The MSO has already backed down and is rescheduling the concert.
it made “an error”
spineless cunts
Pussies twice over.
Extremists always think that everyone agrees with them. They usually are unprepared for the scenario in which this is not the case.
Unpopular opinion time:
People pay to see and enjoy listening to a symphony, not listen to political opinion. And while I’m entirely on the side of the protestors, and stand firmly against the atrocities committed by Israel, I’d be against this at a symphony as well.
I know it’s impossible to comprehend, but sometimes, people need a bread from the negativity in the world. We don’t go to political rallies to hear how our congressmen and women enjoy listening to Taylor Swift for a reason…
Begin your downvotes.
People pay to see and enjoy listening to a symphony, not listen to political opinion.
I guess you don’t attend classic concerts often? It is very standard for conductors or soloists to introduce modern pieces and discuss their sociopolitical relevance. I literally just went to one the other week where the director of The King’s College Cambridge Choir introduced a piece about the massacre, dispossession and forced assimilation of Indigenous Australians.
people need a bread from the negativity
Freudian typo: as long as people have “bread and circuses” it’s surprising what you can get away with.
lol! Good catch.
It is widely acknowledged that external international pressure was one of the major factors in ending the apartheid regime. Therefore, it’s worth considering the impact of raising awareness among international audiences, even those not politically engaged, to put pressure on Israel to end their genocide.
On one hand, you have the discomfort felt by attendees to a live symphony performance in Melbourne, Australia having to listen to the pianist spend 30 seconds introducing the song:
Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than one hundred Palestinian journalists. 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.
On the other hand, you have the discomfort felt by the victims of war crimes and genocide perpetuated by Israel.
Personally, I don’t think it’s that hard to judge where the cost/benefit analysis goes on that, but of course it’s a personal value judgment. Perhaps you don’t hold the same values I do, or not to the same degree, but for me, it’s obvious that using your platform to raise awareness and to put pressure on Israel is the right thing to do.
The venue made the right move. They canceled him/ and now people like you and me are hearing his message.
Everyone wins.
The original point you made was that the musician didn’t do the right thing, and I was explaining why I thought you were wrong. We weren’t talking about whether it was right or wrong for the venue to deplatform him.
I’m happy to talk about that, but I am curious about your thoughts in reaction to my original response
Anytime someone says they believe in the genocide in gaza I have to wonder what other antisemitic conspiracy theories they believe.
Do you believe ex-KGB agent and neo soviet klepto-fascist President of Russia, Vladimer Putin, when he claims zionist Ukraine is committing genocide against Russians in the Donbas?
Do you believe republican state representative, KKK grand wizard, and christian fascist David Duke when he says zionists are committing genocide against white Americans?
If not, then I don’t know why you believe ex-KGB agent and islamo-fascist president of Palestine Mohammad Abbas when he says zionists are committing genocide against Palestine.
Let’s be real, a lot of people are saying it’s genocide. I’d say, if Israel stopped shooting journalists, even more people would be saying it.
Maybe the billionaire islamo-fascists dictators who rule palestine with an iron fists have incentive to lie about genocide. Do you also believe former Republican state representative and grand wizard of the KKK David Duke when he says that zionists are committing genocide against white people in the Americas? Do you believe Putin when he claims zionist ukraine is committing genocide against russians in teh Donbas?
First of all, let’s not conflate criticism of Israel with anti-semitism. I am an ardent opponent of anti-semitism, and while criticism of Israel may well be used as a dog-whistle among anti-semites, that doesn’t mean that all criticism of Israel is inherently anti-semitic. Indeed, I am very happy to know that there are many Jewish people who oppose Israel’s genocide who I can stand with.
As for your question - I don’t believe any individual person’s claims of genocide, but rather consider the evidence. These are the facts as I know them:
- Israeli politicians have gone on-record, several times, all the way back to David Ben-Gurion, about their intent to, at the very least, displace, the arab population in and around Israel. In more modern times, the rhetoric is far stronger and very dehumanising.
