Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
WIRELESS in Finsbury Park: the Labour Council, their customer Live Nation and their fascist-rapper booking
GUARDIAN: Sadiq Khan and Jewish Leadership Council condemn Wireless festival ...
The Labour Council's policy of hiring out public parks has led to another controversial booking in Finsbury Park by their global, prosecuted-monopolist customer, Live Nation.
Council Leader Peray Ahmet has in the past defended and endorsed Grime as representing "working class struggle".
Grime is also associated with violence, misogyny and homophobia. Meanwhile rapper Kanye West is associated with fascism and anti-semitism.
Jobs in the council's Events Team depend on the Live Nation relationship. The council's busy PR team continue to promote Finsbury Park as a summer gig venue as part of the Borough's cultural offer.
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Update: at 20:30 hours, 1 April 2026
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has added his voice to the disgust already voiced and the Guardian's headline now reflects that. A few treat this as a joke. Here is what Mayor Khan had to say:
In a press statement on Wednesday 1 April, a spokesperson for London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “We are clear that the past comments and actions of this artist are offensive and wrong, and are simply not reflective of London’s values. This was a decision taken by the festival organizers and not one that City Hall is involved in.”
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Here are some sample questions for journalists or the council Opposition, to ask of Peray Ahmet, Leader of Haringey Council and currently seeking re-election in Noel Park Ward:
- When did the council leader first learn of the Kanye West booking?
- Was the urgency to bind the next two council Administrations before the "purdah" pre-election period, due to Cllr Ahmet's foreknowledge that Kanye West was likely to headline for three nights at Wireless?
- The council leader enjoys a close, cordial relationship with the Festival Republic promoter. If there was no foreknowledge of the booking, then why not? Was this headliner booking concealed from her?
- Was council leader Ahmet aware that the headliner in our public park was expelled from Australia?
- How much concern—if any—does leader Ahmet feel about the promotion of Nazi values, Hitler admiration, swastika display; anti-semitism, misogyny and homophobia?
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#LabourValues? #LabourParty? #Values?
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Tags for Forum Posts: Antisemite, Department of Justice, Emily Arkell, Events Team, Festival Republic, Finsbury Park, Grime, Haringey Council, Hitler, Kanye West, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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Christopher, I suppose it is too much to expect any Socialists remaining in the Haringey Labour Party to speak up for public parks open to all the public, or to criticise any aspect of this Labour Council's park-hire policy.
However, I hope that the Green Party will raise the Nazi-booking in Finsbury Park as an issue at national level, in a similar way that the Liberal Democrat Party are.
And credit to London Mayor Sadiq Khan (Labour) for speaking up for London values. He is more principled than Haringey's current leader.
Kanye West may have apologised and may have withdrawn his apology. West may or may not have a mental illness. However, his pro-Nazi views are absolutely part of thick ugly strand of current American politics.
In Egypt's Western Desert my late father was part of an army that fought the army of a Nazi government. Today, we should not entertain Nazis or fascist-enablers.
I partly expect to hear false claims that the council has no control over their customer, but it is more likely that Leader Ahmet and Cab Member Arkell will say nothing and wait for the storm to blow over.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler
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I endorse what you say. My father spent WW2 building tanks, at a former car factory; my mother's brother, who was in RAF Bomber Command, was killed at his air-base, when Luftwaffe bombers attacked the base; another uncle, husband of my mother's elder sister, was captured at the fall of Singapore, and managed to survive the rest of the war in POW camps. I agree with you that we, their lucky heirs, should never tolerate the espousing of fascist, racist, or imperialist views. I am a lifetime Labour voter; I, like the rest of our sixth form, was cheering on Harold Wilson to victory in 1964, long before I was old enough to vote. I am horrified by the failure of the current Haringey Council to uphold the socialist values so clearly carried out by the post-War Attlee government; and by successive Labour governments. Let us see whether the present Haringey Labour councillors say nothing; I believe the electorate will punish them in May.
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