Billy Bragg has released a new original song to show his support for the people of Palestine. The title of Hundred Year Hunger was inspired by a new book of the same name by E Mark Windle about the history of chronic malnutrition and deprivation in Gaza and will raise money for the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal.
Writing on Instagram, the British protest singer said that the song “looks at the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.
The song was released to coincide with a new humanitarian aid flotilla – with Greta Thunberg among their number – setting sail from Barcelona to try to “break the illegal siege of Gaza”, organisers said. The intention is to open a humanitarian corridor and deliver aid to an area gripped by famine. It is expected to arrive in mid-September. Israel previously blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza.
Last week, an Israel military spokesperson said it would no longer pause fighting to allow aid deliveries in Gaza city, a decision likely to intensify the famine in the northern part of the territory.
“Now my children ask me why the watching world is standing by / While Israel creates famine as a weapon in their war,” Bragg sings in the track.
The chorus of the song is in Arabic. Bragg explained that “sumud” translates as “steadfastness or perseverance. It is used by Palestinians to describe their nonviolent everyday resistance against Israel’s occupation. Sumud emphasises the commitment of the Palestinian people to remain on their land despite hardship and oppression, elevating their everyday existence into a form of resistance.”
A second term, “lan narhal”, Bragg wrote, “translates as ‘we will not leave’. Together ‘Sumud! Sumud! Lan narhal’ conveys the determination of the Palestinian people to refuse to be displaced.”
On 20 September, Bragg is hosting a Palestine benefit gig, Days Like These, at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, featuring acts including Jamie Webster, Billy Nomates, Antony Szmierek, Reverend and the Makers and Big Special, to support the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal. He previously expressed his support for the Irish rap trio Kneecap, charged with allegedly displaying a flag supporting the proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah last year.
Bragg said in May: “The charging of Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh with a terrorism offence by the Metropolitan Police is the latest development of a disturbing and broader trend over the past few years during which the state has sought to criminalise creative expression.”
Bragg released his last album, The Million Things That Never Happened, in 2021.