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A tweet in which Dua Lipa posted about the rights of indigenous Kosovar Albanians has sparked a fierce online debate overnight.
Lipa shared a picture last night (July 19) of a map of Albania with its emblem, alongside a sentence which stated that Kosovar Albanians are an indigenous group of people.
Lipa wrote: “au•toch•tho•nous adjective (of an inhabitant of a place) indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists.”
Lipa’s family have Albanian heritage and the London-born musician spent part of her childhood in Kosovo.
au•toch•tho•nous adjective
(of an inhabitant of a place) indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists pic.twitter.com/OD9bNmLcZ4— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) July 19, 2020
The tweet soon went viral, with parts of social media challenging Lipa’s statement by linking it to a far-right ‘Greater Albania’ ideology or challenging the accuracy of the statement.
Many others, including the ‘Team Albanians’ twitter account came out in support of Dua Lipa, saying her tweet wasn’t “hate speech” as some online fractions deemed, pointing out that the claim that Kosovan Albanians are not true Albanians was itself a claim made by some far right factions.
On Twitter, Team Albanians wrote: “This tweet is not hate speech! Dua is debunking the dangerous far-right claims that Albanians are not indigenous people in the Balkans. This same ideology has even been used by Serbia to justify genocide. Kosovo War: 1M refugees, 11K killed and over 20K raped. #NeverForget”
They also added: “The world’s most streamed female artist debunks dangerous far-right ideology that ‘Albanians are not indigenous people’ with just one tweet.”
NME has reached out to Lipa’s representative for comment.
The world’s most streamed female artist debunks dangerous far-right ideology that “Albanians are not indigenous people” with just one tweet. @DUALIPA
https://t.co/KLLW5DRi3C
— Team Albanians (@TeamAlbanians) July 19, 2020
The world’s most streamed female artist debunks dangerous far-right ideology that “Albanians are not indigenous people” with just one tweet. @DUALIPA
— Team Albanians (@TeamAlbanians) July 19, 2020
Earlier this month, Lipa joined Charli XCX and Elton John and more in signing an open letter to the government calling for a ban on “conversion therapy.” The practice is used with the aim of “changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, per The Trevor Project’s definition.
The letter was addressed to Liz Truss, the Minister for Women And Equalities, and urged her to “introduce a truly effective ban on ‘conversion therapy’.”
Meanwhile, Lipa was one of a number of musicians who attended a Black Lives Matter protest in London last month, as demonstrations were held across the world in the wake of George Floyd’s death while in police custody in Minneapolis in May.
Footage shared on social media showed Lipa in the crowds at the protest alongside her boyfriend, Anwar Hadid. Others in attendance included Primal Scream, Sam Smith and Ghostpoet.
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