Hay Festival cuts ties with finance house over oil and Israel

A letter released this month by the campaign group Fossil Free Books broadened the attack on Baillie Gifford from what is claimed were up to £5 billion investments in the fossil fuel industry to include an alleged £10 billion “in companies linked to Israel’s defence, tech and cybersecurity industries.”

The letter, whose signatories also include George Monbiot, Robert Macfarlane and Sally Rooney, stated: “Literary organisations can expect escalation, including the expansion of boycotts, increased author withdrawal of labour and increased disruption until Baillie Gifford divests.”

Nish Kumar also withdrew his appearance at the festival

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Monbiot did appear at the festival and said at an event on Thursday to promote his new book, The Invisible Doctrine, that the festival was a “good cause”.

The poster boy of environmental campaigning said that while he had “signed the statement calling on Baillie Gifford to divest … I also felt it as a matter of principle to continue to come here and speak at the Hay Festival. Partly because I am a supporter of the Hay Festival. It is one of the causes I support; it is a good cause.

“But also because this thing we are protesting against we are deeply deeply embedded in and we can’t just point to one instance of this Earth-eating, people-eating system and say that and that alone is the problem.”

On Friday Church said that for Hay Festival to “platform leading environmentalist and climate justice campaigners whilst accepting cash that has been generated by the fossil fuel industry is a rank hypocrisy”.

She said the “art festival is not more important than the lives of Palestinian children and the future of healthy ecosystems on earth” adding: “If the art world continues to take this dirty money, we all become complicit.”

Shortly after the withdrawal of the singer the festival announced an end to its deal with Baillie Gifford, which for many years had its name above the festival’s largest stage.

Its chief executive Julie Finch said in a statement: “In light of claims raised by campaigners and intense pressure on artists to withdraw, we have taken the decision to suspend our sponsorship from Baillie Gifford.

“Our first priority is to our audience and our artists. Above all else, we must preserve the freedom of our stages and spaces for open debate and discussion, where audiences can hear a range of perspectives.”

Baillie Gifford, which has been a longstanding supporter of several festivals including Cheltenham, which is sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times, has previously defended its investments.

Baillie Gifford had a longstanding relationship with the festival and said that it was not possible to divest in the way the campaigners wished

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Last year its senior partner Nick Thomas said that only 2 per cent of the company’s funds were in the fossil fuel sector compared with with 11 per cent for the asset management sector as a whole. He said the company did not invest in the arts in an attempt to “launder our reputation”.

Baillie Gifford has suggested the £10 billion figure is “seriously misleading” adding that it was not possible to divest in the way campaigners wished.

It said: “When it comes to subjective ethical situations relating to particular sectors (such as fossil fuels) or countries (such as Israel), our clients set the parameters and determine what to exclude or divest. We are not in a position to make exclusions of that nature based on our own ethical judgments, or in response to pressure from outside groups.”

A spokesman for Baillie Gifford said it was “regrettable our sponsorship with the festival cannot continue” adding that the “suggestion that Baillie Gifford is a large investor in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is seriously misleading”.

He said the “activists are painting an inaccurate picture and attempting to mislead the public” adding: “Baillie Gifford is a long-standing supporter of literature and the arts. This support is driven by our contention that we should contribute to the communities in which we operate, in the hope that the organisations we work with gain lasting benefits.”

At the Hay Festival, which ends next weekend, there has been an increased police presence compared with previous years with some writers understood to be nervous about protests connected with Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Why are artists withdrawing from Hay Festival?

A letter organised by campaign group Fossil Free Books calling for an end to sponsorship deals between literary festivals and the investment company Baillie Gifford has now been signed by over 700 people. Many signatories, but not all, have vowed to boycott the festivals until they end the partnership or Baillie Gifford divests from investments in fossil fuel companies and others that “profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.”

Why is it important?

Baillie Gifford has been a major sponsor of Britain’s biggest book festivals for years as well as bankrolling the country’s leading non-fiction prize. Its financial contribution has been welcomed by festivals that, as with the majority of cultural organisations, are dealing with reducing state support and rising costs.

What next?

The boycott bandwagon will move on to the Edinburgh book festival in Baillie Gifford’s home city in August. Its financial support of the annual event is thought to be considerably higher than of other festival making any suspension decision even tougher. Writers due to be appearing at two other festivals next month which are also sponsored by Baillie Gifford, the Borders Book Festival and Wimbledon BookFest, may also come under pressure to withdraw.