- Israel has continually treated Arab Israelis as, at best, second class citizens, denying them citizenship and property rights, displacing them, causing them to flee in conflict and refusing them the right to return to their homes.
- Israel built a wall around Gaza, tightly controlling the flow of people, food, water, medicine and other forms of aid into Gaza. The West bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have been illegally occupied by Israel since 1971.
- A series of conflicts have seen Israeli employing overwhelming and disproportionate military force against Arabs indiscriminately, bombing schools, hospitals, residences, and destroying vital infrastructure, as well as maiming, killing or imprisoning journalists, human rights monitors, aid workers, and so on.
I could go on, but honestly, that’s enough for me to call it like I see it. Israel’s grand ambitions extend at least as far as driving all Arabs out of the territory immediately surrounding Israel, from the banks of the River Jordan to the Mediterranean sea, and possibly further. They are willing to go to any lengths to achieve that goal, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killings, mass murder, bombing civilians, destroying schools, hospitals, mosques, regardless of who is inside, they’re willing to illegally push people out of their homes, bulldoze Palestinian settlements, steal, kill, and lie about it the whole time they’re doing it.
Israel’s grand ambitions extend at least as far as driving all Arabs out of the territory
This is just projection. The only side who’s goal is to drive people from the land are the people chanting “from the river to the sea palestine will be arab”.
Just ignored all of my comment to get upset about a rhyming chant, did we?
You have the projection backwards. It’s the genociders who project into that chant.
He even had to change the ending of the rhyme to make it fit his worldview.
The original chant In Arabic is “Min al-mayyeh li-mayyeh, Filastin arabiyyeh” which means “from the water to the water palestine is arab”.
Here are protestors at Columbia University chanting “Filastin arabiyyeh” while waving palestinain flags.
Isn’t the point of protest to not let people forget about things? How easy would it be in the west to not notice, the media certainly isn’t keeping up on it. Every time I see one of these I think, that’s a braver person than me, and thank fucking god for the Streisand effect. No downvote, but strong disagree.
The point of protest isn’t to disrupt the peace of those that do not wish to hear the message. It has the opposite effect.
Yes I do think that. Protest tactics change but they seem to gravitate toward noncompliance and, yes, disruption. I honestly can’t think of a successful protest that was all roses and hugs. Could be missing something.
Ahhh… so, say you own a restaurant… and you pay a pianist to perform music while people dine- you’d be fine if he went on rants about civil unrest and war in foreign countries between songs?
I guarantee you’d fire him when you saw how it affected your profits.
Absolutely, because that makes my life more difficult, as a restaurant owner. I don’t feel like that says anything about it tactically or morally though.
That hair splits very fine.
I’m speaking from within a fictional situation that was presented. If I were someone else would I fire someone…the answer is probably. My principled take as myself, I wouldn’t for the reasons I’ve been talking about throughout this thread. Everyone has different reasons for what they do. OP put their opinion and I put mine. I don’t know what else to say…
So it’s also okay for cellular companies to interrupt your phone calls with their support for politics issues? What about movies? Cool with a 10 minute long ad about civil unrest in the middle of a movie you paid to see? Can I interrupt your work to explain to you how bad some people have it in places you don’t k ow existed?
How about if I stopped ambulances from caring for the sick an injured? Because this shit ACTUALLY happened- and it is what happens when a line isn’t drawn between “making your point heard” and violating people’s rights.
Yeah, a phone company is never never never going to alienate customers like that. And the power dynamics in that situation are quite different. If you’re looking to suss out the limits of what I think about this than you’ve done it. I 100% agree people shouldn’t come to physical harm. Again, that’s quite a different situation than the one described in the article though.
Cool with a 10 minute long ad about civil unrest in the middle of a movie you paid to see?
He interrupted mid song for 10 minutes? Or was it a 2 minute preamble and then a regular performance?
