Organizers of the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival have cut ties with the Army and weapons manufacturers.
The decision, announced Wednesday, comes after more than 100 artists pulled out of the music and cultural event in Austin, Texas, earlier this year due to sponsorship deals with those organizations.
“After careful consideration, we are reviewing our sponsorship model,” SXSW said in a statement. statement on your website. “As a result, the US Army and companies involved in weapons manufacturing will not be sponsors of SXSW 2025.”
In March, at least five music publishers and 105 individual bands and musicians chose to forgo the nine-day festival in Austin in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
The boycotts resulted from a campaign led by the Austin for Palestine Coalition (AFPC), which called on artists to pressure SXSW over the participation of defense entities, which also included the military defense company RTX, also known as Raytheon, and its subsidiary Collins Aerospace. . Both manufacture weapons and equipment used by the Israeli military.
The boycotts quickly caught the attention of Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), who told the artists who were leaving, “Bye. Do not come back.
SXSW organizers at the time said they did not agree with Abbott’s stance, but defended the Army’s sponsor role at the festival. They noted that the defense industry “has historically been a proving ground for many of the systems we rely on today” and that Army sponsorship “is part of our commitment to advancing ideas that shape our world.”
Israel in October launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after the militant group Hamas, which controls the territory, attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 253 hostage.
Since then, more than 37,000 people have been killed in the area and more than 86,000 have been injured in the conflict, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The United States, Israel’s largest military financier, provides about $4 billion in defense assistance to Israel annually. The Pentagon also sent additional weapons to the country for use in the eight-month conflict, such as American-made aircraft and bombs.
Festival organizers at the time acknowledged the conflict but did not take sides.
“We support and will continue to support human rights for all,” they wrote. “The situation in the Middle East is tragic and illustrates the added importance of uniting against injustice.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
