Robert Del Naja - Political Stance

Political Stance

Del Naja has been critical about government policy. He was strongly opposed to the 2003 United States war against Iraq, and with fellow musician Damon Albarn paid for full page adverts in the NME magazine.

In 2005 Del Naja organised and performed at a charity concert in Bristol for Tsunami Relief with Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow of Portishead. The two-night event featured Massive Attack, Portishead, Robert Plant, The Coral and Damon Albarn and raised over £100,000.

Del Naja and Marshall performed three sell out shows in 2005 in support of Hoping, an organisation that helps raise money, support projects for Palestinian youth in refugee camps in the occupied territories and Lebanon and Syria. The shows managed to raise over £100,000.

Del Naja and Damon Albarn with the help of United Visual Artists campaigned against Trident nuclear sub renewal aboard the Arctic Sunrise on the Thames.

In 2008, Massive Attack curated the annual Meltdown festival on London's south bank. During the two weeks of live performance, cinema and art, they teamed up with human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith and his Reprieve organisation which uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners.

In 2010, the video for shot by Oliver Chanarin and Adam Bloomberg for the song "Saturday come slow", featuring Damon Albarn, the band drew attention to the use of music in torture; the video features a victim of music torture, Ruhal Ahmed.

In 2010, Massive Attack donated the income from a Lincoln car commercial, to the clean up after the BP oil spill disaster. Massive Attack donated all proceeds from their 2010 EP Atlas Air this week for "War Child", a charity the band previously supported when they contributed to the HELP album.

Del Naja supports the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and his band will not perform in Israel, a stance Del Naja qualifies as being "not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people" but "towards the government and its policies", arguing that "the Palestinians have no access to the same fundamental benefits that the Israelis do."

Del Naja and Thom Yorke of Radiohead threw an unofficial office Xmas party at the occupied USB bank in the city of London in December 2011, in recognition and support for the international Occupy movement.

Having previously boycotted playing at Bristol's Colston Hall due to it's connection with the city's historic slave trade, in October 2012, Del Naja heavily criticised Bristol Mayor candidate George Ferguson because of his membership of a local organisation 'The Merchant Venturers'. The organisation had evolved from the city's slavetraders and continues to this day as an elitist private organisation, open to very few by invitation only. In November 2012 Del Naja then took a surprising stance to reverse his position and endorse the politically independent, wealthy, ex LibDem parliamentary candidate, George Ferguson. Del Naja was cited by local media to feel that the other candidates had only party political agendas at heart and a newly elected mayor needed more imagination to help implement creative projects for Bristol.