Protest Song Of The Week: 'C.E.A.R.T.A.' By Kneecap

Kneecap at Coachella (Photo: Kneecap on Instagram)

Anti-colonialist Irish rap group Kneecap sparked an uproar from a bunch of media wankers who were upset about their pro-Palestinian activism at the Coachella Music Festival.

Kneecap performed during both weekends of the annual music and arts festival held in California. The total attendance is typically 250,000 people—in addition to the millions that tune in to the YouTube livestream.

During their first weekend performance, Coachella cut the livestream right after Kneecap said, “Here, if anybody was wondering, Margaret Thatcher’s still dead.” The crowd loudly cheered and then joined Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí in chanting, “Maggie’s in a box,” to the tune of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Give It Up.”

Then the group chanted “Free Palestine,” and the livestream was censored, including slides with the message: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people”; “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes”; and “Fuck Israel Free Palestine.”

Defying the censorship, Kneecap returned to Coachella for the second weekend and projected the same message. The British tabloid Metro also reported that Chara spoke to the crowd and connected the history of Irish resistance to British colonialism to the genocidal assault on Palestinians.

“The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the fucking skies with nowhere to go,” Chara declared. “The Palestinians have nowhere to go, it’s their fucking home and they’re bombing them from the skies.”

“If you’re not calling it a genocide what the fuck are you calling it?” The group then chanted “Free Palestine,” which had been censored during the previous weekend.

Slide from Kneecap’s performance at Coachella (Posted on the platform formerly known as Twitter.)

Kneecap formed in 2017, and in 2024, the acclaimed biopic film “Kneecap” in which they starred as themselves brought the group global recognition. Bap and Chara also co-wrote the film.

Most of the lyrics in the first songs that they recorded were in the Irish language. They incorporated a range of indulgent and socioeconomic themes that often are for better or worse present in hip hop music. But what made Kneecap stand out was how they championed the Irish language as a tool of resistance against British injustice and oppression.

The group’s first single “C.E.A.R.T.A.”—the Irish word for rights—exemplifies this resistance. After Bap and a friend spray paint “Cearta” on a bus stop, the Northern Ireland police arrest his friend. While interrogated, the police demand that the friend speaks English. He only speaks Irish, which upsets the cops and prolongs the incident.

“C.E.A.R.T.A.” was banned by an Irish language radio station, and the song’s popularity coincided with a successful push to pass the Irish Language Act in the British parliament and officially recognize and protect the Irish language. [*Rough translation posted on Reddit.]

As NME noted, Kneecap has not only talked about Palestine but also “helped raise nearly £100,000 for a volunteer gym in the Aida Refugee Camp in Palestine."

Watch and listen to “C.E.A.R.T.A.” by Kneecap