July 1st 2025

How shocking

How shocking

I love the grassroots movements of art, music and culture. Festivals have shocked the world.

Woodstock is an example of counterculture for the boomer generation. The same generation reluctant to give up their entitlements to enable our youth a better future in 2025.

Over this past weekend, we had Glastonbury in the UK. Claiming people are dangerous terrorists because they speak up against genocide is business as usual in many parts of the world, including my country. You cannot, under any circumstances, speak about Hamas unless you are speaking as if they are 100% evil, all nuance, context and history stripped from the conversation.

But if you speak about the evil of the IDF, where soldiers are known to sing, chant and paint words about death to all Palestinians, regularly, you risk being charged with a crime. Go ahead and kill, bulldoze and colonise the West Bank. Cool and normal. Go ahead and shoot people seeking aid. Go ahead and bomb mostly women and children into shreds. Go ahead and obliterate all the buildings. Go ahead and create the largest group of child amputees in the history of war. Go ahead and starve the people to death.

But criticise Israel for doing so and you are accused of being racist.

Death to the IDF could be interpreted, as I interpreted it, as death to the institution of the Israeli Defence Forces. I would happily see the IDF be composted forever. Not the people. No more death. Of anyone. Anyone.

Indeed, I would be happy to see all of the military-industrial complex globally be composted, not just the IDF, even as the world is gearing up with more and more guns and bombs.

The media is in a frenzy over a few acts at a music festival, but probably more so because of the crowds of people cheering and singing in support, with Palestinian flags everywhere.

But the killing, starving and maiming, the colonising, the cruelty.

Silence.

Photo June 15th 2016, Article written June 30th 2025

​