Leanne Mohamad. YouTube SCREEN GRAB
15-year-old Leanne Mohamad of Wanstead High School in London bagged victory in Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge with her moving speech, ‘Birds not Bombs’.
Leanne had described the contemporary and historic reality of Palestinians living under Israeli settler colonialism.
The competition was sponsored by Jack Petchey, run by Speakers Trust and regarded itself as the world’s biggest youth speaking event.
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According to the Trust’s CEO Julie Holness, they had taken the concerns of anti-Palestinian blogger Edgar Davidson “very seriously”, confirming Leanne will not be sent to the next and Grand Final stage of the competition.
The judging panel based their decision on two rules they said were breached, saying “the speech must have a positive and uplifting message” and “a speaker should never inflame or offend the audience or insult others.”
Responding to the development, Leanne asked, “Why is it called a “Speak Out Challenge” when I am silenced?”
https://twitter.com/LeanneMohamad/status/736959255815684098
https://twitter.com/LeanneMohamad/status/737039197761097729
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Meanwhile, the Speakers Trust appeared to remove the speech from their website and as well as the YouTube channel.
One of Davidson’s blog, ‘Key Readings’ has an article, which clearly states “Palestinians are a fake creation,” depicting an apparent rhetoric against the Arab nation.
[embed width="625"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37AAsE-Ekw
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The article first appeared on Middle East Monitor
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