It’s a dreary day in November and I’m listening to my favourite radio station when I suddenly feel overwhelmingly ‘PARFUL’ and so it was that I was first ‘Kneecapped’ (sozusagen). In the six months that followed the Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap went on to storm the stage of political music to become the raging and indeed, raving elephant in the room.
In the song ‘Parful’ the bouncy playfulness of the beat and lyrics connects the whimsy of youth with deep idealism.
The song starts:
Well, this wall was built years ago to stop the Protestants on this side fighting with the Catholics on the other
It’s there 24 hours a day
The thing is that it divides the two communities
but every Saturday night hundreds of people go out down-town, just go out clubbin’
forget about the divides between each other.
It goes on to describe the potency of unity and freedom in Irish youth culture. For those that didn’t grow up on or around the so-called British Isles that entails: ‘Gettin’ whacked in the rain is parful/ Chain smokin’ with your mates is parful/ Arriving late to rave with an 8th and your jawbone aches and ye still feel parful.’ If you know, you know.
Kneecap’s ability to captivate the imaginations of disenchanted youth, combined with earnest and unflinching idealism, punching up, not down, to challenge sectarianism and imperialism in Ireland and beyond, is what has catapulted the group into the spotlight and onto the political agenda.
With a name like Kneecap and singles like ‘C.E.A.R.T.A.’ (cearta meaning ‘rights’ in the Irish language) and ‘Get your Brits out!’, the staunchly Republican, anti-Zionist, Irish-speaking trio is blowing the narrative of the imperialistic status quo wide open and ruffling more than a few feathers on the way.
Unlike many other UK bands, the group managed to ‘break America’ in no uncertain terms with their performance at Coachella Festival in May.
During the performance, band member Mo Chara explained: “The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the… skies with nowhere to go. The Palestinians have nowhere to go.”
At the end of their second set the following three messages were projected onto screens: ‘Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,’ and ‘It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes,’ and finally: ‘F*ck Israel. Free Palestine.’
And so, the audience were galvanised and chanted: ‘Free, free Palestine.’
It was after this, that Sharon Osbourne decided to chime in to suggest they have their visas revoked, serving only to push Kneecap even further centre stage to amplify their message: ‘Statements aren’t aggressive, murdering 20,000 children is though.’
Meanwhile, the gatekeepers of the pro-Zionist narrative are grasping at straws, doing their best to find ways to criminalise and silence the group. Due to a recently surfaced video of a concert held at the O2 Forum in London last November whereby Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh––who performs under the name Mo Chara––was shown displaying a Hezbollah flag, he was consequently charged on terrorism offences.
The band has responded by saying the charges are an attempt at political policing intended to silence criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.
On the 22nd of May they posted this statement on Instagram:
‘14000 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. We deny this “offence” and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is. […] You stand complicit with the war criminals. We are on the right side of history. You are not. We will fight you in court. We will win. Free Palestine.’
As the footage of Israel withholding aid from starving Palestinians and subsequently shooting them as they scramble for food flashes across our screens, the attempts at silencing and criminalising voices of dissent sound increasingly feeble and delusional and have rapidly become yesterday’s news.
The extermination of an entire people, however, will never be forgotten.
Mo Chara is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court today, represented by an impressive legal team including:
Gareth Peirce, solicitor for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and for Gerry Conlon and the Guildford Four, who were falsely convicted of being Provisional IRA bombers; Rosalind Comyn, who has represented Extinction Rebellion protesters; as well as Darragh Mackin from Phoenix Law; Brenda Campbell KC; Jude Bunting KC; and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, who recently appeared before the ICJ on behalf of South Africa against Israel and the genocide on Gaza.
Kneecap’s performances in Germany this summer have all been cancelled, however you can catch them at venues across Europe. Full tour details can be found here.
