Liam Parry was arrested last month for using a Palestinian liberation slogan at a student protest, just an hour after the Liberal National Party state government banned the phrase. Now, he is standing in Brisbane’s Stafford byelection for the newly established Queensland Socialists. He spoke to Red Flag about the ominous restrictions on free speech now being imposed and why activists are determined to challenge the government’s censorship.
You were arrested for using a banned phrase calling for freedom for the Palestinians between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. You uttered the phrase knowing that doing so now carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Why did you think it was important to challenge the ban?
I was arrested about an hour after a series of new laws introduced by the Liberal National Party government in Queensland came into effect. The laws ban people from saying two phrases relating to Palestinian freedom “in a menacing or intimidating way” in public.
The laws came into effect about 20 minutes before a scheduled demonstration organised by Students for Palestine. I was chairing the protest, and I decided to explain why the slogan about the river and the sea is worth defending. It has a long history in the Palestinian solidarity movement. I have spent my whole adult life chanting it at Palestine rallies, something tens of thousands of people across Queensland have done in recent years. It is a call for justice and liberation for the Palestinian people, not a terrorist or violent slogan as the Queensland government alleges.
As part of my explanation, I said the phrase. About a minute after I finished my speech, I was arrested by Queensland police. I was charged with “reciting a prohibited expression”. The idea that there are prohibited expressions in Queensland is frankly ridiculous and frightening. I was held in a watch house for four or five hours.
An ironic detail is that while I was in custody, the police went through my bag and confiscated some papers. One set contained the notes for my speech. The other was a printout of an article about fascism by Ernest Mandel, a Jewish Marxist and Holocaust survivor. In the context of these extreme authoritarian laws, the police chose to confiscate a pamphlet critiquing fascism written by a Holocaust survivor.
My arrest shows what these laws are really about. They are not designed to stop harassment or intimidation. They are designed to target the Palestinian solidarity movement. Nothing I said harassed or intimidated anyone. All I did was call for freedom for the Palestinians.
Over the weekend, thousands of people participated in protests and other events to challenge the ban. What was the result of those actions?
I was the first person arrested under these new laws, but I am far from alone now. More than twenty people have since been arrested and charged. Over the last weekend, there was a wave of creative collective defiance. One standout moment was a 100-strong flash mob during which everyone sang the lyrics to “Two strong hearts”—a John Farnham song that includes a lyric referencing “a river to the sea”. It was a brilliant way to expose the absurdity of laws that criminalise a phrase also found in an iconic Australian pop song.
On Saturday, twenty people defied the laws and were arrested together. It was inspiring to see so many people willing to put themselves on the line. On Sunday, we held a mass protest, marching to parliament to call out the government for these laws. It was a whole weekend of action and resistance. It was powerful to be part of, and I don’t think it will be the last.
Five of my comrades from Students for Palestine have been arrested, young people who’ve been organising Palestine activism on university campuses. They have done a remarkable job standing up for freedom of speech and the right to speak out in solidarity with Palestine.
You’re about to run as the candidate for Queensland Socialists in the Stafford byelection. Why did you decide to run?
Because I believe it is vital to shine a light on these appalling new laws, which are a major attack on freedom of speech by a right-wing authoritarian government. My campaign will speak directly to these restrictions and to the situation in Palestine. We plan to take the fight to the government over free speech and solidarity with Palestine.
But there is no shortage of things to fight for in Queensland. The housing crisis is completely out of control. Rents are through the roof. Brisbane is now, on average, more expensive than Melbourne in many parts of the city. Landlords and property developers are raking in millions while workers struggle to pay rent and make their mortgage payments. The government is ruling for the rich, and workers are suffering.
The LNP has also introduced a range of laws targeting young people, promoted under the slogan “adult crime, adult time”. Children as young as 10 can be locked up like adults. This disproportionately affects Indigenous children, who face a lot of police harassment and poverty. Even more extreme, the government is attempting to expand these provisions so that young people could be sentenced to life in prison for “rioting”.
In Queensland, One Nation has a strong base and is growing. Funded by billionaires, they push anti-migrant racism to divide working people. We need a socialist voice that stands up to that racism and calls out both the Liberal and Labor parties for getting us into this situation.
