The Cultural Resistance of Palestine: Artists, Musicians, and Activists
Updated: 2 days ago
The story of Palestine is often told through maps, borders, and casualty figures. However, there is another archive—one written in verse, painted in earth, and sung in exile. For over seven decades, artists advocating for Palestine have carried the cause across the world’s stages, galleries, and airwaves. They have turned culture into a frontline of resistance. Their work has made Palestine visible when politics sought to erase it and audible when silence was demanded.
The Poets Who Gave the Cause a Voice
No artist is more synonymous with Palestinian cultural resistance than Mahmoud Darwish. His poetry became the emotional and political vocabulary of a displaced people. “Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance,” he wrote. His verses—from “Identity Card” to “Journal of an Ordinary Grief”—did just that. They shaped Palestinian identity across decades of exile and occupation.
Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani also made Palestine central to his work. After the 1967 setback, he wrote poems like “The Trilogy of the Children of Stones,” which denounced older Arab leaders and celebrated the stone-throwing children of the intifada.
Music as a Passport to Solidarity
Lebanese oud virtuoso Marcel Khalife turned Darwish’s poetry into the soundtrack of Arab liberation. Beginning in the 1970s, Khalife set works like “Rita and the Rifle” to music. He deliberately elevated a Palestinian poet as the voice of the Arab world. “Palestine came to inhabit me,” he once said. His music became a political resource for activists across the Middle East and the diaspora.
Few voices have carried Palestinian longing with the quiet power of Fairuz. The Lebanese icon's songs for Palestine and Jerusalem became beloved across the Arab world. Her “Sanarjiou” (“We Will Return”) was adopted by Palestinian refugees as an anthem of return. It is an elegy that keeps the memory of the homeland alive across generations.
The Visual Resistance
Palestinian painter Sliman Mansour spent his life painting the faces and landscapes of occupation with dignity and steadfastness—sumud. Born in 1947, the year before the Nakba, he lived under three different rulers without ever moving from his hometown of Bir Zeit. When he realized the paint he used came from Israel, he organized a boycott of Israeli art supplies during the first intifada. He began making paintings from dry earth on wood. He also helped popularize the watermelon as a symbol of Palestinian resistance. An Israeli officer reportedly told him, “Even if you paint a watermelon, it will be confiscated.” Mansour died in August 2024, leaving behind a prophetic wish: “I was born one year before the Nakba, and I will die one year before the liberation.”
Naji Al-Ali, the Palestinian cartoonist and creator of the iconic child figure Handala, used his drawings from London to critique both Israeli occupation and Arab complicity. His work remains a touchstone for Palestinian visual culture and diasporic art.
Contemporary Artists Standing for Palestine on the Frontline
In the 21st century, the cultural front has expanded into mainstream music and global festivals.
Macklemore
Rapper Macklemore became one of the most visible mainstream artists to speak out for Palestine. In 2024, he released “Hind’s Hall,” named after Hind Rajab and the student encampments, with proceeds donated to UNRWA. He has called for a free Palestine onstage, faced cancellations and backlash, and continued to use his platform to demand a ceasefire and Palestinian liberation.
“Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore,” he said. “People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves, and be in community.”
Roger Waters
Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has been a prominent supporter of the Palestinian cause for decades. He has endured accusations and legal threats for his advocacy. In 2026, he reimagined Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” with Palestinian singer Mona Miari. This rendition serves as a meditation on Gaza that he hoped audiences would hear as “prophetic.”
Kneecap
Irish rap trio Kneecap has repeatedly used festival stages to voice solidarity with Palestinians. They lead chants of “Free, free Palestine” and criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their pro-Palestinian stance has led to concert cancellations and bans in several countries, but the band has refused to be silenced.
Other artists, including Ghali, Dargen D’Amico, Amyl and the Sniffers, and Jade Thirlwall, have also used their platforms to call for a ceasefire and Palestinian freedom.
Activists on the Ground
Beyond the stage and the studio, activists like Huwaida Arraf have put their bodies on the line. A Palestinian-American human rights attorney and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, Arraf has spent over two decades bringing aid to Palestinians. She challenges Israel’s siege of Gaza through the Freedom Flotilla coalition. She has been detained by Israeli forces multiple times and has vowed to return.
Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has also been a consistent legislative voice for Palestinian rights. Veteran activist Leila Khaled fused anti-Zionism with women’s liberation in the late 1960s and 1970s, becoming a symbol for the global left.
The Cultural Boycott and BDS
Institutional resistance has taken the form of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This movement has drawn thousands of artists into its cultural boycott of Israel. Musicians, including Brian Eno and Roger Waters, have backed the cultural boycott. Meanwhile, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have faced criticism for continuing to play in Israel.
