Belfast rap band scores penalty against discrimination

Irish language rap group Kneecap has won a case over a decision by the British government to refuse them funding because of their nationalist views.

Tory leader Kami Badenoch refused to give them an approved arts grant of £14,250 while a minister in the previous London government. At the time, a British official claimed it was “hardly surprising” that it did not want to hand out taxpayers’ money to those “opposed to the United Kingdom”.

The move shocked political commentators and arts administrators alike. Unchallenged, the refusal would have set a precedent for discrimination on the basis of political views and undermined civil rights in the north of Ireland.

But in the end, the current Labour government attempted no defence. It agreed that the original decision had been “unlawful and procedurally unfair”.

Reading an agreed statement into the record, barrister for Kneecap Ronan Lavery KC said: “It is declared that the decision is unlawful, procedurally unfair, took into account immaterial considerations and failed to take into account relevant factors.”

Group member DJ Próvaí arrived at Belfast High Court in a celebratory mood in a repurposed RUC Land Rover. He said for Kneecap, the case had never been about money.

“For us, this action was never about the £14,250, it could have been 50p,” the group said.

“The motivation was equity. This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself, and an attack on Kneecap and on our way of expressing itself,” it added.

DJ Próvaí said the money would be split the band between two community groups - one on either side of the Belfast peace line, Shankill Road based R-City and Irish language group Glór Na Móna in west Belfast.

Speaking outside Belfast High Court, he said it was an “affront to the courts” that the group had to take legal action to secure the grant award.

He added: “It is also an affront to the Tory government and the British Government that they felt they had to overreach in trying to stop a band getting funding.

“The broke their own laws in trying to stop us, nothing surprises me with the British government.”

The rap group claimed a provocative poster for their 2019 ‘Farewell to the Union’ tour had angered the Conservative Party.

Próvaí added: “The former secretary of state Kemi Badenoch and her department acted unlawfully; this is now a fact.

“They don’t like that we oppose British rule, that we don’t believe that England serves anyone in Ireland and the working classes on both sides of the community deserve better; deserve funding, deserve appropriate mental health services, deserve to celebrate music and art and deserve the freedom to express our culture.

“They broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap.” They have tried to silence us and they have failed.”

The group’s lawyer, Darragh Mackin, said the court ruling was a “victory for arts and culture”.

He said: “The unlawfulness of this decision was as clear as the nose on your face.

“The reality is that no matter how good the British government’s lawyers are they couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle in this instance.

“Today is not only a victory for Kneecap but a victory for the arts, for culture, for the freedom of expression.

“Kneecap continue to lead by example in practising what they preach.”

In a response, a sullen Mrs Badenoch attacked the new Labour government for not pursing the apparently hopeless case, accusing it of a “cowardly decision”.

She bizarrely compared it to the recently announced move to decolonise the ethnically cleansed Chagos Island possessions in the Indian Ocean.

Responding to the court agreement, a spokesperson said: “Labour will always capitulate rather than defend UK interests.

“This case is not about whether a band promotes violence or hates the UK, as Kneecap clearly do; this is about whether government ministers have the ability to stop taxpayers’ money subsidising people who neither need nor deserve it.”

Meanwhile, the youth groups who will benefit from the award welcomed the news.

Sarah Jane Waite, director of RCity Belfast on the Shankill Road, expressed the charity’s thanks for the “generosity and support from Kneecap”.

She said the donation will be used toward a number of projects, including both local and international programmes.

Ballymurphy youth club Glór Na Móna said it will ensure young people in west Belfast have access to the “highest standard” of facilities.

Conchúr Ó Muadaigh from Glór Committee praised Kneecap for their “incredibly generous donation”.

“This new facility in the heart of Ballymurphy in west Belfast will future-proof the Irish language revival,” he said.

Urgent Appeal