In the latest sign that political pressure is threatening artistic freedom in the UK, Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood has warned that the cancellation of concerts involving his brother and fellow band member Jonny Greenwood, alongside an Israeli-born musician, represents a “curtailment of free speech”.
Speaking at the Hay Festival, Colin Greenwood said he was “very sad” at the decision by two UK venues to pull the shows, which would have featured Jonny Greenwood and his longtime collaborator, Dudu Tassa. The pair had planned to perform material from their album of Arab love songs, which celebrates musical traditions from across the Middle East.
“I think that it is a curtailment of free speech and the possibilities of forging bonds between people with music and art,” Greenwood said.
The bassist, who was at Hay to discuss his photographic memoir How to Disappear — A Photographic Portrait of Radiohead, reflected on the band’s longstanding commitment to creating “a kind of empathy and share that empathy with the audience”. He also described the album produced by his brother and Tassa as “very beautiful”, pointing out that it brought together Arab and Israeli artists.
The concerts, scheduled for Bristol Beacon’s Lantern Hall and London’s Hackney Church, were pulled following what the venues cited as “security concerns”.
Jonny Greenwood himself described the cancellations as an attempt to silence artists. “Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing,” he said.
“We believe art exists above and beyond politics; that art that seeks to establish the common identity of musicians across borders in the Middle East should be encouraged, not decried; and that artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion, and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments.”
The cancellations speak to a broader climate of cultural unease – a point made more resonant still by the setting of Greenwood’s remarks. Hay Festival, the very platform from which he warned against artistic silencing, has itself struggled to withstand the political pressures now shaping Britain’s cultural life.
Last year, Hay was among several UK literary festivals to sever ties with Baillie Gifford after pro-Palestinian campaigners accused the investment firm of links to Israel. In an open letter, a coalition of writers and literary professionals called for a boycott of Israeli publishers, book festivals, literary agencies, and publications “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”. Organised by the Palestine Festival of Literature (PLF), and backed a number of allied campaign groups, including Books Against Genocide and Writers Against the War on Gaza, the letter attracted over 5,000 signatories.
Some activists argue that even remaining neutral on Israel’s military actions is unacceptable. Speaking to the Times, Omar Robert Hamilton, the author who co-founded PLF, said that “passive silence” from organisations represents a form of “complicity”.
Under mounting pressure, and with some authors threatening to withdraw, Baillie Gifford pulled its sponsorship from Hay and eight other festivals, including those in Cheltenham, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Wigtown. The decision raised fears about the long-term viability of Britain’s festival circuit, much of which relies on private funding.
Since October 7th, political pressure on UK arts institutions has intensified. The cancellations of Jonny Greenwood’s concerts, like the Hay sponsor row, show how institutions are being pulled from both directions. What once might have been framed as artistic expression is now more often treated as complicity, with organisers forced to weigh the risks of platforming any perceived position.
That pressure has been especially visible over the past year, as institutions have faced backlash not just for hosting Israeli-linked artists, but also for programming seen as sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
In March 2024, the Barbican Centre came under fire after cancelling a scheduled talk by the writer Pankaj Mishra on the war in Gaza. In protest, the French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada and the Filipino artist Cian Dayrit withdrew their contributions to Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, an exhibition at the venue.
“We cannot take seriously a public institution that does not hold a space for free thinking and debate, however challenging it might feel to some staff, board members, or anxious politicians,” Barrada said in a statement.
Later that summer, the Royal Academy of Arts was also accused of censorship after removing two Gaza-themed artworks from its Young Artists’ Summer Show, following complaints from external organisations. More than 750 artists signed an open letter criticising the decision, arguing that it stifled artistic expression and undermined the principle that publicly funded institutions should be places of open dialogue.
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