Who ARE Kneecap?
Controversial Irish band or govt psy-op, there seems to be little way of knowing.
I usually like to ignore what seem to me to be obvious examples of forced culture. You know what I mean, the girl singers with “approved views” on everything that teach their teen followers to hate men after a brief affair with them? In the case of Kneecap though I’m going to make an exception because it is blindingly obvious they are a psy-op and being used to push division in Northern Ireland, somewhere that has been a powder-keg for much of my life and now seems to being pushed towards some sort of renewed tumult by an influx of asylum seekers plus the drive to Irish unification.
Who are Kneecap?
Is a very good question. The band members use unpronouncible (for most) and multiple stage names - Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh or Mo Chara, Naoise Ó Cairealláin or Móglaí Bap and J. J. Ó Dochartaigh (also known as DJ Próvaí) . I say “stage names” because that’s what they are as far as I can see and that’s what the band’s own website says. In addition to this Chara was charged in court under the name Liam O'Hanna. Names are very important in Northern Ireland because they usually denote if you’re Catholic or Protestant - Having the wrong name in the wrong area might have led to serious trouble for you in the 1970s and 1980s, not sure about that now.
It seems strange that a band in the news so regularly in the UK and Ireland has so little back story, with most up and coming and new bands you know everything from their favourite tv programmes and ice cream flavour to their shoe size by the time they’ve released their first “record”.
What do we know?
Apart from their names almost nothing other than their political views. Of course they are achingly progressive - Pro-Palestine, Pro-Irish reunification, anti-IRA, their music is “anti-police” (they paid for a mural of a burning police car to be painted on a house in Belfast), pro Irish-language. But they are “Anti-sectarian” and want to “foster working class solidarity among catholics and protestants”. I’ve no doubt they are pro-abortion, pro-Covid jab and pro Net Zero too. Mo Chara says "It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from. Just because we rap in Irish and might not align with your political views — we can be friends with people that we don’t align with politically"
Rock and roll!
A crowd of supporters turned up outside Chara’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court carrying the pre-printed signs, always a sign this isn’t a genuine protest but a paid for and put up job
Note the propaganda text at the top there - “Love Music, Hate Racism”. Expect Kneecap to tell you migrants are your friends and allies in the battle against capitalist oppression, Northern Ireland.
O’Hanna is accused of “displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London gig” to which he pled not guilty. The BBC says
In a statement, posted on social media in May, Kneecap said: "We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves."
There was another preprinted placard handed out :
The banner “Socialist Worker” confirms what I said above - Pre-printed by the usual suspects.
The BBC goes on to report
Large green flags saying "Free Speech, Free Palestine" are also on display.
A mixture of Palestinian and Kneecap flags were being held by some of the crowd, and cheers were heard after a van drove past displaying the slogan "More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, Mo Chara".
The slogan is a spin on a well-known discriminatory phrase found outside some UK boarding houses from the 1950s.
Er…no it isn’t. There is no evidence of the “No black, no dogs, no Irish” sign before it appeared in a university show in the 1980s . The BBC knows and accepts this but still promotes it, just as it promotes the “Rivers of blood” speech which only had one river (The Tiber; it’s a quote from Virgil).
In addition Kneecap have had a BAFTA winning film made about “their rise to fame” featuring Michael Fastbender. The BBC gushes that the film is “semi-fictionalised” which means the lads are actors. It also informs us that in November 2024 Kneecap won a court case against the British govt after an arts grant was withdrawn by Kemi Badenoch.
I wouldn’t bet against them winning this latest case either, as Laura Perrins reports they have KC’s up the ying yang defending them (paid for by the govt no doubt)
Are Kneecap a Psyop? In my opinion all evidence points to that in every way it possibly can. I can’t find any details on them, or their families which is always a bit suspicious. They support all the right causes while being anti-police and capitalism, have all the correct people backing them and are “fighting the system”.
Oh and their music is genuinely shite. I don’t like rap as a genre but some of it is ok, this stuff is seomra comónta a séú foirm (Sixth form common room) level.