After their slogan was outlawed, pro-Palestinian activists turned to a karaoke classic

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — The flash mob descended on Brisbane’s city square, wearing double denim and blond wigs in the style of a legendary Australian singer as they danced with wild abandon to one of his 1980s hits.

In an unlikely pairing, pro-Palestinian protesters have adopted John Farnham’s song “Two Strong Hearts” as an unofficial anthem, because its lyrics bear a coincidental resemblance to a political slogan recently banned by the state government in northeastern Australia.

So far, 25 people have been arrested under new hate-speech legislation in the state of Queensland that threatens a two-year prison sentence for using the phrases “From the river to the sea” or “Globalize the intifada.”

Both slogans are regularly used by pro-Palestinian protesters and are highly controversial. Critics say the former demands the elimination of the Israeli state – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – and incites violence against Jewish people. In the past two years, the US House of Representatives has condemned it, and the British government is examining its use, as part of a review of hate speech laws due to report in May.

Queensland is the only Australian state, so far, to have introduced a specific law against the phrase, and few direct comparisons exist worldwide. The ban was passed in March, just months after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish gathering in December at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in the southern state of New South Wales (NSW). “We must all understand, words became vandalism, vandalism became violence, violence became murder,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli wrote days after the shooting.

When the state proposed a ban on “From the river to the sea,” some pro-Palestinian activists noticed an echo of the forbidden phrase in the Farnham ballad “Two Strong Hearts,” which was also released in the US in 1988 as a duet featuring Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick.

“We’ve got two strong hearts
Reaching out together like a river to the sea”

No one was arrested for singing the lyrics at last Friday’s flash mob – they’re not exactly the same as the proscribed phrase, which is outlawed when used to menace, harass or offend. Exceptions are allowed for “genuine artistic, religious, educational, historical, legal or law enforcement purpose(s)” and conduct “in the public interest.”

But pro-Palestinian activist Remah Naji said the ban had sent a chill through the local protest movement.

“Even though these laws, in my view, are stupid, they’re still serious and they’re very dangerous,” said Naji, spokesperson for political group Justice for Palestine Magan-djin. “This could be a risk of up to two years in jail.”

Response to a massacre

After the Bondi attack, Australian authorities came under intense pressure to show they were taking strong action to stamp out antisemitism.

Queensland moved quickly, proposing and passing legislation within a month to ban what the government called “terrorist slogans” – a reference to listed terror group Hamas, which includes the words in its 2017 constitution.

It was in February that some observers noticed the line in the Farnham song. Known to his legions of fans as “Farnsey,” the singer had mixed success on the international charts but at home his powerful ballads have been belted out for generations around karaoke machines nationwide.

Artist James Hillier, who goes by the moniker Nordacious, started drawing on his iPad, capturing Farnham’s blond mullet and slices of watermelon – a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

“I grew up on John Farnham. He’s been a soundtrack to my childhood, and so I thought I’d make a piece to highlight the potential absurdity headed our way,” said Hillier.

“At the time, a lot of people sort of pushed back and said I was being hyperbolic… And then, as it turns out, what I did half-jokingly, literally came to pass.” The design was printed on T-shirts for sale on Hillier’s website, until police phoned him to suggest he take them down.

Sydney-based artist Scott Marsh flew to Brisbane to paint Farnham’s face on the wall of a city car park. He criticized the law as “ridiculous government overreach” that sets a “very dangerous precedent.”

Since word spread about the mural, it’s been defaced; the words “river to the sea” have been painted over and later re-added in a rough, spray-painted scrawl (not by the artist). Marsh said police haven’t phoned him, but he’s not in a hurry to return to Queensland.

And so, despite fears of a police response, protesters danced on Friday in Brisbane’s King George Square, throwing their arms in the air, waving fluorescent sweatbands and shaking colored tights, as the strains of “Two Strong Hearts” filled the air.

“The intention of the legislation is to narrow the space in which people can express Palestinian solidarity,” said organizer Ellen Roberts.

“The intention of our flash mob action was to push back hard on that, to recreate space in the most kind of like joyful, fun way that drew on this iconic Australian song.”

Farnham’s representatives told CNN that the use of the sound recording requires specific permissions and an appropriate license. “There are currently no such permissions or licenses in place for the use of this sound recording,” the statement said.

Hillier declined to comment when asked if the singer’s representatives had been in touch about the use of his image.

No arrests were made among the flash mob, but the “joyful” atmosphere evaporated on Saturday when around 20 people were arrested for saying or displaying the banned phrase at a rally held to test the boundaries of the law. Two more arrests on Sunday took the total number of alleged offenders to 25.

A Queensland Police spokesperson said officers were enforcing the law, adding “the application of legislation is ultimately informed by judicial consideration through the courts.”

“Everyone in Queensland has the right to feel safe and free from threatening or victimising behaviour,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Answering Jewish community concerns

Antisemitic attacks have surged worldwide since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel for an attack that provoked a ferocious response from Israel that’s razed large parts of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

In Australia, synagogues were firebombed, cars torched and Jewish community buildings defaced – the types of attacks recently seen in the United Kingdom that have prompted calls for a crackdown on antisemitism.

The day after the Bondi attack, David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said “for two years, people have paraded in our streets and universities calling for the intifada to be globalised, a catchphrase which means kill Jews wherever you find them.”

“Last night, the intifada was globalized and came to Bondi.”

A committee tasked by the state’s Attorney General Michael Daley has recommended that “Globalize the intifada” be banned in NSW. But earlier this month he indicated that the government was waiting to see what happens in Queensland.

“Legislation in this area is complex and may face constitutional challenge,” he said. The proposed NSW ban doesn’t include the phrase “From the river to the sea,” because the committee found that “its meaning is contested.”

In Queensland, protesters are planning to challenge the law in the High Court, which deals with constitutional matters.

Anthony Gray, a professor of law at Queensland’s Bond University, said there’s a reasonable argument the law infringes on the country’s implied freedom of political communication.

He said it could also be challenged as an attempt by the government to censor one viewpoint over another. Authorities might also struggle to prove its use could incite violence, he added.

“There isn’t much evidence that the mere utterance of these phrases is likely to lead to violence,” said Gray, who has examined its use at pro-Palestinian protests worldwide, including in the United States.

While the High Court case is compiled, more protests are planned, including a fun run in Brisbane – from a river to the sea – to try to involve the broader public, who may not care about war in Gaza, but should care, organizers argue, about government attempts to censor speech.

“There is a strong political campaign as part of this,” said Naji, the Justice for Palestine spokesperson. “As much as we want to win in the courts, we also want to win on the streets.”

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