BRITISH-Iraqi rapper and activist, Lowkey is looking forward to returning to Belfast later this week to participate in a panel discussion as part of Féile an Phobail.
 
As a musician, Lowkey has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique, and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project founded by Jeremy Corbyn.
 
The Soundtrack to the Struggle hitmaker will join the London-based Palestinian Return Centre’s Farrah Koutteineh to discuss Israel’s use of social media, at the event in St Mary’s University College on Wednesday evening which will be chaired by Andersonstown News journalist, James McCarthy.

Palestinian activist and ‘world’s youngest journalist’ Janna Jihad was also due to attend the event. However, following issues obtaining visas, she is now set to appear virtually.
 
Speaking ahead of his visit to Belfast, Lowkey told the Andersonstown News that it will be fantastic for him to return to the city after previously performing at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in 2019.
 
“The enthusiasm, the zeal, the really deep visceral solidarity that exists between the Irish and Palestinians is a beauty to behold and it is fantastic for me, as somebody who has worked for many years on the Palestinian issue from my position in London, to be in a place, especially after the Corbyn years where solidarity with Palestine has taken a real battering in England, to be in the place where unfortunately was the original laboratory of British colonialism.

“Belfast is a place where solidarity with Palestine is largely non-controversial. Obviously you have people who seek an affinity with Israel. However, it is important now, with the idea behind the Abraham Accords, is being exported to many different places with Ireland being a target for these normalisation projects.
 
“We have some organisations that have been targeting different political organisations both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland so it is important to try and get some clarity on that and ensure that the idea of not only BDS but also being clear that with Palestine Action here in England, we have been massively successful over the past few years in shutting down and Israeli subsidiary in Oldham, forcing the company to sell it at a loss, but forcing Elbit Systems, Israel’s number one arms company, to vacate its London HQ.”
 
Lowkey said that these victories need to be built on and to give people that point of view instead of wallowing in the despair of Palestinian victimhood.

Discussing the role of social media to the Israeli regime, he said: “Between 2015 and 2018, 500 Palestinians were arrested for the crime of incitement. Many of them were children. That crime of incitement was based on posts they made on Facebook.
 
“We also have the issue of the converging of Israeli lobby groups converging with social networks. For example, on YouTube you have the Anti-Defamation League which has spied on Arab Americans and even Desmond Tutu and according to the FBI in 1969 is furnished to an official of the Israeli government. Today they are a trusted flagger on YouTube and have the authority to decide what is and what isn’t anti-semitic.
 
“Within the big tech companies, we also now have anti-Zionism being treated informally as anti-semitism which is reflected in the algorithms.”
 
Palestine in 2022: Israel’s Attempt to Control Social Media will take place in St Mary’s University College at 7pm on Wednesday evening.
 
Lowkey will also be performing as part of a fundraiser in Nancy Mulligan’s on Friday evening alongside Rising of The Moon. Tickets for the fundraiser are £10 and are available from Eventbrite.