Massive Attack played Singapore on Wednesday (7/29), where at the end of the show they held up a Palestinian flag. Singapore has very strict policies on public speech and assembly, and prohibit displaying foreign national emblems, and Massive Attack — who have long been supporters of Palestine — say they were detained after the show and questioned by authorities. Singapore has since banned the group indefinitely from performing there again.
On Sunday, Massive Attack made a statement on their socials:
Following our performance at the Star Theatre, Singapore on 29th July, we were surprised and disappointed that our entire band was detained by the police, isolated, and separately questioned—with some members subjected to hotel room searches and temporary passport confiscation.
Before we set foot on the stage and again at the end of the show, large sections of the auditorium organically led chants of “Free Palestine” presumably aware but undeterred that this spontaneous expression alone could violate their government’s censorship laws.
For our part, we did not imagine that merely holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognised by 157 countries (Palestine) would violate any law.
On reflection, we are proud to have made this impromptu expression with our fans in Singapore who clearly felt a moral imperative to show solidarity with the people of Palestine in their ongoing reality of illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and we salute their courage in doing so. Right across the world, the continued inaction of the “international community” is moving citizens to personal risk.
This surreal experience was a reminder of the importance of defending universal human rights and freedom of expression wherever those rights are threatened, including at home in the UK where, extraordinarily, we still see peaceful protestors arrested under terrorism laws for holding up handwritten signs protesting genocide—despite appeals from all sides of the political spectrum.
We’re grateful to the people of Singapore who made us feel so welcome, and hope that the Government of Singapore will choose to ratify the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and allow their citizens expressions of conscience without fear of state prosecution.
As we were saying … Free Palestine.
xM
You can watch a Reuters news report about the controversy below.
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