Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner dramatically announced that the Brisbane City Council was withdrawing support for the Queensland Music Awards, hosted by QMusic, accusing the organisation of celebrating hate speech. Musician Kellee Green won the Jazz Award for her instrumental composition ‘River to Sea’.
The title and composition is a direct reference to the phrase ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, common among Pro-Palestinian activists. The controversial phrase is touted by pro-Israeli activists as a war cry demanding the abolition of the state of Israel. Pro-Palestinian activists say it’s a statement reclaiming their homeland.
In her acceptance speech, Green explicitly spoke on the conflict. “I can’t accept this award for this piece without acknowledging the reason for its creation,” she said.
“Our own government is complicit in war crimes by supporting Israel both in words and actions by allowing the export of weapons and weapon parts to Israel to directly kill innocent Palestinian men, women and children.
“I urge you to please educate yourselves about this ongoing genocide and take action by protesting, contacting MPs – some of whom are here tonight – and boycotting where you can, so this government knows that these war crimes are occurring without our consent.”
In a statement the following day, Schrinner said the Council was immediately withdrawing its funding from of awards. “The decision to hand a major prize to an offensively titled anti-Jewish song raises serious questions about whether the awards have been hijacked by extremists,” he said.
“The promotion of antisemitism at Tuesday night’s Queensland Music Awards was utterly shameful and divisive. Allowing such vile hate speech to occur shows the awards seem to be no longer capable of achieving their own stated goal to ‘promote diversity and inclusion’.”
QMusic CEO Kris Stewart said the organisation was “deeply saddened” by the Council’s decision. “We welcome the opportunity to meet with the Council to discuss the matter and explore a constructive and positive path forward,” Stewart told the ABC.
