Race Matters / This is why we dance (Boiler Room Boycott)

17.08.25
A spectral view of a waveform, warped and glitched
Aired on 17.08.25, 10:00am

“Dance music, at its root, is an art form of community, resistance, and survival. We refuse to let our culture be weaponised for genocide”

Following the galvanising call to action seeded in Turtle island and making its way to our shores, artists are calling for the boycott of Boiler Room in so-called Australia in support of Palestinian Liberation. The club outfit was purchased by KKR - who is widely reported to have investments in military technologies, companies operating on Occupied Palestinian Territories and ownership of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline.

We hear from artists who spearheaded the boycott, Ethan Lyons in conversation with Ethan Savage on what the politics of club culture are on stolen land, and a piece by Prinita Theverajah interrogating the nexus of sonic oppression and how marginalised community wield technology to resist. This is an episode rooted in the sacredness of Palestinian life, and our responsbilities as culture-makers to make active decisions of solidarity and principled action.

Gratitude to folks who helped this episode come together at the final hour including Indicca, Ethan Lyons, Ethan Savage, Nayuka Gorrie, Amy / Foura, Isa, Prinita Theverajah, Jack Colquhoun, Yvonne Hong; gathered and directed by Shareeka Helaluddin.

More Episodes

Tracklist

Mohammed El-Kurd & Clarissa Bitar
This Is Why We Dance
Open Letter to Boycott Boiler Room
Interview
Ethan Savage
Interview
Ethan Lyons with Kaantju, Girramay and Badu Islander broadcaster and DJ Ethan Savage on clubbing on stolen land, toward a decolonial dance politic, rooting actions in First Nations struggle here
Sonic Warfare & Fugitive Frequencies
A reading by Prinita Theverajah on India’s sonic weapons in Kashmir to Israeli psytrance festivals and Australian bush doofs held on stolen land, sound is a tool of control, disrupted by the fugitive frequencies that defiantly pulse with alternative rhythms