From festivals with a dress-up festival theme to a zombie-themed one – they are acceptable and a whole lot of fun. But Brisbane’s music festival, Hammered, comes with a slightly different theme. Hammered is a Neo-Nazi music festival that is held in a secret location each year and which consists of bands that only play racially demeaning music.
Obviously protests have risen against the festival, with Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke also speaking out against the event saying: “The theme of this music festival goes against Australia’s multicultural values. Any gathering that results in espousing hate and racism against any group is abhorrent to our community. There may be recourse for offended parties under the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) to make a complaint about this event: the RDA makes unlawful acts that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person on the basis of race, colour, national or ethnic origin.”
In defence of the festival, the organisers of Hammered, The Hammerskins, have played the ‘freedom of speech’ card in an attempt to get around the festival.
