My respect and admiration for Gruff Rhys went up another notch this week - not only for the fact that he's pulled out of performing at SXSW over its sponsorship by the US Army and RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon), which has been helping to arm Israel, but for the manner in which he's done so.
First, the social media statements announcing his withdrawal are unequivocal in expressing horror at "the hyper violence inflicted on civilians in Gaza and beyond", but rightly recognise that blame should also be apportioned closer to home, to "the utter collapse of coherent diplomacy in the West that has helped facilitate unimaginable violence".
Second, he's sensitive to his own positionality as "a musician not a politician", someone with "what I'm sure is a limited understanding of a complex situation", and is honest enough to acknowledge feeling "somewhat hypocritical as I'm no doubt tied in to other numerous imperfect capitalist constructs in my active and enthusiastic participation in the music industry" - but, critically, he still insists that none of this detracts from the fact that pulling out is the right thing to do.
Third, he remains acutely aware that withdrawing has been an easier decision for him that it might be for others who don't have US tour dates planned to supplement the festival or who are early-career musicians whose future financial viability and prospects hinge on turning up to avoid letting down funding bodies. (Lambrini Girls, for instance, were the recipients of money from the PRS Foundation, which made their dilemma more fraught: "We were trying to find a way out of the situation whilst keeping our moral integrity intact and not having to repay thousands of pounds at the same time. That really just isn't possible.")
Chwarae teg, Gruff. Symbolic gesture though withdrawing might be, it's one that many artists have now made - so here's hoping there's a significant cumulative effect.
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