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.
That’s the exact opposite of what Senator Cruz has done,” Allred said. 
