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Two weeks ago a photo was shared online of a family in Gaza. Mariam Al-Amassi and her four young children, Karim, Alma, Rima and Ramiz, are fighting to survive in Gaza. Their home was destroyed by the Israeli army in an airstrike. They have no shelter or safety, and are constantly struggling to find basic necessities, as Israel continues to block aid from entering the strip. They are already experiencing malnutrition. Baby Ramiz, only 10 months old, was born during the war and has only known the bombing.
The photo that was shared shows the four children, holding the flag of Palestine and signs reading:
‘Sydney in our hearts’ … ‘Thank you for the humanitarian march for us’
On the other side of the world, 300,000 people are marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in an awe-inspiring display of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Despite the NSW Labor Government and Police desperately trying to ban the march, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people mobilised in defiance – demonstrating far more humanity than any politician. One of Australia’s most iconic landmarks is now forever a shining symbol of Palestine solidarity.
For the last 22 months, the Australian Labor government has been backing Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. They have provided diplomatic cover for Israel, asserting its ‘right to defend itself’ as it flattens the Gaza Strip, murdering, starving and displacing millions. They continue to provide direct financial and military support. Earlier last year, the government signed a $917 million dollar defence contract with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, which has seen its profit rocket since the genocide started. Australia is also a direct supplier of weapons components to Israel; it is the only manufacturer of the bomb-bay doors of the F-35 fighter jet, which the Israel Defence Forces use to bomb Gazans. Without these vital components, Israel’s air force would be grounded.
The government has refused to end these shipments; Foreign Minister Penny Wong lied when she argued that Australia only exports components to Israel that are “non-lethal in nature”. As if the trigger of a firearm is “non-lethal” in nature. Defence Minister Richard Marles was, accidentally, more honest in an interview on Insiders, plainly declaring that Australia “is an F35 country” and part of international supply chains connecting to manufacturer Lockheed Martin in the United States. Labor continues to consistently lie about Australia’s direct complicity in the horrors being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.
If the government has been giving weapons and support to the genocide with one hand, they’ve used their other hand to smash up Palestine activism at home. Anthony Albanese and Labor have repeatedly slandered movement activists, and are considering recommendations to cut public funding to universities who maintain the right for students to protest for Palestine.
In the face of the horrific, indefensible images of starving families and concentration camps, Albanese and Labor have shifted their rhetoric slightly. They have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state, the same position they expelled their party-member Senator Fatima Payman for supporting only a year ago. But these token actions are only a distraction. Recognising statehood means nothing if you continue to materially and politically support the ongoing subjugation of Palestinians.
The demands of the Palestine movement have always been clear: the Australian government must impose sweeping economic sanctions on Israel. It must end its two-way arms trade, and cut all diplomatic ties with the apartheid state.
That’s why on August 24, there will be a nationwide march for Palestine across the entire country. In Brisbane, that means taking over the iconic Story Bridge in the city. Just like in Sydney, we want every person who stands against genocide and apartheid, who supports Palestinians right to freedom, to march with us. That means taking a day off study, finishing that essay a day before, to come out and stand on the right side of history. When we look back on this horrific genocide, we should want to say we did everything in our power to stand up and oppose it.
To know that our message is being heard in Palestine, and is giving hope to families like Mariam’s. To tell people in Gaza and the West Bank that millions of ordinary people around the world stand with them, and will march again and again to hold our governments accountable for their crimes – that alone is reason to never stop fighting.
Written by Edward Cahill
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