Dear Massive Attack,
We are writing to provide more information about your performance at
Arsenal Fest in Kragujevac, Serbia, which takes place on the 26 th of June. In
the light of recent events, there is a strong sense of moral obligation for you
to be informed of the situation surrounding the organization of the event.
The tension of the political climate, involvement in shipping arms to Israel,
and questions around legal matters within the organization are things to be
discussed. We are fairly acquainted with your political beliefs that are rather
different than the ones of people involved in organization. We want to shed
light on what happens behind the scenes.
Firstly, the Serbian government ships arms to Israel, despite the United
Nations’ request to stop selling weapons to Israel. Serbia is “officially
neutral” which is contradicted by the fact that it arms IDF. The festival takes
place at the location of “Zastava Oružje” that is a Serbian company
responsible for sending weapons to Israel, directly contributing to genocide
happening in Gaza. The claims of neutrality are in contradiction with dealings
of arms, and our President’s statement that we support Israel in their hard
times. Announcing opinions, which is in this case the support for the
aggressor, that are not backed by the people’s voice is one of the main
tenets of the President and his political party. We are aware of your stance on
this issue, especially when taking into consideration your support for
Madleen sailing to Gaza from a few days ago. The performance is supposed
to take place on the company’s land helping Israel’s continuation of
committing atrocities.
Moreover, the entirety of organization is either in the currently leading
political party or strongly linked to it. The Arsenal Fest has recently been
bought by Sky Music , based in Belgrade, moving the headquarters in order
to enhance their monopoly. Sky Music has boight almost all of the festivals
and has rights to them, and the owner is a member of the same party that
wants to establish Fascism. The legality of said organization is also strongly
questionable with many irregularities observed over the years. Sadly, the
judicial system is completely skewed towards the leading party and the laws
exist only on paper. Furthermore, a number of performers are only present to
try and cover up their tracks. Profit is earned at the cost of following the law,
a trope shown time after time.
Also, the current political climate in the country, which we believe that you
are not familiar with, is quite tense. Serbia is currently rated as one of the
worst countries in terms of The Democracy Index, turning into an autocracy.
Serbia is also currently on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist as one of the five
countries where exercise of civic freedom is obstructed. Nationwide protests
have taken place in order to rebel against the tyranny has plagued this
country. On the 1st of November in 2024, the renovated train station
collapsed, killing 16 people. Since then people have starting honoring the
deceased with 16 minutes of silence. It was all peaceful until the 22 nd of
November, where students of The Faculty of Dramatic Arts were attacked
after peacefully and silently honored the deceased. That moment was the
turning point, shortly after that Universities in the country were blocked.
Blocking the Universities in the country has brought chaos to an already
polarized population. The current government has used multiple means of
fighting the so called “colored revolution”. Many students have been
physically harmed, with some of the cases people being run over by people
who have been hired by the leading party, one girl had her jaw broken with a
baseball bat by paid “mercenaries”. Smear campaigns were also a tactic
employed, with almost all of the media being controlled by the government,
broadcasting blatant lies. The student led organization has also been
nicknamed as Nazis, and a few days ago in the city of Niš a banner with a
swastika has been hanged in the city center on the fortress, with a swastika
saying that its better not to be Nazis. Public display of swastikas and
anything related to Nazism is banned by the law, that is worsened by the fact
that we have been occupied by Nazi Germany and survived many atrocities
under their occupation.
Whatever action you decide to take after hearing this information is up to
you, with no sense of judgement whatsoever. We just felt as if it were better
if you were fully aware of the background of this event.
Kindest regards,