The much anticipated Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is currently in the midst of its ninth installment hosting a wide array of young artists one of those artists being Redveil, who came out wearing a keffiyeh and overalls with handprints matching the colors of the Palestinian flag.
An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times — Nina Simone
Music is powerful in the way it can bring people together and to see the fruits of your labor as an artist looking out onto a sea of people singing the song you wrote back at you is a feeling most of us could never dream of feeling, but it shows true maturity, especially for an artist so young to take a step out of that spotlight and use the power of performance to amplify a message. As he spoke out to the crowd a list of unending names scrolled behind him as he said “Nobody on this fuckin’ list made it to the age of four”. Two of Gaza's largest hospitals have been seized, and they’ve cut off resources such as food and electricity, Americans are privileged enough to be so far away from the conflict but are in no way removed from this current terror, our tax dollars are funding Israel. Redveil calls for a ceasefire and displays the URL for Ceasefire Today behind him and asks the audience to “Call your reps”. Using not only his platform but the enormous platform that is Flog Gnaw, I feel extremely proud to be seeing an artist as young and promising as Redveil who could’ve just as easily not done this, and it wouldn’t have had an effect on his performance.
Free Palestine.
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