It’s astonishing many organizations in wealthy democracies are terrified of the slightest criticism of Israel’s genocide.
If America were forced to choose between Australia and Israel, it won’t be Israel.
Australia has more money.
They don’t have to choose, they have the power to make Aussie politicians bend the knee, and everyone knows it. That’s what they’re afraid of.
Because once that door swings open a little bit… who knows what might bear some scrutiny?
Who made the clothes you’re wearing? Or your phone? Were they a slave? A child? Are they even still alive, or do they have cancer because of the factory where they worked? Do their parents miss them, if they’re gone?
What happened to make the chicken sandwich you had at lunch? Are you complicit in slow torture unto death, just by existing in the modern world?
Better to keep the door shut tight, and attack the messenger if anyone has anything to say about it. We’re just making music here. No torture, no killing, no profit from the destruction of lives. Just music! Trust me. Enjoy.
(I don’t think most people are like this. I actually think most people in the West at this point are against the “war” in Gaza, to at least some tepidly inactive degree. But certainly, also, a lot of people aren’t against it, q.v. this article.)
People talk regularly about those things and nobody gets cancelled over that. It’s only the Israel lobby that made talking about Palestine equal to anti-Semitism, no matter how mild (like in this case).
I guess we know their stance on killing journalists, then.
I just wouldn’t go to that symphony anymore. Nothing wrong with supporting not killing journalists. It’s not like he went out of his way to espouse his views.
Here’s what they cancelled him for:
for piano
duration: 5’00"
2024
for Jayson Gillham
dedicated to the journalists of Gaza
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, Traditional Custodians of the lands where I live, work, and create – lands on which First Nations communities have been creating and sharing music, art and culture for thousands of generations. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and I recognise the vital ongoing contributions First Nations communities continue to make on our music and arts scenes. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
I also acknowledge all Indigenous Peoples worldwide, their continued fight for freedom from settler-colonialism and occupation, and recognise the interconnectedness of these, all struggles for justice and work towards a world free from oppression for all everyone.
He didn’t even dedicate it to journalists killed, just journalists. The headline is bullshit.
He never mentioned Israel.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that he wasn’t canceled for dedicating it to the journalists of Gaza. He was cancelled for calling Aboriginal people victims of settler-colonialism in Australia, which is objectively true…
The article quotes him saying more:
The five-minute piece is dedicated to the journalists of Gaza and was written for Gillham, according to D’Netto’s website. On Wednesday morning, Gillham’s team released the full transcript of what he said while introducing Witness.
“Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than one hundred Palestinian journalists,” Gillham told the crowd on Sunday.
“A number of these have been targeted assassinations of prominent journalists as they were travelling in marked press vehicles or wearing their press jackets. The killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.
“In addition to the role of journalists who bear witness, the word Witness in Arabic is Shaheed, which also means Martyr.”
Nah it wouldn’t be that, those sorts of land acknowledgements are very common in Melbourne, especially in the Arts, that would have been perceived as utterly uncontroversial by the MSO
Land acknowledgements devoid of teeth are common, where someone flaccidly admits that Indigenous people exist and have some unspecified connection to the land, not where someone actually states out loud the crimes that put their opera house on that land.
This was a good acknowledgement that actually implicates the current ruling class. That’s why they cancelled him.
Edit: he actually went on to say more, but I stand by the fact that this wasnt just a standard acknowledgement.
He was cancelled for calling Aboriginal people victims of settler-colonialism in Australia
Extremely unlikely. Australia’s colonial history and its impact on Indigenous Australians is a very common theme in modern Australian classical music and many concerts I have been to, including one just the other week, have conductors or soloists introduce the piece and specifically cite the context behind it. Unless the MSO is significantly different (which it doesn’t appear to be, based on some quick searches of Indigenous-themed concerts) this is not the reason. It was his comments about Israel targeting and killing journalists (what you quoted is not the actual introduction he made at the concert) which led to the cancellation.
Wow, magnificent self-own by the Orchestra manager. Dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza - not Palestinians or Israelis or Hamas or the Israeli far right or IDF, but journalists in the broadest sense of the term. Who fucking cancels a show over that?
People who don’t want you to know that Israel is slaughtering everything in Gaza
Ain’t it great to see US political leadership tuck their dicks for Israel after IDF slaughter US nationals in west bank or Gaza?
MoSt PoWERFuL CuNTrY
slaughtering everything in Gaza
Bro, the us killed more innocent people in 1 night of bombing in ww2 then israel has killed in it’s entire 75 year existence.
The life expectancy in gaza is currently higher then in egypt, where Israel is not slaughtering anyone at all. At the current rate of death it will take Israel more then 1000 years to kill everyone in gaza.
So you’re saying that Israel’s genocide is fine because it hasn’t caused as much loss of life as a nuclear bomb?
It’s a fucking wonder to me how you believe that the fucking life expectancy data is going to be anywhere near up to date or verifiable, considering that Israel have killed like three years worth of the yearly death rate in 9 months.
It wasn’t actually that broad, he specifically mentioned that Israeli armed forces have targeted and killed journalists in Gaza.
Which is a actual true comment. Isn’t an opinion, it’s a statement of fact.
What sort of brain dead organization cancel somebody over the statement of a fact?
One that is concerned about a public backlash. I’m not sure if you’re from Australia, but the community is very divided here over this issue. It’s also an issue that tends to be divided by age groups, with older people being more likely to support Israel’s actions or see criticism of Israel as anti-semitism. Classical concert audiences tend to be quite old. With this context in mind, I suspect the MSO received a handful of complaints and incorrectly assumed this position would be less inflammatory. It’s possible that it actually is within their immediate audience, but the problem with making a big public statement like they’ve done is that it automatically puts you on a "side’ in this heated and highly polarised environment.
They should have just spoken to the soloist privately and explained their concerns to him prior to the next concert, instead of turning it into a big controversy. As triggered as some people may have been by the introduction, it wouldn’t have been enough to turn this into a real controversy the way it has become since they cancelled the concert. Like this news story is not actually anywhere near important enough to make World News communities and get outraged replies from foreigners who had never even heard of the MSO before this. It’s the story’s connection to the situation in Gaza that is the big issue here, and deliberately involving themselves in that was a massive PR mistake.
