1,719

of 5,000 signatures

the Organisers of Noisily,

Dear Organisers of Noisily,

For the past decade Noisily has been a beacon of love, unity, freedom and peace within the UK psytrance community and beyond, embodying these values through music, art, and transformative collective experience.
It is with respect for these principles and for Noisily’s reputation, and because of our deep love for psytrance, that we write to you now.

You have probably already seen videos of DJ Hairbass holding a psytrance ‘party’ at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza, to prevent humanitarian aid getting to 2 million starving people. Blocking humanitarian aid violates international law and is a war crime, and directly contravenes orders given by the International Court of Justice on 26 January 2024. DJ Hairbass is, by definition, a war criminal.

That ‘party’ was not only illegal under international law and contributed to immeasurable suffering of countless innocent human beings, but also totally contradicts the core values that Noisily stands for. Hairbass has been regularly visiting military bases in Gaza to provide ‘entertainment’ to IOF soldiers; the very same soldiers who regularly upload shocking videos of their heinous war crimes to social media.

As part of the psytrance community, we are deeply concerned about the weaponisation of psytrance. It will bring irreparable shame to the rest of the global psytrance community if we do not actively dissociate from these cruel and inhumane, illegal psytrance ‘parties’ and any DJs who actively support the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. In order to preserve the long-term future of UK psytrance, it is crucial that we make it crystal clear to the world that pro-genocidal DJs are not welcome in our community and we do NOT endorse their actions.

We observe with heavy hearts that Noisily and the psytrance community has so far largely been silent about the horrifying violence, death and destruction being indiscriminately unleashed against Gaza and Palestine with the political and financial support of the UK and other Western states. We refuse to accept the propagandised narrative which blames Hamas for Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardment and we ask you to carefully consider; supposing Hamas had hidden the hostages in say, a Tel-Aviv hospital, or perhaps, deep in the Leicestershire countryside, for example - would Israeli society and/or the world still maintain that it is appropriate to drop the equivalent of three Hiroshima bombs on the most densely populated area on earth, half of whom are children, in order to ‘eliminate Hamas’?

We challenge the systematic dehumanisation of Palestinians by a fear-indoctrinated, heavily militarised, increasingly right-wing Israeli society as well as the Western media and we are committed to ensuring equal human rights for Palestinians.

We understand that Israelis have long been part of the psytrance scene and it may seem daunting for a festival which has previously booked big Israeli names to cancel them. We understand that the psytrance community often aligns itself with being apolitical. We understand that the global psytrance community was deeply shaken by the deaths of fellow dancers who were killed at Nova Festival on October 7th 2023, and we are of course deeply sad and sorry for all those who are still grieving.

We remind you that:
- Since October 7th, Israel has killed 29,000 innocent civilians including 12,500 children - to put that into perspective, there were 5,000 attendees at Noisily 2023 - Israel has killed the equivalent of 2.5 festivals of children, or 6 festivals of civilians; as many as 25 festivals full have been critically injured;
- History didn’t start on October 7th: Palestine has been occupied by Israel since the Nakba in which 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their land in 1948;
- In 2022, Amnesty International published a comprehensive 280-page report detailing how Israel enforces a brutal system of apartheid against the Palestinian people within Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Apartheid is a ‘crime against humanity’;
- Under international law, an occupying power does not have a legal right to defend itself from a threat which emanates from occupied territory, such as Gaza;
- Israel has been using illegal weapons, e.g. white phosphorus against an unarmed refugee population, 50of whom are under fifteen years old. One in a hundred children in Gaza are dead from bombs; 17,000 have been orphaned;
- Israel is now bombing 1.5 million people trapped without food, water or electricity in Rafah, an area the size of Heathrow airport;
- IOF soldiers have been uploading numerous sickening videos to social media documenting their war crimes; and,
- Palestinians have the right to dance too.

Further, we recall Noisily’s 2023 theme: ‘We Are Love’, and we ask you, what does that actually mean for you personally? What does it mean for the Noisily community - for each and every festival-goer who is, by virtue of being human, a participant in the wider world beyond Noisily? In the words of Caitlin Johnstone, “if your spirituality hasn’t taught you to stand up to genocide, it’s nothing more than glorified masturbation.”

We remind you that historically, counter-culture has been inextricably involved in peace activism and that it was ‘hippies’ who campaigned most actively against the Vietnam war. We insist that Noisily’s values of love, peace, unity and freedom for all must extend to Palestinians, and that if you do not now publicly stand against their attempted extermination by Israel, claims to promote these ideals of love, unity, peace and freedom for all, are nothing more than hollow, meaningless, money-making tropes.

