(FixThisNation.com) – The Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas saw many of the bans and artists bailing as they posted the U.S. Army after they supplied weapons that they argued had been used to oppress the Palestinian people.
The protest first started in February and was pushed by the Austin for Palestine Coalition. The group had pushed for the festival, which is tied to weapons manufacturing companies and the military to be boycotted because of their involvement in supplying arms to the Israeli military.
In a statement posted on Instagram by the activist group, they had argued that the festival needed to not invite BAE Systems, as well as Raytheon (RTX) and Collins Aerospace. As they pointed out all three of these companies are connected to supplying Israel with weapons which are then used to further oppress Palestinian people. He added that Raytheon was a manufacturing company creating weapon systems, bombs, and missiles that were used against the people of Palestine.
Following that post, many artists decided to bail on the festival despite their previous agreement to schedule appearances.
Ella Williams, or Squirrel Flower, in a post on X, argued that the festival was harmful to working musicians and that she was pulling out of the festival because of SXSW supporting defense contractors and giving them a platform. She added that Raytheon was a genocide profiteer as it supplied weapons to the IDF. She continued by saying that a music festival should not be part of these efforts which was why she was removing herself from the lineup.
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