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Musicians and composers for the evening call the backlash a ‘thuggish’ attempt to silence Palestinian voices
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An adult education college has cancelled a concert after drawing claims it would have glorified Palestinian terrorism.
Morley College London has scrapped the event, called “The World Stands With Palestine: Compositions for the Palestinian Struggle”, with its principal admitting it would have promoted a “one-sided political view”.
The evening of music – due to have been staged on Nov 15 – would have included piano, violin and electric mandolin compositions entitled “Salute to the Resistance” and “Blood United Us”.
Leaflets advertising the concert included an image of hands holding a placard reading “Stand with Palestine!! Stand with the Resistance!!”.
The concert had been organised by the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust (CCCT), named after a Communist composer of avant-garde and experimental music who died in a hit-and-run accident in 1981.
Andrew Gower, the principal of Morley College – which once employed German-Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution – moved quickly to cancel the event following a complaint from the campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
In a letter, Mr Gower told UKLFI: “Regrettably on this occasion, the proposed event slipped through the net of our editorial processes, including our Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression Policy.”
Mr Gower said that had the policy been followed Morley College “would not have given permission for an event of this nature to take place on the grounds that it presents as promoting a specific and one-sided political view”.
But the musicians behind the event have described the move as a “thuggish” attempt by UKLFI to silence Palestinian voices.
UKLFI, which had been alerted by members of the Jewish community, accused the CCCT of planning a concert “sympathetic to the actions of the terrorist group Hamas”.
In its complaint to Morley College, UKLFI stated: “The ‘Resistance’ with reference to Palestine means an armed struggle, and not only against military targets. It is evident that the organisers of the event, CCCT, have adopted a particular political viewpoint which is supportive of the Palestinian ‘Resistance’ or armed struggle, and this viewpoint is being foisted on those who attend the event.
“The armed struggle to which they refer involves sending rockets indiscriminately into Israel aimed at killing all Israelis, and not aiming just at military targets. It is therefore apparent that the event is actually siding with the viewpoint of the governing authority of the Palestinians in Gaza, Hamas.”
UKLFI added: “This is particularly unpalatable given what happened on Oct 7 when Hamas and other Palestinian so-called “resistance fighters” massacred, burnt, mutilated, raped and tortured around 1200 Israelis and other nationalities, including babies, children and old people. As is also well known, they also took over 250 people hostage, 100 of whom are still in captivity.”
It also claimed that had it gone ahead the concert could have risked being in breach of the Terrorism Act 2000, which bans support for a proscribed organisation.
A spokesman from Morley College London said: “We sincerely regret the offence caused by the proposed Cornelius Cardew Concert Trust concert. Morley is a politically neutral organisation, and the college has a proud record of inclusivity for all dating back to its foundation in 1889. Advancing diversity is a strongly held value.
“As soon as the issue was raised with senior management last week, the unequivocal decision was taken to withdraw our support as host, leading to the cancellation of the concert. As a result of this situation, we are strengthening our editorial processes.”
The CCCT said it was taking legal advice and planned to stage the concert – which it described as consistent with the lofty ideals of humanity which it has always upheld – as soon as possible.
It added: “The musicians and composers who organised this CCCT concert … have done so in deepest sympathy with the suffering Palestinian people and in response to their heroic struggle for their very existence.
“They reject this latest attempt to silence their music and their voices and to illegalise music itself through scaring composers and performers to remain silent and bullying the concert venue itself.”
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