A music festival that bars white people from running it has received thousands of pounds of taxpayer money.
Decolonise Fest, an annual punk event aimed at “punx of colour,” has been backed by Government grants.
The London-based festival states that “white people cannot join the organising group” that controls it.
Leadership positions are reserved for those with at least one parent descended from “original inhabitants” of non-European continents, or from Roma and Traveller communities.
The event’s stated mission is to undo colonial harms and “dismantle white supremacy” within the punk music scene.
Arts Council funding has supported the festival, whose organisers have pledged to “put the threat back into punk”.
The Arts Council provided £7,793 in Covid emergency funding to keep the festival running during the pandemic, The Telegraph revealed last night.
A further £18,808 in National Lottery money was granted this year.
The London-based festival states that ‘white people cannot join the organising group’ that controls it
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DECOLONISE FEST
Festival organiser Bipasha Ahmed received up to £3,500 in 2024 for “growing Decolonise Fest through training, mentorship and partnerships”.
This grant came from the PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of music talent development.
The PRS Foundation receives backing from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
In total, public funding for the festival and its organiser has exceeded £30,000.
The festival also bans rhetoric that could be considered “fatphobia”.
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Public funding for the festival and its organiser has exceeded £30,000
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GETTY
Its “manifesto” declares: “We are reasserting our place in punk and want to showcase the amazing, creative and talented contributions punx of colour have made to the punk scene since its inception.
“We are uncompromising and strong and will dismantle the white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, ableism and Islamophobia that infests the punk scene.”
Organisers say they are “rewriting the rules” and “truly putting the threat back into punk again.”
The festival will “talk about racism but not in a way that centres whiteness or prioritises the feelings of white people. No white tears.”
While “white allies are welcome,” they are reminded the event will focus on “people of colour”.
The festival has previously hosted Bob Vylan, whose frontman led chants of ‘death to the IDF’ at Glastonbury last summer
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GETTYDecolonise Fest was established in 2016 as a “DIY punk collective”.
Two years later, it released a documentary explaining its purpose.
In the film, one contributor said: “It can be a bit isolating sometimes, going to gigs and being surrounded by white people, and looking on stage and seeing only white people.”
The festival has previously hosted Bob Vylan, whose frontman led chants of “death to the IDF” at Glastonbury last summer.
Decolonise Fest supported that performance on social media with the message: “Free Palestine and up the Vylan.”