Brisbane city council has pulled funding for a music awards after winner used her acceptance speech to denounce #genocide, while the conservative LNP Queensland state government also considers withdrawal of financial support.
Jazz composer and pianist #KelleeGreen used her acceptance speech at the #2025QueenslandMusicAwards to speak of the suffering of #Palestinian civilians and to support peaceful protest against Australian government complicity in selling weapons to Israel (in contravention of obligations under international law, including a specific injunction by the #InternationalCourtOfJustice).
The claim by the council is that her speech was 'divisive'.
Treating opposition to genocide as #divisive is (implicitly or explicitly) to normalise being pro-genocide as a legitimate political stance.
Normalising support for genocide is itself a crime under #InternationalLaw.
By only ever punishing anti-genocide speech, and never those who express unqualified support for a genocidal regime (or who even seek to justify its extreme violence through appeal to a 'right to defend itself'), political authorities send the clear message that we ought to be tolerant of those who support exterminative violence and intolerant of those who oppose it.
Never.
