Macklemore Joins Student Camp In Sydney To Share Support For Palestine

Macklemore is currently darting around Australia for a massive arena tour – and while he visited Sydney (Eora) for a three-show stint over the weekend, he stopped by the University of Sydney to support a student encampment protesting for Palestine.

In a video shared on Twitter this morning (May 14), the rapper can be seen standing with a group of students holding a Palestinian flag, sharing a message of solidarity and support for Palestine: “What up? It’s Macklemore. Just want to shout out all the students at [the] Sydney University encampment. Come down. Support. Free Palestine.”

American rapper and singer Macklemore joined a student camp at Sydney University, raising his voice in solidarity and support for Palestine.

FREE PALESTINE

❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/e4Y91rDiI0

— nooriihehe (@noorhopes) May 13, 2024

It comes after Macklemore made waves with the searing protest song Hind’s Hall, which arrived (and subsequently went viral) last week. In the song, the artist born Ben Haggerty slammed the wider music industry for its silence over the atrocities currently going down in Palestine: “The music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence / What happened to the artist, what do you got to say? / If I was on a label, you could drop me today / And be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page / I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake.”

Upon its release last Tuesday (May 7), Macklemore confirmed that all proceeds earned from Hind’s Hall will be donated to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East).

The song was then debuted live in Wellington, New Zealand alongside a speech from Macklemore: “I stand here today and every day forward for the rest of my life in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with an open heart, in the belief that our collective liberation is at stake – that we all deserve freedom in this life of ours.”

Meanwhile, a cohort of Australian academics and university staff have published an open letter calling on “Vice Chancellors and management at all Australian universities to immediately meet with students who are protesting on campuses around the country, and work with them in meeting their reasonable and urgent political demands, so that our institutions of learning are not complicit in war crimes and brutal violence upon the Palestinian people.”

Earlier today, the ABC reported that students at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Deakin University in Melbourne (Naarm) have been ordered to shut down their camp, following protests and public tensions.

At the time of writing, the United Nations have reported that more than 35,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza since Israel launched its latest assault on the region last October. It’s said that more than 10,000 of those killed are yet to be properly identified.

Macklemore’s Australian tour will continue in Brisbane (Meanjin) this Friday (May 17), followed by an appearance at the BASSINTHEGRASS festival in Darwin (Garramilla) on Saturday May 18, then back-to-back headline shows in Perth (Boorloo) next Monday (May 20) and Tuesday (May 21). Head here for more info on the remaining dates of the tour.