LONDON: Barclays and Stay Nation have suspended a sponsorship deal for the occasions group's 2024 festivals after a number of artists introduced they’d boycott them over the financial institution's involvement.
The Obtain, Latitude and Isle of Wight festivals are amongst these hardest hit by the boycotts, with acts and followers criticizing Barclays' enterprise relationships with firms that provide weapons to Israel.
Comedians Joanne McNally, Sophie Duker, Grace Campbell and Alexandra Haddow mentioned they’d not be attending Latitude, as did musical acts CMAT, Pillow Queens, Mui Zyu and Georgia Ruth.
Bands Pest Management, Ithaca, Scowl, Pace and Zulu confirmed that they’d be leaving Obtain.
It follows a mass boycott by greater than 100 acts of the Barclaycard-sponsored Nice Escape pageant in Brighton in Could.
“Following dialogue with artists, we’ve got agreed with Barclays that they are going to now not sponsor our festivals,” a Stay Nation spokesperson mentioned.
It got here after activists attacked Barclays earlier within the week, with the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Marketing campaign demanding a boycott over the financial institution's “complicity in Israel's assaults on Palestinians”.
The PSC additionally claimed that Barclays “now owns greater than £2 billion ($2.536 million) in shares and offers £6.1 billion in loans and ensures” to firms promoting arms to Israel.
The Palestinian Motion group attacked 20 financial institution branches with paint and stones earlier this week, whereas the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motion has known as it a goal of “disinvestment and exclusion.”
A spokesperson for the financial institution mentioned in a press release: “Barclays was requested and agreed to droop participation within the remaining Stay Nation festivals in 2024.
“Barclays clients who’ve tickets to those festivals are usually not affected and their tickets stay legitimate.
“The protesters' agenda is to get Barclays to displace protection firms, which is a sector we stay dedicated to as a necessary a part of maintaining this nation and our allies protected.”
Protest group Bands Boycott Barclays mentioned in a press release: “It is a victory for the Palestinian-led world BDS motion. As musicians, we had been horrified that our music festivals had been related to Barclays, which is complicit within the genocide in Gaza by way of investments, loans and financing of arms firms that provide the Israeli military. “A whole lot of artists have taken motion this summer season to clarify that that is morally reprehensible and we’re glad to have been heard.
“Our demand to Barclays is easy: divest from the genocide or face extra boycotts. “Boycotting Barclays, additionally Europe’s largest financier of fossil fuels, is the least we will do to name for change.”
Leeds-based band Pest Management mentioned in a press release: “We can’t sacrifice the ideas of this band and the scene we come from and characterize, only for private achieve.”
Ithaca mentioned in a press release: “As soon as we discovered of Barclays' involvement in Obtain we knew we might now not take part. “This second of solidarity is a chance for pageant organizers to consider carefully about who they take cash from and see that the youthful technology of bands will now not stay silent.”
Comic McNally wrote in an Instagram publish final week: “I'm getting messages right this moment about my efficiency at Latitude when it's sponsored by Barclays.
“I gained't do Latitude anymore. I used to be supposed to shut the comedy tent on Sunday evening, however I backed out final week.”
Comic Duker mentioned in a press release: “I’m dedicated to minimizing my complicity in what I take into account a sample of abhorrent and unlawful violence.”
On its web site, Barclays mentioned: “Now we have been requested why we put money into 9 protection firms that provide Israel, however this confuses what we do.
“We deal in shares of publicly traded firms in response to buyer directions or calls for and which will lead to us holding shares.
“Whereas we offer monetary companies to those firms, we don’t make investments for Barclays and Barclays shouldn’t be a 'shareholder' or 'investor' in that sense in relation to those firms.”
In relation to its offers with Israeli protection firm Elbit, Barclays mentioned: “We could maintain shares in reference to client-driven transactions, which is why we seem on the share register, however we’re not traders.”
Barclays signed a five-year sponsorship cope with Stay Nation in 2023. There have been no solutions but that the suspension will have an effect on pageant sponsorship below the deal in future years.