“Oh, you’re fine with this thing? What if it was something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT?!”
I agree, but I also think it depends.
Protesters have blocked hospital entrance ways which is absolutely NOT okay, it can result in people dying and I think the protesters involved should be charged with manslaughter in those cases.
I think I’m fine with disruptive protests as long as it’s not harmfully disruptive. I also think disruptive protests can piss people off and make them angry at you rather than what you are protesting about, and it can end up hurting your cause.
100% agreed
The point of protest is literally exactly that. The point of protest is to make the message impossible to ignore.
I’d urge you to look up the definition of protest and see where it says that it should be disruptive?
See-
I’m talking about REAL definitions. Not what people have turned it into.
And when exactly did “people turn it into” that? The purpose of a picket line is to be disruptive, and people have been doing those for over a century.
When did they say it had to be disruptive? They just said the point was to not let people forget.
If you consider the statement “x is bad” to be disruptive then I wonder what you think a “non-disruptive protest” actually is. Thoughts and prayers?
You can not let people forget about a thing without injecting it into everthing that exists.
The point is- that venue and event wasn’t there for them to proclaim their stance on politics. This was the right move.
End of story.
End of story.
Oh, okay then.
HEY EVERYBODY! JIMSAMTANKO SAYS IT’S THE END OF STORY! I guess we all have to stop talking about it now.
No- just the end of the story for me. Feel free to blather on about how you have the right to pester, annoy, and inconvenience people because you believe, or don’t believe in something being done somewhere-
my opinion will remain unchanged regardless.
Feel free to blather on about how you have the right to pester, annoy, and inconvenience people because you believe, or don’t believe in something being done somewhere-
Oh God the projection…
I didn’t find the definition that said “block ambulances”, and I have to say that was effective when the hillbillies did that. I hope even your idea of “annoy people who can’t help” doesn’t include critical services.
I hate the message you started with. But I agree with this. These modern protesters are scum bags who often are a major reason why their own cause never makes much progress.
Ah yes, the massively disruptive tactic of checks notes saying genocide is 1) bad and 2) happening prior to playing a piano piece. You’re right, he’s really crossed the line this time. How can he ever expect to garner support like that?
He’s almost as bad as the people with megaphones and signs marching and repeating chants!
Not this guy, I mean the protestors targeting random people like deflating tires of people going to work, throwing soup at art and standing in traffic. I don’t get how this guy was protesting. It sounds like he was just saying common sense things. I don’t get what the protest is here. Saying you support journalist doesn’t seem like a protest. Just a statement
WDYT about this bit of the article?
Gillham also performed a song by György Ligeti, where the pianist had noted Ligeti was from a Holocaust-surviving family and he spoke about the political background of the piece.
I think that’s relevant to the point. He was not there to protest events in Gaza. He was there to perform music.
End of story.
The quote isn’t about Gaza! It was fine to be “political” about holocaust survivors but not Gaza. That’s the point.
I wish you bland music in your future. Bury your head in the sand and enjoy it.
You CLEARLY didn’t read the article:
“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.”
I did. The point I was making is that he got dropped because of political Gaza but not the holocaust. Both of these are confronting and might upset people who just want to listen to some music.
If he spoke out against Gaza and in support of Israel, would you still be against his cancellation?
Because if you can’t honestly say that you are against this regardless of his stance- than you’re not here to debate the point-
You’re just here to toss in your support for a cause.
My entire point is about the concept of what is and isn’t not acceptable for hired entertainment to include in their performance.
I’d be against him speaking against Gaza because I’m against genocide. How is this so hard to understand.
Tell me, when was the last time you went to a concert?
Because you should know, it’s very common for someone to talk a little before the concert or before the piece about the piece itself, what inspired it, how it fits into the programme, etc.
