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Music

Divide and Dissolve Video Removed from YouTube Amid Controversy

The Naarm-based duo have received threats of death and violence because of their "Resistance" video.

Updated, 23/05 2:25PM: YouTube has re-uploaded Divide and Dissolve's "Resistance" video to the service as an age-restricted video. In a statement given to Music Feeds, a representative for YouTube said: “With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call…When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it." Original article below.

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Naarm-based doom band Divide and Dissolve have had multiple music videos removed from YouTube after becoming the subject of a Daily Mail article.

“Resistance”, a clip premiered on Noisey last week that featured the band spraying a fluid that looked like urine onto colonial monuments, was up for just a few hours before becoming the subject of intense criticism from right-wing groups and commentators.

Divide and Dissolve have now confirmed to Noisey that the substance being sprayed in the video is coloured water. Daily Mail, which reposted a portion of the clip, described it as “shameful”. The clip was also picked up by 9 News, Starts at 60 and Bay FM.

3AW commentator Neil Mitchell––who, notably, took offence at a gig poster featuring Spike Fuck’s name on it last year––described the video as “disrespectful”. Mitchell also discussed the video with Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp, who said she was “aghast at the disrespect for our history”.

Australian Conservatives leader and right-wing commentator Cory Bernardi also commented on the video, writing on the Australian Conservatives website that the video showed "an unsettling disrespect for our history and traditions."

Along with the media attention, Divide and Dissolve have also received a high volume of abuse via social media on the post that initially hosted their video. The comments are viewable on Divide and Dissolve’s Facebook page. (The comments include discriminatory and violent language; discretion is advised.) Divide and Dissolve have also confirmed to Noisey that, in addition to these comments, they have received threats of death and violence. The band shared the following statement with Noisey:

Divide and Dissolve's art practice includes decolonising, decentralising, disestablishing, and destroying white supremacy. With our video for “Resistance” we are drawing attention to the memorialisation of genocide, slavery, rape, murder, cultural genocide, and ecocide. The people commenting with hate are clearly displaying the fact that we do not live in a society free from white supremacy, and are perpetrating everything we stand against.

The original video for “Resistance” is viewable here.