The Australian Music Students’ Association calls for a complete ceasefire in Gaza, for the Australian Government to recognise Palestinian statehood, an end to the colonial occupation of Palestine, and for all educational institutions to cut their ties with Israel. For over 8 months the Israeli Government has been carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, and we refuse to be complicit.
There are no universities left in Gaza. There are no safe places left to go; Rafah is being bombed. Over 35,000 people have died since Israel’s ground invasion of October 7 2023 and millions are at immediate risk of starvation. Cultural and religious sites are reduced to rubble whilst journalists are being killed for reporting. People are being attacked in the West Bank and Lebanon. The Israeli Government is deliberately breaching international law by committing war crimes and abusing human rights.
In summary, we support the following actions:
Immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza: The return of Gaza to Palestine under free democratic leadership, without any restrictions imposed by Israel.
Universities enact the calls of their Gaza solidarity encampments: Including the cessation of partnerships with complicit Israeli institutions and research in defence industries, and divestment from arms manufacturers.
Artists use their platform and medium to call for an end to the genocide: Not using the guise of apoliticality excused by career impacts to avoid condemning war crimes, and with that, working towards a National Week of Action by artists.
Recognition of a Palestinian state: Including criticising the Australian Government for its delay in doing this, and a call to the Labor Party to respect its party platform.
Recognition of the distinction between Zionism and Judaism: Disagreeing with actions of Israel are not disagreeing with actions of Jewish people.
We recognise that this is a difficult issue for many, with a large number of people having personal connections to all parties involved, and we are committed to ensuring our conservatoria remain safe places for cultural and self expression and that the wellbeing of students is at the forefront of discussions.
We reject all forms of racism and discrimination including Islamophobia, antisemitism, sexism, and queerphobia, and will not hesitate to act if we find these at our institutions.
This conflict did not begin on October 7th; it traces back 76 years to the first Nakba – when Palestinians were forced out of their homes for a new Israeli state to be created. This genocide in Gaza stems from the apartheid carried out by Israel to make Palestinians second-class citizens within their own nation, with Gaza cut off from the rest of the world for the last 20 years. With this understanding, it isn’t hard to realise why the horrors of October 7th happened: they were desperate people at their breaking point fighting against their oppressors, and it is the Israeli Government’s fault for creating this situation and putting its people in harm’s way.
We are not denying the significance of the land of Palestine to Jewish religion and culture, and appreciate that many communities hold strong connections to the Palestinian lands. To deny any of these connections would be wilfully ignorant and/or acting in bad faith. We also recognise one of the intentions behind the creation of Israel was to provide survivors of the Holocaust a safe place of refuge. However, the creation of an exclusive Jewish ethnostate through the displacement of people already living in Palestine is not a legitimate means of providing refuge, and instead is a colonial project using one genocide to justify another.
With this, it is essential to understand, now more than ever, that Zionism is not Judaism. When people conflate the two it only furthers the bigotry inflicted on all people – condemning Israel is not anti-semitic, nor are all Israeli people guilty of supporting this genocide. This is a crucial distinction.
It is regrettable that some both within and external to Israel wish to conflate the two. By misusing the Star of David, they harm the integrity of the symbol and harm those who wish to use it in different circumstances. By carrying out this genocide in the name of all Jews, it harms those who do not support it.
We rebuke groups around the country who repeatedly claim pro-Palestinian action as antisemitic, particularly the right-wing, Zionist political parties, media outlets, and organisations claiming to represent Jewish people. It is true that there is a significant rise in antisemitic actions which needs to be addressed, but the overuse of this term against any who criticise the State of Israel and not Jewish people, means that actual claims of antisemitism cannot receive the attention required.
There are those who support Palestine for antisemitic reasons. We make it clear that we do not associate with them, and condemn them for their actions.
Students, artists, and our organisations are not the ones to end the genocide – we cannot stop the bombs and would be foolish to think as such. But as students we can demand our institutions not use our money and minds to participate in industries that harm, through direct research and investments in defence and war industries, avoiding academic partnerships with institutions who benefit from those. And as artists we can speak out against these atrocities and shed light on them, urging those with the power to impact change to do so.
The arts and music bring people together, and we implore all Australian artists to use their platforms to condemn these atrocities and denounce complicity to it. It is also important for artists to not engage with those complicit in and benefiting from the settler-colonial state. This means not accepting sponsorships on the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction list, declining performing at festivals run by organisations on such list, etc. This does not mean, though, general banning of Israeli art and culture – it is important to remember that all expressions of art are legitimate, and banning art only hurts the artists, those who most times are not carrying out these crimes against humanity.
All art is inherently political, and it is the duty of those gifted with the talents to tell stories through art to speak out against that which is wrong. Artists should not use excuses of the impact on their career to why they maintain an apolitical front – these people have breached their social duty and instead prefer to use their medium to get money and popularity.
While it is disappointing that one of the most widely shared images of the genocide is created by artificial intelligence, we see this as a gateway to activism and understanding. It is essential to educate ourselves as well as to educate those around us – spread Palestinian voices, and spread Palestinian stories.