We bring to your attention more than 6,000 musicians who have signed a call for a permanent ceasefire, more than 4,300 celebrities and artists who have publicly declared their support for Palestine, and the success of the ongoing boycott of E1 in London, after one of its directors was exposed to have been in Gaza with the IOF - which resulted in his resignation on 16 February 2024, and an immediate disabling of comments on their social media accounts.

We bring to your attention a letter to the UK government signed by almost 2,000 of the UK’s most senior judges and legal professionals urging it to call for a ceasefire and cautioning against legal complicity in genocide, similar lawyers’ letters in Australia, Canada and New Zealand and a letter signed by more than 800 organisations worldwide, urging countries to support South Africa’s case at the ICJ.

Further, we bring to your attention that for four long months, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across the UK to protest against Israel’s genocidal bombardment, charities and organisations who have hosted or attempted to host British Israeli speakers who support the genocide have been protested against and their events shut down, and the group Ravers for Palestine has attracted more than 8,000 followers, including some high profile celebrities.
For the avoidance of doubt: if Noisily chooses to book DJs like Captain Hook, Ace Ventura or Astral Projection, when we can see and read their dehumanising comments about Palestinians on their own social media, and as Israel commits a livestreamed genocide - people within the psytrance community - and beyond - will not stay silent.

Further, we remind you that it is not anti-Semitic to criticise or boycott Israel; it is anti-Semitic to assume that Jewish people support Israel and to conflate Zionism with Judaism.

Open letter text

Organisers of Noisily, in the face of what we are witnessing (especially the illegal, stomach-turning, aid-blocking ‘party’), no-one can morally remain ‘neutral’. Silence in the face of oppression, violence and genocide is NOT neutrality, it is complicity with the oppressor.

Now is the time for action! We refuse to participate in spaces and collectives that ignore colonialist violence and that make a profit from hosting DJs who endorse genocide.

We urgently call on you, organisers of Noisily, as well as our fellow ravers and artists, to publicly declare solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Noisily must not book Israeli DJs who endorse genocide and you must cancel any who have already been booked.
We urge you to recognise the broader global context of the illegal ‘party’ blocking aid and the profoundly negative impact any association with such actions will have on Noisily, if it does not cancel associated artists. The international community, including most of the British public, rightfully views blocking humanitarian aid with moral outrage.

Hosting Israeli DJs who support genocide as Israel stands trial for genocide in the highest court on the planet, would not only irreversibly destroy Noisily’s reputation but on a broader scale, it would send the wrong message to the world that the UK psytrance community supports Israel’s genocide of Gaza.

We hope you will listen to us because you have a heart and a conscience, but, morality aside: it also makes extremely good business and music sense. The current global sentiment, especially amongst young people, increasingly demands ethical consumption and support for causes that promote peace and justice. By ensuring your lineup does not include Israeli DJs who have actively been supporting genocide, you will reassure your audience that Noisily genuinely cares about these issues and will not just preserve, but boost Noisily's reputation. In years to come, this decision may be what keeps Noisily - even UK psytrance itself - intact, long after those who have been obstructing humanitarian aid are convicted and imprisoned for war crimes. Remember apartheid in South Africa? Supporters of that never thought it would be dismantled but after 46 years, it was. No-one wants to go down in history as an apartheid supporter. Please don’t allow your lovely festival to be corrupted forever, just for the sake of bowing to pressure from within the scene in 2024. The world is changing. Don’t let Noisily get left behind.
You have the chance to preserve the integrity and future of the UK psytrance scene. Use it, before it’s too late.

We anxiously await the release of the line-up.

Sign the open letter

Signers list

Marisa Guagenti
N Hussain
David Harpham
Shuna Watkinson
Mr Cahit Cetinkaya
Olivia Mcgowan
Silvia Kakoo
Mohammad Ali
Vivienne Brown
Mohammed Uddin
Mike Sheppard
Tareq Khamis
Sameen Rezvi
Rayeveleigh Eveleigh
Mohammed Tabari
Patrick Connolly
Zahirchaudhary Chaudhary
Tracey Evans
Muryum Bibi
Jon Storey
Andrew Wylie
Geoffrey Catchpole
Arfan Rashid
Asli
Luke Jones
Francesco Negri
Nina Omar
Thomas Carroll
Abid Hussain
Vanja Antic
Ahmed Ashfaqul Haider
Aziz Cherroud
Bashir Ahmed
Darren Ryan
Amanda Bentham, Neu Member
Zerin Ahmed
Imran Thagia
Mariam Uddin
Faisel Laibi
Zia Ul Haq
Pat Turner
Shafaq Ahmed
Shujia Begum
John Connell
Muhsina Shikder
Nabeel Gul
Jimmy Rutledge
Ania
Mariana Díaz
Sayhan Haque

Open letter: Noisily festival must not book Israeli DJs who support genocide

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Open letter: Noisily festival must not book Israeli DJs who support genocide

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