Hay Festival drops sponsor over alleged hyperlinks to fossil gasoline and Israeli defence industries

A high-profile literary competition has dropped its sponsorship with an organization accused of investing billions in fossil fuels and companies linked to the Israeli defence trade.

Hay Festival mentioned on Friday it had suspended its sponsorship with funding administration agency Baillie Gifford after figures together with comic Nish Kumar, singer Charlotte Church and Labour MP Dawn Butler pulled out of the occasion.

The competition is at present going down in Wales till 2 June.

The group Fossil Free Books had urged Baillie Gifford to divest from the fossil gasoline trade, through which campaigners claimed it had between £2.5bn and £5bn invested.

The activist group additionally mentioned Bailie Gifford had practically £10bn invested in firms with direct or oblique hyperlinks to Israel’s defence, tech and cybersecurity industries.

A spokesperson for Baillie Gifford mentioned the suggestion it’s a massive investor within the occupied Palestinian territories is “seriously misleading”.

Stand-up comedian Kumar, 38, introduced his withdrawal when he posted an announcement from Fossil Free Books on X, and mentioned dropping out “was the right decision for me”.

Church, 38, who’s a pro-Palestinian campaigner, mentioned she was boycotting and never attending the competition “in protest of the artwashing and greenwashing that is apparent in this sponsorship”.

Following a number of withdrawals, Julie Finch, chief government of Hay Festival Global, mentioned organisers suspended the sponsorship “in light of claims raised by campaigners and intense pressure on artists to withdraw”.

“Our first priority is to our audience and our artists.

“Above all else, we should protect the liberty of our levels and areas for open debate and dialogue, the place audiences can hear a spread of views.

“Hay Festival Global is a charity. We are grateful to all those artists, partners and audiences who engage and contribute to the conversation, on stage and off.

“We sit up for welcoming you this fortnight, in particular person and on-line.”

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A Fossil Free Books organiser mentioned: “This announcement reveals the ability we have now after we unite as staff.”

The statement added: “Our main demand stays that Baillie Gifford divest.”

A spokesperson for Baillie Gifford said: “It is regrettable our sponsorship with the competition can’t proceed.

“The suggestion that Baillie Gifford is a large investor in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is seriously misleading,” it added.

“It is based on conflating two different types of exposure.”

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The assertion mentioned the businesses the agency has invested in, which have business dealings with the state of Israel, haven’t violated any legal guidelines in doing enterprise with the nation.

The assertion continued: “We are not a significant fossil fuel investor. Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels.”

It added: “Baillie Gifford is a long-standing supporter of literature and the arts.

“This help is pushed by our competition that we must always contribute to the communities through which we function, within the hope that the organisations we work with achieve lasting advantages.”