More than 1,000 musicians have joined the “No Music for Genocide” campaign, demanding that their work be removed from Israeli platforms. In Ireland, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign launched an artists’ pledge in 2010. This pledge has been signed by figures including Sinéad Cusack, Damien Dempsey, Fontaines D.C., and Robert Ballagh.
Artists4Ceasefire is a group of artists and activists responding to the humanitarian crisis in Israel and Palestine. Here is the open letter artists4ceasefire.org with a full list of artists.
Why Culture Matters
When Mustafa Sheta of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin was asked about theatre under genocide, he brushed aside the idea that art is a luxury. “Gaza needs food, medicine, and shelter,” he said. “But humans do not live by bread alone. What sustains us and reaffirms our humanity is also the story, the word, the gesture. When a people’s culture is destroyed, their sense of self dies long before their bodies.”
That is the lesson of this long history. The artists, musicians, and activists who have stood for Palestine did not choose culture over politics. They understood that culture is politics—that a poem can be a passport, a song can be a demonstration, and a watermelon can be a flag. From Darwish’s verses to Macklemore’s stage, from Mansour’s earth paintings to Kneecap’s festival chants, the message has remained constant: Palestine is not a cause to be managed. It is a people to be freed.
FAQ: Artists, Musicians, and Activists for Palestine
Who are notable artists standing for Palestine?
Notable figures include Mahmoud Darwish, Fairuz, Marcel Khalife, Sliman Mansour, Naji Al-Ali, Macklemore, Roger Waters, and Kneecap. Other artists like Annie Lennox, Arooj Aftab, Bikini Kill, Björk, Brian Eno, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Ethel Cain, FKA twigs, Janelle Monáe, Kali Uchis, Kehlani, Lowkey, Lucy Dacus, Macklemore, Massive Attack, Mitski, Pulp, Rina Sawayama, Riz Ahmed, Roger Waters, Tom Morello, and Zack de la Rocha have expressed sympathy for Palestinians and criticized the loss of civilian life.
Film and Television
Andrew Garfield, Annie Lennox, Arooj Aftab, Ayo Edebiri, Bikini Kill, Björk, Brian Eno, Cate Blanchett, Chappell Roan, Charles Dance, Dua Lipa, Ethel Cain, FKA twigs, Gael García Bernal, Janelle Monáe, Javier Bardem, Jenna Ortega, Jeremy Strong, Joaquin Phoenix, John Cusack, Jonathan Glazer, Kali Uchis, Kehlani, Khalid Abdalla, Lowkey, Lucy Dacus, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Ruffalo, Massive Attack, Miriam Margolyes, Mitski, Pulp, Rina Sawayama, Riz Ahmed, Roger Waters, Steve Coogan, Susan Sarandon, Tilda Swinton, Tom Morello, Viggo Mortensen, and Zack de la Rocha have also expressed support for Palestine.
Visual and Contemporary Art
Adam Broomberg, Ai Weiwei, Emily Jacir, Jesse Darling, Joanna Piotrowska, Johanna Hedva, Malak Mattar, Michael Rakowitz, Mona Hatoum, Nan Goldin, and Shepard Fairey have also shown support.
In the visual arts world, support has included calls for ceasefires, opposition to cultural institutions’ cooperation with Israel, support for Palestinian artists, and participation in actions such as the Gaza Biennale and cultural-boycott campaigns.
A useful distinction is between artists who have signed a general ceasefire statement, those who explicitly say “Free Palestine,” and those who support BDS or a cultural boycott of Israel. These are overlapping but not identical positions. The Artists4Ceasefire site maintains one prominent current list of signatories.
What Did Macklemore Do for Palestine?
Macklemore released “Hind’s Hall” in 2024. He donated proceeds to UNRWA. He has called for a free Palestine onstage and has continued to demand a ceasefire and Palestinian liberation despite backlash.
What is the BDS Cultural Boycott?
The BDS cultural boycott is part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. It calls on artists and institutions to refuse performances, partnerships, and funding tied to Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.
Why is Culture Important to Palestinian Resistance?
Culture preserves memory, identity, and humanity under occupation. Poems, songs, paintings, and performances keep Palestinian history alive and connect the diaspora to the struggle for freedom.
How Can Artists Support Palestine?
Artists can amplify Palestinian voices, support BDS, donate to aid organizations, refuse complicit platforms, and use their work to demand justice and liberation.
(Note: Thousands of musicians have signed ceasefire or Palestine-supporting statements. However, signing a ceasefire appeal does not mean every artist necessarily endorses Palestinian political organizations or every form of activism.)
Comments