Hundreds of dancers dressed as John Farnham are planning to descend on King George in a flash mob to oppose Crisafulli’s new legislation that has been introduced to criminalise two specific phrases that call for Palestinian liberation.
John Farnham’s 1988 rock classic, Two Strong Hearts, includes the lyric, ‘two strong hearts, reaching out forever like a river to the sea’, which bears some similarity to the banned phrases. In the last few weeks, the Queensland police have ramped up their enforcement of the laws with state censorship of artworks, including two featuring the Farnham song.
The protest has already attracted national mainstream media attention and big numbers are expected at the protest which kicks off a weekend of action to resist the laws.
Remah Naji, spokesperson for Justice for Palestine Magandjin said: “As a Palestinian, I find these laws extremely discriminatory. When Palestinian toddlers are being abducted in daylight and tortured by Israeli forces, and when Palestinian mothers are forced to give birth and undergo surgeries without painkillers, Crisafulli is absurdly asking Queenslanders to watch our words lest they cause discomfort. We will not.”
Human rights and international law are too fundamental to be disregarded for the comfort of those complicit in the killing of civilians. Not only do we refuse to condone war crimes, we also speak out against our country’s involvement in apartheid Israel’s atrocities and illegal occupation.
Israel and its accomplices will not dictate what we can and cannot say. We will sing, we will dance and we will remind the world that Palestine will be free from its [] to its [].”
Dr Deb Cleland who choreographed the dance said, “We sing and dance our hearts out to this Australian rock anthem to show the absurdity of the new laws restricting our freedom of speech. The Crisafulli government is trying to intimidate Queenslanders from publicly supporting Palestine. We will never be deterred from the fight to end the Israeli occupation and genocide.”
