker 2: it's saying upfront is that as much as we wanted
Speaker 2: to be, you and I weren't there. We were still
Speaker 2: here in Sydney, but over the weekend it felt like
Speaker 2: I was there if I went on my phone. The
Speaker 2: amount of content that was being uploaded from the festival.
Speaker 2: Some heartwarming moments Lewis Capaldi returning to stage two years
Speaker 2: after his last performance. Yeah, but there was also a
Speaker 2: lot of footage of the performance by punk duo Bob Villain.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Talk me through what happened to that set.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll start by saying that the reason we saw
Speaker 1: so many clips is because of the BBC, the UK's
Speaker 1: public broadcaster. That's what our ABC is modeled on. In Australia.
Speaker 1: We pay for the ABC through our taxes. In the UK,
Speaker 1: they make a direct payment every year called the TV
Speaker 1: license and it costs around three hundred and seventy Australian dollars.
Speaker 1: And I mention all of this because the DBC broadcasts
Speaker 1: glastow sets live and they also make them available on
Speaker 1: their iPlayer later on, which is like the equivalent of iView.
Speaker 2: And they're also on YouTube, which is where they're viewed
Speaker 2: by people all over the world. Yeah, but it's a
Speaker 2: relatively unique situation to have a lot of a festival
Speaker 2: being filmed and broadcast live. What is the relationship between
Speaker 2: the BBC and Glastonbury.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's They're not like an official sponsor or anything,
Speaker 1: but they have broadcast glasson bresets for decades, originally on
Speaker 1: the radio. You said it was relatively unique. I think
Speaker 1: it's almost unique, But it's sort of like the ABC's
Speaker 1: relationship with Splendor in the Graphs or what that used
Speaker 1: to be, where the arm of the public broadcaster is
Speaker 1: kind of bringing the show to people who can't attend
Speaker 1: because it's culturally important and significant, and ahead of the festival,
Speaker 1: we knew which sets the BBC would be broadcasting live
Speaker 1: and which would be available later. And that meant that
Speaker 1: when Bob Villain took the stage this duo, I should
Speaker 1: say both of their members have the stage name Bobby Villain,
Speaker 1: so just going to say Bob Villain for each.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: That meant that when they took the stage to perform
Speaker 1: on Saturday afternoon local time, they knew that what they
Speaker 1: said was going to be broadcast live on the public broadcaster.
Speaker 4: We're seeing the UK and the US be complicit complicit
Speaker 4: in war crimes and genocide happening over there to the
Speaker 4: Palaestinian people. And uh, you know, I know we're on
Speaker 4: the BBC. We're not going to say anything crazy. You're right,
Speaker 4: believe that for them lads. But have you heard this
Speaker 4: one though? Death theft to the I d F, def
Speaker 4: to the id.
Speaker 1: F, deaf to the I d F. So that's lead
Speaker 1: vocalist Bobby Villain when he says them lads, and that
Speaker 1: clip he's talking about Kneecap, the Irish group I mentioned
Speaker 1: whose performance the BBC was not broadcasting.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's a couple of moving parts here before
Speaker 2: we get into the reaction to the Bob Villain performance
Speaker 2: and why Kneecap's performance wasn't being broadcast, give me some
Speaker 2: context on Kneecap. This second group we're talking.
Speaker 1: About, Yeah, Soneecap are an Irish rap trio. They're from
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland, which is one of the four parts of
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom. It has been since the nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1: It's separated from the Republic of Ireland. We don't have
Speaker 1: all week for me to sit here and explain hundreds
Speaker 1: of years of Irish politics and unrest, but Suffice it
Speaker 1: to say. The members of NCAP may have been born
Speaker 1: over the border in the UK, but they are staunchly
Speaker 1: pro up United Ireland outside of British control, so reintegrating
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland. For example. You
Speaker 1: can see their twenty nineteen track get your Brits Out,
Speaker 1: which is sort of a punny way of saying, get
Speaker 1: them out of Ireland.
Speaker 3: You get your brands, your brands, We're get your brands,
Speaker 3: and get your brands, your brands, We're.
Speaker 1: Get your NIECAP are all so strong advocates for the
Speaker 1: protection of the Irish language, which the English government has
Speaker 1: a long history of suppressing. I mean literally nearly seven
Speaker 1: hundred years since the English Parliament passed a law banning
Speaker 1: anyone who lived in an English colony in Ireland from
Speaker 1: speaking the Irish language, among many other cultural suppressions. They
Speaker 1: have a semi autobiographical film that was released last year.
