The Strokes used their Coachella set during the second weekend to turn the festival stage into a massive platform for political protest, The Guardian reported. As the band wrapped up their performance, they chose to highlight a long history of foreign interventions and CIA operations that have shaped global politics in ways the government often leaves out of the history books.
The visual protest kicked off as the band played their 2016 track Oblivius. Behind them, giant LED screens displayed a montage of world leaders who were ousted or killed, with the CIA either proven or suspected to have been involved.
As lead singer Julian Casablancas sang the pointed lyrics “What side you standing on?” the screens cycled through portraits of historical figures like Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Congo. Lumumba was executed in 1961 by a Congolese firing squad, a move backed by the Belgian military amid a CIA conspiracy to assassinate him over his influence on Congo’s mineral resources. While Belgium eventually admitted “moral responsibility” and apologized for the murder in 2002, the history remains a dark chapter of Western interference.
The list of figures shown was extensive and hit on several controversial moments from the last century
The screens featured Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz, who was overthrown in a CIA-engineered plot in 1954, and Bolivian president Juan José Torres, who was ousted in 1971 before being kidnapped and killed five years later. They also included Chile’s Salvador Allende, who died during the 1973 CIA-backed coup. While a 2011 scientific autopsy confirmed there was “absolutely no doubt” that Allende took his own life, the involvement of the United States in the coup that brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power is well-documented.
Another major focus was Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. His 1953 removal from power was confirmed as a CIA-orchestrated coup in declassified documents released in 2013. The montage even touched on the death of Martin Luther King Jr., displaying an on-screen title that accused the government of being “found guilty of his murder in civil trial.”
This references a 1999 civil verdict that found government agencies participated in a conspiracy, though a Department of Justice investigation in 2000 concluded that the evidence did not support that finding. Other figures shown included Panamanian military leader Omar Torrijos and Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, both of whom died in plane crashes in 1981 that were officially blamed on pilot error.
The visual protest concluded with footage claiming that more than 30 universities in Iran have been destroyed by US-Israeli airstrikes since the start of this year. This was followed by a clip showing the demolition of al-Israa University in Gaza, which was the last standing university in the Strip before it was destroyed by Israeli forces in 2024.
Casablancas also took the opportunity to address the censorship of online content. He told the audience he was “tempted to come out tonight with a laptop and show you guys some of those Iran Lego videos”. These are AI-generated clips that use Lego-style figures to mock the administration and push pro-Iranian messaging.
When discussing why these videos are hard to find, he said, “More facts than your local news. But they were taken down.” He blamed “fucking YouTube or government or whatever” before quipping, “Land of the free, am I right?” YouTube recently removed the channel Explosive Media, which produced many of these videos, for “violating our spam, deceptive practices and scams policies.”
The performance has already made a massive splash online. Clips of the set went viral, with one video on X racking up over 5.1 million views overnight before it was removed. It’s clear that artists are increasingly using these massive festival stages to voice their opposition to current conflicts.
Just last week at Coachella, Gigi Perez called for a “free Palestine” during her set. Last year, the Irish group Kneecap performed in front of messages stating that Israel is committing genocide, a sentiment that has appeared at other major events like the Glastonbury Festival.
Published: Apr 20, 2026 02:00 pm