That’s what he did here. He explained what inspired the writing of this piece. No different to a conductor explaining that Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony was dedicated to the city of Leningrad, which at the time it was premiered was being besieged by the Nazis. Or explaining how his 9th Symphony was a deliberate mockery of earlier composers’ grand 9th symphonies, as a way to subvert expectations placed on him by Stalin’s regime. Or how Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony was written at first in honour of Napoleon, and then later changed to “celebrate the memory of a great man” after Napoleon went against Beethoven’s republican idealism and crowned himself emperor.
Music has always been political, and in modern times no concert is complete without at least some discussion about the context in which the piece was written. That should be as true for a piece written to commemorate victims of a modern-day war as it is for mid-20th century or early 19th century pieces.
And how many concert venues have canceled acts because of their political affiliation/things they said/things they did.
MANY.
As is their right to do so. If you want to proclaim your support for a cause, do it on your fucking website. Not to a captive audience that didn’t pay to put up with it.
This is the most stupid take I read today and I was browsing Reddit earlier.
That’s NEAT!
The good people of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra disagree with you.
It’s astonishing many organizations in wealthy democracies are terrified of the slightest criticism of Israel’s genocide.
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).
Well… yeah, that’s a fair point. The strength of Israel’s lobby has a ton to do with it (and lobbies like China can accomplish the same types of things). It’s 100% true.
They are terrified of repercussions from the US.
If America were forced to choose between Australia and Israel, it won’t be Israel.
Australia has more money.
Hahaha, no American politician ever calls themselves an Australinist. They are fucking nuts, like fanatically end of the world supporting Israel.
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.
Sure, but that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? That Australia is run by cowards.
No need to choose, Australia is easy to bully
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What a bunch of fascists.
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?
it was pretty specific if you read the article
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.
There were multiple conventional non-nuclear bombings during world war 2 that caused more deaths in one night then in the entire 75 year conflict. For example, the bombing of Tokyo which used conventional weapons.
I’m not sure what your point is, here. If the bombing was worse, you’d be happy to consider it genocide? How many people does it take for a bombing campaign to pass your “genocide” barrier? Is that in whole numbers, or as a percentage of population?
I would also consider those acts of bombing to be absolutely unjustified, evil, crimes against humanity and wholly deplorable. I’ve even spoken out against the bombings of civilians on this very account.
In order to consider it genocide I would say there has to be a risk of actually finishing genocide.
Do you consider palestine’s attack against civilians on oct 7th genocide?
If the attack against the music festival was worse, you’d be happy to consider it genocide? How many people does it take for a murder campaign to pass your “genocide” barrier? Is that in whole numbers, or as a percentage of population?
Uh, sorry, I didn’t realise we could just come up with our own “considerations” of words with meanings which are widely acknowledged under international law.
Here’s the basic criteria: State killing, maiming, attempted reduction of the birth rate, forcibly transferring children, or inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.
For the October 7 attacks to be acknowledged as a genocide, firstly, the State of Palestine would need to be acknowledged as a bona-fide state and Hamas recognised as the government of that country. Then we could discuss what the potential intent of the attacks were, but I don’t think that it would be a stretch to consider Hamas a genocidal organisation, or to consider the October 7 attacks genocidal in that case. These attacks, no matter how deplorable, do not justify genocide as a response.
Are you willing to acknowledge Israel as genocidal under the same framework?
Because everyone knows who is killing journalists in Gaza
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.
Even the ones who were keeping hostages in their homes?
Oh, the IOF said it? Must be true 😂. The only thing they say concretely and sourced in the article is that he worked at a “pro Hamas” media outlet (can’t speak to this claim, but remember all the other things the IOF has claimed are Hamas), and that he wrote a piece for Al Jazeera.
Disregarding all that. Assuming that this guy was a journalist who was also a gun carrying member of Hamas and held actual hostages in his house, does that say anything about the record number of journalists that have been assasinated by the IOF?
I think it pretty clearly doesn’t.
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.
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.
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.
Truth is treason in the empire of lies
This is absolutely untrue.
He probably did say this, but he was cancelled because of his comments about israel.
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.”
