MadSoul Music and Arts Festival, brought to downtown Orlando’s Loch Haven Park Saturday by U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, saw elected officials, musicians and community members merge for common causes. Big-name officials and activists including U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor Brandon Wolf and many more addressed the festival crowds on topics of political justice and solidarity.
But just outside the festival, more than 100 pro-Palestine activists staged a protest as part of a global day of action.
Groups including Florida Palestine Network, End to Genocide Coalition, Revolutionary Education and Action League and more rallied calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
During the festival, Winnie Swan, an escort with Orlando group Stand With Abortion Now, read a statement onstage from Central Florida Queers for Palestine calling for an end to United States aid to Israel, deviating from the celebratory nature of the event.
“The very same elected officials that put on this event have all come to party and be distracted by performative activism are the same politicians who are remaining complicit in genocide,” Swan said.
Protests continued inside the festival through the headlining act.
