A brief history of politics at Glastonbury Festival
From chants of ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ to the gloom generated by the EU Referendum result, Glastonbury has been the site where campaigners call for peace, justice and reform for years
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Glastonbury is no stranger to a political debate, having hosted its fair share of MPs and other public figures over the decades.
This year, however, could be particularly eventful as the festival is taking place less than a week before the UK snap general election on 4 July. Prime minister Rishi Sunak announced last month that the election would take place, during a rain-soaked speech outside 10 Downing Street.
After Glastonbury organisers announced the full set times on Tuesday (4 June), it emerged that, as with each year, a number of debates will be held, including on its Left Field stage.
One such talk is “Election 2024: A Change is Gonna Come” on Saturday 29 June, featuring Labour MP Angela Rayner and the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, along with NEF CEO Danny Sriskandarajah, and journalists Stephen Bush and John Harris.
The day before, Harris will also take part in a debate on “Israel and Palestine: Hope and Solidarity in Action” with Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq.
They will be joined by representatives from Na’amod, a movement of British Jews seeking to end their community’s support for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip; journalist and author Rachel Shabi, and journalist, politician and stand-up comedian Shaista Aziz.
Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has long been a staunch campaigner for peace, and in 1981 famously donated festival proceeds to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), in a partnership that lasted until the early Nineties. The CND has continued to maintain a presence at the festival as part of its fight against nuclear weapons.
In 1984, Eavis introduced the Green Fields to raise awareness of environmental issues; 20 years later, Glastonbury began a successful scheme to encourage more recycling and less waste.
Other notable campaigns included the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign, which saw Eavis appear alongside musician and activist Bob Geldof on the Pyramid Stage. In 2009, the festival supported the White Ribbon Alliance’s Million Mums campaign, collecting thousands of signatures supporting an end to the needless deaths of women in childbirth.
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Then there was the EU Referendum in 2016, where thousands of music fans and artists woke up to the news that the UK had voted to leave the European Union, a shock that reverberated around Worthy Farm and prompted Blur frontman Damon Albarn to announce that “democracy had failed”.
Elsewhere during the day, Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis wore a t-shirt onstage that said: “Abuse of power comes of no surprise.”
Dan Smith, frontman of pop band Bastille, changed the lyrics to their hit song “Pompeii” from “And the walls kept tumbling down/ In the city that we love” to “And the pound kept tumbling down/On the weekend that we love”.
The group had been vocal supporters of Remain, playing an EU referendum gig in favour of Stronger In before the vote.
A year later, then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the Pyramid Stage amid chants of “oh, Jeremy Corbyn” in the style of the opening riff of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes.
There, accompanied by Eavis, he delivered a rousing speech that condemned nationwide poverty and paid tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, which had taken place just two days earlier.
“Is it right that so many people in our country have no home to live in and only the street to sleep on?” he asked. “Is it right that so many people are frightened of where they live at the moment, having seen the horrors of what happened at Grenfell Tower?
“Is it right that so many people live in such poverty, in a society surrounded by such riches? No it obviously is not.
“And is it right that European nationals living in this country, making their contribution to our society, working in our hospitals, schools and universities, don’t know if they are going to be allowed to remain here.”
He continued: “I say, they all must stay, and they all must be part of our world, and be part of our community. Because what festivals, what this festival is about, are about coming together. This festival was envisaged as being for music yes, but also for the environment, and for peace.”
Stormzy, who backed Corbyn and Labour in the December 2019 general election, used his headline set earlier this year to highlight racism in the criminal justice system along with the UK’s high rate of knife-related homicides (while wearing a Union Jack stab vest designed by Banksy).
In the thrilling performance, he also got the thousands of fans in attendance at the Pyramid Stage to chant “F*** the government, f*** Boris [Johnson]” during his rendition of hit single “Vossi Bop”.
The 2022 edition of Glastonbury Festival was another politically rife event, in part due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which was addressed in a powerful video message to revellers from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
It also took place in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to rule in favour of a Mississippi law that outlaws abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy, while also overturning key precedents established by the 1973 decision in Roe v Wade.
The decision by the Republican-controlled Supreme Court prompted artists such as Lorde, Phoebe Bridgers, Olivia Rodrigo, Idles and headliner Billie Eilish to speak out, with Eilish calling it a “really dark day for women in the US”.
This year’s Glastonbury Festival takes place between 26 to 30 June.
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