You are going to pay either way
As you will have seen online, rapper Macklemore has been removed from Ed Sheeran's tour as a support act due to his support for Palestinians and his vocal demands that the genocide should end.
Macklemore released a statement that is one of the best I've read by a celebrity. There are a few lines in it that really struck me as things we just don't talk about enough.
"...before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.
“The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.”
When we speak out against genocide, and when we explicitly support Palestinian liberation and affirm the humanity of Palestinians, there is inevitably backlash.
Every time I post about Palestine, I lose subscribers. This directly impacts my income. This directly impacts my ability to support my family.
But I must keep that in perspective. I could lose every single subscriber tomorrow because I used my voice to support Palestinians, and I will go back to work doing something else.
Before I was a writer, I had plenty of jobs. I've done everything from being a public servant to dressing as a Playboy bunny and serving drinks to lecherous boomers (the public service job was far more stressful). I have cleaned a mussel machine while selling fish, while rich pricks argued with me over the price of snapper. I have worked for $6 an hour, holding trays of champagne for hours on end, until my wrists ached and my feet blistered.
I would prefer to go back to any of these jobs over selling my soul by staying silent on the violation of humanity.
I would be fine. Because nobody is trying to kill my children.
The day that I think, 'maybe I shouldn't stand up for my trans whānau and friends by talking about Harry Potter because I'll definitely lose subscribers' is the day I start to lose my humanity.
In a world where sometimes all it feels like we have is our voice, we simply must use it. We're living in a time where there is literally a cost of living. And the cost is being dictated to us by billionaires who see us as inhuman.
There is a cost to everything. And I - along with everyone else trying to make it in this world - am trying to work out what cost is reasonable and what isn't.
Yes, there's a cost - lost income, lost ability to support my family - but there's a cost to not speaking out, too.
I had many transphobic emails that upset me after Monday's post. And as I said a bunch of people ended their paid subscriptions in protest. But I also had an email from someone saying my post made them change their mind about consuming Harry Potter, which is the engine that powers JK Rowling's transphobic campaign.
That makes it worth it to me.
Ultimately, I earn less and have to redo my budget - but are people aware of what trans people are facing right now? It's horrific. It's traumatising. What is lost income compared to the dehumanisation faced by trans people all of the time?
What is a lost podcast opportunity, or not being invited back to a writers festival for being pro-Palestine, when my friends face being gunned down for trying to get water for their children?
Perspective is everything. Everything has a cost, but it's absolutely worth it to speak out against injustice. Cowardice has a cost too - and the cost is far higher than lost opportunities.
Macklemore said: "Taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I’ve lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”
"When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there's a phrase in Arabic: لا شكر على واجب—'La shukra ala wajeb.' There is no thanks for a duty. That stayed with me. Because that's what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human."
I think the most important thing Macklemore said - the thing that will be remembered over mealy-mouthed, both-sides, genocide apologia by Pink and Ed Sheeran - was this:
“I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say.
“Free Palestine.”
“If those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”
We each have a stage. No matter how small your stage is - you'll be faced with the question of how you will use it. You will be faced with a cost. You will decide what is worth paying it.
Now is the time for courage. We face rising fascism, rising tides and an oligarchy with an insatiable appetite for destruction. What we all do now will impact the future our children live in.
Speak up - or don't.
But there's always a cost.
Donate to the Aotearoa 2 Gaza Mutual Aid fund. Here's where your funds go:
Account name: Prosean Pictures Account number: 06-0574-0906928-00
