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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MY father was a life-long member of the NZ Labour Party.
He volunteered—quite literally—to fight fascism and he spent some five years in the hot arid Middle East, wounded several times and homesick for the island of green in the South Pacific.
He was deeply pleased to see France and Germany reconciled within the EEC.
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I don't know what he would make of any London local authority hosting a high-profile Nazi sympathiser with massive attendant publicity, on a stage, in a park held in trust for the public, and in front of 10s of thousands of young people.
Let alone a Labour Council.
And accompanied by feeble and contemptible claims of powerlessness, that Haringey Council has no control over their customer's choice of "artists".
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At an 1867 inaugural address at the University of St. Andrews, the utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill delivered the essence of the words of the famous "quote":
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
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Permalink Reply by Simon
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Some years ago I met one of the war time soldiers who was encamped in part of the park - he would be dead by now but I wonder what he would have thought about this. For myself my grandfather died in a concentration camp so it’s personal. Also for younger people particularly those of colour who might not know.
The Nazi regime viewed people of colour as racially inferior "non-Aryans" and a threat to the purity of the German "master race". Black people in Germany faced social exclusion, occupational bans, forced sterilization, and incarceration in concentration camps. OPolicies focused on preventing "race pollution" and eliminating their presence.
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I'm part of the post-war Baby Boom. As time stretches out, fewer people have family experience or other knowledge of what Nazis stood for.
Have Haringey Labour forgotten?
With the re-election of a proto-fascist US President and his friend and little cousin of the Reform Party, there seems to be a growing tolerance of far-right ideology. Does not West's advocacy of Hitler and related beliefs, overlap with Trump's Proud Boys and Oath keepers?
Haringey Cabinet Member for Culture & Parks (L) and Council Leader (R). Respectively, Bounds Green Ward Cllr. Emily Arkell and Noel Park Ward Cllr. Peray Ahmet
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Booking "Ye" presented no difficulty for the global live-music-monopoly customer of the Labour Council. The boundless greed of Live Nation may have meant that Kanye West's long history of far-right wing views were an added attraction, due to the added attention and publicity.
We do not know whether New Labour leader Peray Ahmet was aware that her council would provide the biggest UK platform to one of entertainment's most-known Nazis before the rushed Cabinet Member Signing by Cllr Arkell, that locked in another five years of Live Nation. In our park.
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The LibDems have had a clear policy on this for some time and were very quick to condemn this decision
This is part of their response:
Lib Dems Condemn Kanye West Announcement
In further deeply concerning news, just days after the new contract was signed between Haringey Council and Live Nation, the festival organisers announced that the notorious artist, Kanye West (also known as Ye), will headline all three nights of Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park this July.
Haringey Lib Dems have already widely condemned the booking of the individual (ITV, London Post, Daily Mail) who has a well-documented record of antisemitic behaviour, including praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis, selling swastika-emblazoned t-shirts and releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler”.
While apologies have been issued at times, these have been followed by further inflammatory remarks, raising serious questions about his sincerity.
Lib Dem Party Leader Ed Davey has today called for the UK government to follow Australia’s lead and ban the controversial artist from the UK.
As you know, Haringey is one of the most diverse boroughs in the country, and many residents will be horrified at the idea that Haringey Council is making money from someone who spreads antisemitism, hatred and bigotry.
Even more shockingly, the announcement comes just days after Haringey Council passed a motion committing the council to stand up against right-wing hatred.
To be clear, it is completely inappropriate and unacceptable for anyone with a track record of antisemitic behaviour to be given a platform to perform in a council-owned park. Many residents will be horrified at the idea that Haringey Council is making money from someone who spreads hatred and bigotry. It is a point I have also raised with the Council Chief Executive of Haringey Council and other senior officers.
What the Lib Dems are doing now
As Haringey Leader of the Opposition, I, alongside Ed Davey MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Luke Taylor MP, Liberal Democrat London Spokesperson, have written a joint letter to the Home Secretary about the risk Kanye West’s presence in the UK poses to community cohesion and public order, and for the Government to urgently review his visa for entry.
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The Lib Dem’s have been calling for the park ownership to be transferred to an Independent Community Trust for a number of years, with neighbourhood and political representation from all areas surrounding the park.
It is just another reason why we need a Fresh Start this May, and for the Lib Dems, who have a track-record of standing up for our borough, to deliver the change we need:
Use the licensing process for each individual event to push for stronger conditions to reduce noise, disruption, and the impact on local residents
Campaign to take Finsbury Park out of direct council control and place it in the hands of an independent trust, with proper representation from local communities
Push for changes to the Council’s constitution so that major contracts like this are treated as “key decisions” and properly scrutinised in future
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Permalink Reply by Eric Easter
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Well now you know how people feel when they hear about 'artists' like Kneecap and Bob Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, espousing their hatred on stage in the same park.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
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Eric Easter I don't speculate about how people feel when they they hear Kneecap.
I listened to the words of the song "Heil Hitler" by Kanye West. It seemed to me a song about family pain, and resentment about his children. The reference to Hitler was hurtful, hateful and insensitive.
I don't know Irish. Nor am I familiar with Kneecap's music and songs. But if the Wikipedia excerpt below is accurate jsn't the context at least partly for political arguments against the policies and actions of the Israeli Government? Arguments which are also made by not a few Israeli citizens.
This is an extract. Please view Wikipedia for the remainder.
"The group has been at the centre of public debates about free speech and the
expression of political opinions within Ireland and the UK. Their themes focus on
working class Belfast youth culture, Irish republicanism and Irish language rights.
In concert, they have made statements supporting Palestinian nationalism
and condemning the Gaza genocide."
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