Speaker 1: It's on Stan will pop the link in the show
Speaker 1: notes if you want to know more about them. But
Speaker 1: these are the kind of the key things to know
Speaker 1: about them. They're a pro Irish Republic group, they care
Speaker 1: very much about the Irish language, and they're a rap group.
Speaker 2: And so what was the reason their performance wasn't being broadcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so one of their three members, mo Tara, has
Speaker 1: recently been charged with a terrorism related offense for allegedly
Speaker 1: displaying a hes Bola flag on stage in twenty twenty three. Now,
Speaker 1: for those who don't know or might need a refresher,
Speaker 1: Hezbollah is a Lebanese militia. It's backed by Iran, Australia
Speaker 1: and the UK BO listed as a terrorist organization and
Speaker 1: it's illegal in the UK to show support for it,
Speaker 1: including displaying its flag. Now, Mocha is a waiting further
Speaker 1: proceedings relating to the twenty twenty three charge, and both
Speaker 1: he and Neecap have not denied the incident, but they
Speaker 1: argue their work is rooted in political commentary, satire and
Speaker 1: artistic expression. In light of the ongoing proceedings, the BBC
Speaker 1: chose not to broadcast They're set live, though it was
Speaker 1: later made available to watch on My Player again like.
Speaker 2: iView and the main way that we're engaging with clips
Speaker 2: from that performance is from crowdsourced. Yes right, yes.
Speaker 1: So there's a woman called Helen Wilson. She's from Wales
Speaker 1: and she knew that it wasn't going to be broadcast live,
Speaker 1: so she live streamed their set from her phone to
Speaker 1: thousands of people at a time, including at one point
Speaker 1: I think she said she burnt her finger because her
Speaker 1: phone was getting so hot. And Kneecap were on after
Speaker 1: Bob Villain. So we've had this broadcast live set, including
Speaker 1: this very strong language, and then we've had Kneecap set
Speaker 1: which is not being broadcast live except by Helen from Wales.
Speaker 1: During this set they led a chant of free, Free Palestine.
Speaker 1: They also led a chant of fuck kir Starmer. So
Speaker 1: again that's that strong language we were talking about.
Speaker 2: We did give a warning.
Speaker 1: We gave a warning the UK Prime Minister. He said
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be allowed to play the festival. And we
Speaker 1: know that they are very outspoken about Israel's actions in Gaza.
Speaker 2: Give me a sense of why that is the case
Speaker 2: that we have this group, very rooted in Irish politics,
Speaker 2: culture and identity, being so outspoken about the Israel situation
Speaker 2: in Gaza.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they have said they want innocent people to
Speaker 1: stop being killed. I also think a lot of people
Speaker 1: have become more outspoken in various directions following Hamas's attack
Speaker 1: on Israel on October seven, twenty twenty three, and then
Speaker 1: during Israel's ensuing war with Hamas in Gaza that has
Speaker 1: dis placed most of the population and caused a humanitarian crisis.
Speaker 1: One of the most recent updates from the region was
Speaker 1: from before the festival. That was Israeli media reporting IDF
Speaker 1: soldiers had been ordered to shoot Palestinian civilians waiting to
Speaker 1: collect food at the US Israeli run aid distribution sites.
Speaker 1: I'll be clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Nettnyal who has
Speaker 1: denied this report, it's against that backdrop that we hear
Speaker 1: those comments from Bob Villain saying death death to the IDF,
Speaker 1: which was obviously kind of the biggest story out of
Speaker 1: the festival. And I'm talking Aboutneecap right now, But just
Speaker 1: to recap, like why Bob Villain was particularly making those comments,
Speaker 1: perhaps and also knowing that he was going to be
Speaker 1: live streamed and that Kneecap, as I said, weren't going
Speaker 1: to be live streamed, might have contributed to the strength
Speaker 1: of those comments or the intensity of those comments. Then,
Speaker 1: just to return tonecap I would also point to the
Speaker 1: fact that the UK government was part of the move
Speaker 1: to split all then Island off from the rest of Ireland,
Speaker 1: becoming part of the UK that was part of treaty negotiations,
Speaker 1: ending a wave of violence. A kneecap who seek for
Speaker 1: Ireland to be united might draw comparisons with the way
Speaker 1: the United Nations contributed to the creation of the state
Speaker 1: of Israel in the nineteen forties, partitioning it from the
Speaker 1: UK controlled Palestinian territory. And it's that same word used
Speaker 1: in both processes, partition, separation. So I think that could
Speaker 1: be this is just analysis. I think it could be related.
