Saturday, 16 August 2025
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** Summer festivals grapple with censorship
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Cultural boycotts are no simple matter, as the Boardmasters surfing and music festival in Cornwall discovered this summer.

Traditionally one of the fixed points of the post-exam season, this year the organisers faced the knotty decision of whether or not to cancel the controversial act, Bob Vylan. The pro-Palestinian punk provocateurs had already caused a media storm (and embarrassment for the BBC ([link removed]) ) after the band’s frontman, who confusingly uses the stage name Bobby Vylan (the drummer is Bobbie Vylan), called on the crowd at Glastonbury to join him in a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, a reference to the Israeli Defence Forces.

In the run-up to the festival, which took place in early August, Jewish campaigners had called on the organisers to cancel the band’s appearance, as other festivals have done. Where this gets complicated is that Boardmasters is owned by Superstruct Entertainment, which was acquired last year by investment company KKR.

Now, apart from operating more than 80 festivals across the world, KKR also invests in Israeli tech, which makes it a prime target for the anti-Zionist Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement.

So, while Bob Vylan were preparing to go onstage in Newquay to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people, others were flexing their anti-Zionist credentials by boycotting the festival altogether. Bristol band The Menstrual Cramps objected, among other things, to Israeli surfers taking part in the festival ([link removed]) : “We believe in a cultural boycott of Israel, which means not spotlighting Israelis at a festival during a genocide.”

UK garage DJ Conducta also pulled out, citing KKR’s “direct investments in weapons manufacturers and financial ties to the state of Israel.” American act The Blessed Madonna pulled out after being asked to sign a “shop-stop” agreement to restrict political messaging. “I ain’t signing shit. Free Palestine,” she said.

The boycotts went ahead despite Boardmasters issuing a statement distancing themselves from its investors: “We don’t support or align with investments or actions that contradict our core values of fairness, integrity, inclusivity, and excellence. Our integrity is not for sale.” Boardmasters claimed it had proved its anti-Zionist credentials by refusing to cancel Bob Vylan.

The culture wars also hit the Edinburgh Fringe this year when Jewish comedians Philip Simon and Rachel Creagar had their shows cancelled over staff safety fears following the appearance pro-Palestinian graffiti at the venue Whistle Binkies. Alternative venues were later found but not before UK Lawyers for Israel, an organisation which uses legal means to campaign for the removal of any material it considers to be “anti-Israel” ([link removed]) described the cancellations as “a racist move that echoes 1930s Nazi Germany”.

The festival later ran into trouble over an interview with the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Kate Forbes, who has strongly held “gender-critical” views based on her Christian faith. The venue, Summerhall, later issued a statement saying Forbes’s appearance had been an "oversight," and she would not be invited to speak at future events. They claimed the presence of the Scottish politician affected staff safety and wellbeing.

The issue is not restricted to UK festivals. The Toronto International Film Festival pulled the Canadian film The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, about the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 over concerns about clearance of footage taken by the terrorists. Again, staff safety was invoked in the justification of the decision. After an international outcry, the festival issued an apology and reinstated the film in the programme.

Each of these examples demonstrates a deep confusion on the part of festival organisers about what these cultural events are actually for.

Boardmasters ended up in the absurd position of parading its support for free expression of a band that called for the death of Israeli soldiers. Meanwhile, the Edinburgh venues failed to understand that genuine cultural diversity includes people with whom we disagree. At their best, festivals should be places where people have their prejudices challenged not reinforced.


Martin Bright

Editor-at-large, Index on Censorship


** More from Index
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From Gaza to Thailand: The week in free expression ([link removed])

A round-up of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days ([link removed])

The Online Safety Act risks making everyone less safe ([link removed])

The fallibility of technology means that the privacy of us all could be compromised ([link removed])

Just Stop Oil climate protests feel the chill ([link removed])

There is growing pressure on environmental activists in the UK ([link removed])

Israel’s war on Palestinian journalists is a war on press freedom everywhere ([link removed])

Seven Al Jazeera journalists were killed in a targeted attack because they refused to be silenced ([link removed])

Is JD Vance right on European threats to free speech? ([link removed])

While the US Vice President warns about censorship, Index’s CEO is wary of visiting America ([link removed])

The rise of the American dissident ([link removed])

Index's magazine launch discussed the Trump administration’s attacks on state-funded media ([link removed])

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** Banned Books Week 2025
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Banned Books Week UK returns from 5 to 11 October 2025. It’s a week to celebrate the books that have been challenged, removed or silenced, and to stand with the people who write, sell and share them.

Join us in honouring the right to read freely and the courage it takes to speak up in partnership with the International Publishers Association and Hay Festival Global.
LEARN MORE ([link removed])


** From Gaza to Thailand: The week in free expression ([link removed])
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** >> GAZA: ([link removed]) [link removed] Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif and others killed in targeted missile strike ([link removed])
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** >> UK: ([link removed]) [link removed] demonstrators arrested in one day for supporting Palestine Action ([link removed])
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** >> BANGLADESH: ([link removed]) [link removed] attacked and killed investigating gang activity ([link removed])
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** >> COLOMBIA: ([link removed]) [link removed] hopeful dies two months after being shot ([link removed])
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** >> THAILAND: ([link removed]) Cultural space censors works after visit from Chinese officials ([link removed])
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** Flashback
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A silent life under the Taliban ([link removed])

by Sarah Dawood ([link removed])

Volume 54, Issue 2 ([link removed])

“Afghanistan had entered another era of chaos and terror – a regime marked by slaughter and oppression. The country was filled with fear. People struggled to survive, and survival itself had become a duty, weighed down by terrified hearts and an uncertain future.”

As we mark four years since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan and the brutal years that have followed, we share an exclusive excerpt of Midnight in Kabul, a novel written by an anonymous female Afghan author who wants to highlight the country’s state of repression. Read the story here. ([link removed])


** Support our work
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The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Thailand and Bangladesh has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (Bob Vylan) Sam Hardwick/Alamy Live News; (Afghan women in Kabul) Images & Stories / Alamy

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