"We send our complete support and solidarity to the many artists who took the brave and principled decision to pull out of the SXSW showcase in the US in recent days due to its ties to the arms industry.

The arms industry has profiteered from the destruction of Gaza and other atrocities for decades whilst spending billions on lobbying politicians every year.

Our music, arts and culture should not be used as a vessel for the war machine to launder its reputation and therefore we applaud all artists, many at a critical time in their careers and more often than not without significant financial backing, who have called out SXSW for enabling so-called defence companies to use their festival as an opportunity to promote themselves whilst their parts and components are used in the bombardment of Gaza that has taken the lives of over 30,000 innocent men, women and children, as well as many others in other conflicts around the world.

The war machine must be shut down and its toxic influence removed from our festivals, art galleries, museums and cultural institutions immediately."