Speaker 2: And so you have two groups of performers hitting the
Speaker 2: stage at one of the biggest festivals in the world
Speaker 2: using language that are particularly in that example of death
Speaker 2: to the IDF is an incitement of violence.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 2: What has the reaction been on the ground to those
Speaker 2: two sets?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So on the ground at the festival, you can
Speaker 1: hear in the clips that I've played, the crowds join
Speaker 1: in the chants, they cheer for the acts. Outside the
Speaker 1: festival things have been more mixed. The BBC has not
Speaker 1: uploaded Bob Villains set to iPlayer. In a statement it
Speaker 1: called the comments quote deeply offensive. Nieecaps is available, though
Speaker 1: the BBC said it had been edited from the festival organizers.
Speaker 1: We have this statement. We are appalled by the statements
Speaker 1: made by Bob Villain yesterday. Their chance very much crossed
Speaker 1: the line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in
Speaker 1: the production of the festival that there is no place
Speaker 1: at Glastonbury for anti Semitism, hate speech or incitement to violence,
Speaker 1: and local police are investigating to find out if any
Speaker 1: offenses were carried out. The Israeli Embassy in the UK
Speaker 1: put out a statement. They said when such messages are
Speaker 1: delivered before tens of thousands of festival goers and met
Speaker 1: with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalization of
Speaker 1: extremist language and the glorification of violence.
Speaker 2: I'm interested to see if there was any reaction from Kistama,
Speaker 2: the UK Prime Minister and the government. Neecap led a
Speaker 2: chant against him. Have we heard from the government.
Speaker 1: So he called it appalling hate speech. I should say
Speaker 1: he was talking about Bob Villain's comments, not Neecaps, but
Speaker 1: he did say that he had said that Neecaps shouldn't perform.
Speaker 1: To me, the most interesting comments came from Wes Streeting,
Speaker 1: so he's in charge of Health. He's effectively the health minister,
Speaker 1: and he not only responded to Bob Villan's comments, he
Speaker 1: also responded to the Israeli Embassy's comments. Here's what he said.
Speaker 3: If I take the equivalent of the war in Ukraine,
Speaker 3: I'm unequivocal about which side of that war I'm on.
Speaker 3: I want Ukraine to win. Would I be celebrating or
Speaker 3: chanting for the death of Russian soldiers.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: I want see an end to the war, and I
Speaker 3: want to see an end to the conflict. I'd also
Speaker 3: say to the Israeli embassy, get your own house in order.
Speaker 3: In terms of the conduct of your own citizens and
Speaker 3: the settlers in the West Bank, I think there's a
Speaker 3: serious point there by the Israeli embassy I take seriously.
Speaker 3: I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens
Speaker 3: towards Palestinians more seriously.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: Streeting was referring there to Israeli settlers in the West
Speaker 1: Bank attacking Palestinians aided by IDF soldiers last week. That's
Speaker 1: according to Palestinian health authorities. Israeli settlements in the West
Speaker 1: Bank are considered illegal by the UN under international law.
Speaker 2: I think what's interesting about this story is that the
Speaker 2: story is grounded in a music festival, a very popular
Speaker 2: music festival, but it's quickly become a story about international politics,
Speaker 2: international war, international law, and this link between the arts
Speaker 2: and politics, and they seem almost inseparable, and that they,
Speaker 2: over history seem to find ways to intersect with each other,
Speaker 2: even on some of the biggest stages in the world. So,
Speaker 2: just to reiterate, at the moment, there hasn't been official
Speaker 2: charges laid the time of recording. No, okay, thank you
Speaker 2: Lucy for taking us through that. A complicated incident, but
Speaker 2: one worth talking about. And that's how we've got from
Speaker 2: the Daily os newsroom. We're going to be back in
Speaker 2: the afternoon with your headlines. Until then, have a great day.
Speaker 2: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 2: Bunjelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 2: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Speaker 2: Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 2: first peoples of these countries, both past and present,