PinkPantheress is using her platform for a noble cause.
The UK singer-songwriter was among the dozens of artists, actors, and activists who appeared at Together for Palestine, a fundraiser benefiting humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
The event went down on Wednesday night at London’s OVO Wembley Arena, where PinkPantheress delivered a quick but impassioned speech about the importance of advocacy among high-profile figures.
“I think a lot about what I can do not only as an individual but as an artist. We have a responsibility to use our platforms,” she said alongside actress Charithra Chandran. “Neutrality or silence shouldn’t be an option. Give Palestine your voice. And when your voice goes hoarse, hang your flags, wear your keffiyeh, show them we are here.”
British artist Brian Eno organized the fundraiser with activist Khalid Abdalla, Marsm founder/director Khaled Ziada, and film producer Tracey Seaward.
According to The Guardian, Together for Palestine raised about $2 million by 10 p.m. local time. All of the donations will go to Choose Love, a refugee advocacy group that will distribute the money to organizations at the front line of the Gaza crisis. Those nonprofits include Taawon, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and the Palestine Medical Relief Society.
Eno told The Guardian that the event was heavily inspired by the 1988 Free Nelson Mandela Concert, which was widely credited for expediting Mandela’s release from jail. The activist-turned-South African president spent 27 years behind bars for fighting against South Africa’s apartheid system. He was freed in 1990.
“The concert worked because, then as now, politics sits downstream of culture,” Eno explained. “The stories we tell ourselves and each other are how we develop and share our feelings about this world—and other possible worlds. This gives our storytellers—writers, musicians, artists, actors—incredible power to shape the space in which politicians are able to operate. Which brings us to Gaza.
“More than any other conflict since the birth of the modern communications age, more so even than South Africa in the 1980s, the Israeli occupation of Palestine has been conducted with words and images as well as with bullets and bombs,” he continued.
“And for that reason, those artists who oppose the occupation and advocate for justice for Palestinians have been subjected to a cynical, pernicious censorship designed to severely narrow the scope of the stories they can tell.”
Together for Palestine included musical performances and appearances by James Blake, Riz Ahmed, Ramy Youssef, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jameela Jamil, Florence Pugh, and Jamie xx.
The event took place a day after a United Nations Commission of Inquiry determined Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Israeli forces launched a campaign in Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023. Since then, more than 60,000 people have been killed in occupied Palestine, according to a UN report.