MacD on Music: It’s Not A War, It’s A Genocide

As pretty much everybody has seen over the past two months, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. As they’ve been committing atrocity after atrocity, the world has been rallying around the people of Palestine, doing whatever we can to help.

Throughout Ireland, the organisation Irish Artists for Palestine has been putting on Gigs for Gaza in order to raise money for Medical Aid Palestine, and Derry hosted our very own earlier this month in Sandino’s.

With a line-up that featured host Miss Mary Jane, artists Alix Darwin, Paddy Nash, Nikki Mac, Craic Pipe, George Houston, Dirty Faces, CHERYM, Touts and Meryl Streek and speakers Bernadette Devlin, Eamonn McCann and Shaun Harkin, the gig was a huge success, raising £7,450 for M.A.P..

I spoke with some of those that were playing, about their thoughts on the night, starting with Paddy Nash: “I know it’s an event that’s happening all over Ireland, but I know, growing up in Derry and playing music since the eighties, Derry’s always been a hotbed for activism. It’s never just about local issues.

“There’s solidarity with people that you can recognise their struggle, even in the small way we went through. It’s brilliant, you come to Sandino’s just to see so many young people riled up and they’re ready, they’re positive. They want to do something. They want to take action.”

Next up was headliner Meryl Streek: “I’m horrified by what’s going on over there. It’s unbearable to watch every day, and it seems to be getting worse. It’s good to see the amount of support Ireland’s been throwing at the issues.”

After that was Josh O’Kane of Dirty Faces: “I come from a GAA background, and I remember that man at the gate shaking the bucket. That’s fundraising. He’s keeping the club alive. Ireland’s doing that for oppressed people of the world. We’re keeping the gates open.”

Next I went backstage and spoke with Hannah Richardson and Alannagh Doherty (CHERYM) and Matthew Crossan and Luke McLaughlin (Touts).

First was Luke: “I’m glad people have the stones to come out. It was always easy to be against Trump because it was trendy, but people are scared to come out and say stuff that might be a bit iffy.”

Alannagh: “Seeing the response to this globally, compared to the way the west reacted to Ukraine, was so different because it’s in the Middle East and it’s been going on since 1948. It’s becoming a trend to support Palestine, because we’re seeing McDonald’s and Starbucks stocks beginning to rise again, but people should keep boycotting them and people should keep on supporting Palestine and the ceasefire should be permanent.”

Luke: “It’s not even really a ceasefire”, Matthew: “It’s a one-way slaughtering match.” Luke: “It’s wains with stones against the most technologically advanced military organisations in the world. It’s not even a political thing, it’s a moral thing.” Alannagh: “It’s not a war, it’s a genocide. It’s not a two-way thing.”

Matthew: “If you entrap people in concentration camps, what do you expect to happen?” Luke: “Same here. Occupation breeds resistance.”

Hannah: “The Israeli government are literally a superpower. They have stocks in nearly every massive company. It’s really scary to think.”

Matthew: “They’re on Twitter saying what they’re doing. They’re not saying it’s genocide, but it clearly is.”

Alannagh: “They’re literally using thirst traps as bait. They’ve gone that far that they’re using women in their military as bait.” Luke: “Look, death in general is sh**e but you cannot compare the two. You can’t compare bombing cities and saying ‘at least we got some Palestinian Freedom Fighters’ or whatever.”

Matthew: “and them saying it was Hamas bombed that hospital. Naw, I’m pretty sure the people that bombed the hospital are the people that have been bombing Palestine.”

Alannagh: “It’s like they’re comparing throwing stones to carpet bombing. Israel have been committing war crimes since they were created, but all of a sudden, the west doesn’t care.”

After that was host Miss Mary Jane: “Whenever I was asked to do it, it was a lot to consider. Working in drag, everything is very secular, very detached. When I thought about it, I realised the importance of what tonight meant and the difference I could make on the ground. I thought I wanted to be on the right side of history.”

Finally there was Jason Feenan (Touts): “With the Israel/Palestine situation, there’s a clear right and wrong. There’s an oppressed people that spend their lives in fear and are being driven out of where they’ve called home for generations. I can’t understand the Zionist point of view. It’s apartheid and it needs to end.

“The world should’ve moved past that after South Africa but it hasn’t, and to see the world powers, America, the EU and Britain really get behind Israel is heartbreaking. It makes me embarrassed to be a westerner. My heart is always with the Palestinian people.”

Now, the socials: Paddy Nash can be found on Facebook and Instagram @thenashman, Alix Darwin @alixdarwinmusic, Craic Pipe @craicpipelad, Nikki Mac @nikkimac.x, George Houston @georgehoustonarts, Miss Mary Jane @maryjane.miss, Dirty Faces @dirtyfacesderry, Meryl Streek @merylstreek_, CHERYM @cherymofficial and Touts @touts_band. Irish Artists for Palestine can be found @irish.artists.for.palestine.