\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Strokes<\/a> closed out their set at Coachella<\/a> this past Saturday with a performance of their 2016 song \u201cOblivius\u201d<\/a> accompanied by a charged video montage<\/a> detailing decades of alleged CIA-backed atrocities and assassinations, and culminating with footage of recent destruction in Iran<\/a> and Gaza<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn a potent echo of the present, the montage began with a photo of former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, who was overthrown in a 1953 coup<\/a> backed by British and American intelligence services. Mossadegh\u2019s photo was followed by other world leaders who were either overthrown and, in some cases, assassinated by U.S.-backed operations, including the Congo\u2019s Patrice Lumumba<\/a>, Bolivia\u2019s Juan Torres, and Chile\u2019s Salvador Allende.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThere was also a slide dedicated to a 1999 civil trial in which a jury decided there was a U.S. government conspiracy to assassinate civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (While it\u2019s well-documented that King was surveilled by the FBI<\/a> and CIA for years, the Department of Justice has repeatedly rejected the conspiracy claim, with a 2000 investigation turning up no evidence of the government\u2019s alleged involvement.)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Strokes brought their performance to a close with footage of rubble in Iran, with a slide stating that more than 30 universities have been destroyed by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes this year. The final image was of the al-Israa University in Gaza, the last university in the Strip, which Israel destroyed in 2024. During these closing moments, frontman Julian Casablancas<\/a> howled the final refrain from \u201cOblivius,\u201d \u201cWhat side are you standing on?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n