We demand cutting ties with Israeli universities not to suppress education and research, but because they are integral to the Zionist settler-colonial project. Whilst many of those involved in the University may not be explicitly Zionist themselves, their institutions are. Until these institutions can resolve their complicity and participation in apartheid, violence against Palestinians, and participation in arms manufacturing, we will not support collaborations with them.
The main campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is in Mount Scopus, an occupying Israeli enclave within the West Bank designed to expand its territory and assert its sovereignty, as defined by the UN Security Council Resolution 2334. Technicon (the Israel Institute of Technology) is renowned as being a significant part of Israel’s high-tech industry, with its graduates frequently commended for their work in the establishment and continuation of Israel, particularly within the Israeli Defence Force.
We support those at university solidarity encampments around the country, and support their demands of their universities. These are not antisemitic places, despite what those in the media may have you to believe. They are diverse places of learning and knowledge sharing, where people of all backgrounds and politics come together to support Gaza and bring hope for each other. This is similar for the weekly rallies around the country.
We encourage anyone able to join in the encampments by joining the camp, playing music, or attending their events, and push for the universities to enact their demands by signing petitions, attending student general meetings, and however else you can. This does also mean that these camps must collaborate with the university and meet with executives when provided the chance so they can put their demands and find a solution to it.
We note that all students have the right to safely access their education and be afforded the respect they would give to others. Whilst people may feel uncomfortable by the encampments and protest, that is the purpose of a protest. It becomes an issue when specific individuals are targeted for their politics, when those who wish not to engage are forced into it, and legitimate hate speech is said.
To this extent, it must be reaffirmed that “from the River to the Sea” is not an antisemitic phrase. It is one that calls for equality to all people throughout historic Palestine, in the form of a single multicultural state. It is only an objectionable phrase to those who support apartheid and Jewish supremacy, and it does not call for the absolute destruction of Jews within this area, just the dissolution of the apartheid state that continually rejects peace proposals and respectful recognition of two-states.
In saying all of this, we are disappointed that there are some that seek to politically benefit from this genocide and the media attention raised by the encampments. Those who use the large amount of political energy and significant numbers of people attending rallies, to push and promote their organisation over pushing for a joint front to end the genocide; and those who refuse to collaborate on events when it is not overseen by their organisation and they cannot take the credit.
There is also a lack of clarity about management of funds donated to the encampments, and reports of spending on unnecessary items, and so we encourage directly donating to groups such as the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
Palestine should be recognised as an autonomous and independent state, and we condemn the Australian Government for delaying its joining with over 140 other countries in doing so. The vast majority of countries that don’t recognise Palestine are those that were colonists or founded by colonial powers, and it is shameful but not surprising that Australia continues to join these countries whilst abuses are ongoing against its own First Nations peoples.
This is particularly upsetting considering the Labor Party has in its National Platform the recognition of a two-party system of secure and recognised borders between Palestine and Israel, and for the Federal Government to recognise Palestine. When given the opportunity to do this, Senator Fatima Payman was the only member of the Party brave enough to cross the floor and respect this platform, and for that she is being punished. The Party has allowed right-wing Zionist groups to hold too much power over the rest of its members and the people of Australia, and has thus found itself unable to commit to a stance for humanity that most want and demand.
Repeatedly, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has missed the mark in statements about the genocide, continually lacking to condemn Israel for its actions and instead stating empty platitudes for peace and respect of international law and human rights. She has taken actions based on clearly false information, which has brought more pain and suffering on people that could have been avoided. It is necessary that hostages on both sides be released, but putting as much emphasis on Hamas’ 120 Israeli hostages equally to the over 35,000 dead Palestinians shows that some lives are seemingly more important than others.
We understand the toll that such pertinent issues can take on the individual, however we ask you to acknowledge the privilege of your position. We are able to turn off our phones, we are able to scroll past, we are able to go to university, go to work, see our families – those in Gaza are living this every hour of every day. So, whilst we ask you to ensure your mental health as a priority, we implore you to do everything within your capacity and power to make a difference – everyone is able to impact change, no matter how big or small.
Particularly during Pride Month, we stand firmly against the use of queer identities to pinkwash this genocide, especially from a country that does not allow same-sex marriage. For Israel to claim it is carrying out these atrocities to push for better queer rights in the Middle East is something we will not accept. Solidarity is not transactional, and thus the treatment of queer people within Palestine is not relevant to our activism right now. This can lead to unfortunate overshadowing of those who are queer in Palestine, and ignores their real experiences of queerphobia.
Alongside this, we recommend the National Union of Students introduce mandatory gift disclosures as part of the public Conflicts of Interest register of its Executive and Officers, so that students are best able to keep their representatives to account. Historically, the NUS has faced issues with its Executive going on trips to Israel and the Occupied Territories courtesy of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, potentially influencing understanding of the conflict from a Zionist perspective.
Whilst we may not be able to directly stop these crimes against humanity, we must still do the most we can within the sphere of influence we have. We commit to use our skills in the arts to bring people together to join and support those who have been leading activism for Gaza and Palestine, and will organise a National Week of Action to help in this goal.
From the River to the Sea.
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Alexander Poirier President | Tirion Luff-White President | Josephine Sa President |
University of Sydney Conservatorium Students’ Association | University of Melbourne Music Students’ Society | University of New South Wales Music Society |