A bit over a month ago, I wrote in Red Flag that the hate speech laws tabled by the Queensland LNP government were an “extreme, authoritarian attack on the Palestine movement and civil liberties”.
This was proven correct mere hours after the laws went into effect, when two activists were arrested by Queensland Police at a peaceful Students for Palestine demonstration. Their alleged crime? Using a popular pro-Palestine slogan that calls for equal rights for Palestinians and an end to Israel’s genocide.
Tim Nicholls, the health minister, justified the arrests by claiming that the Bondi gunmen used the slogan before their attack in December. When asked to provide evidence for this baseless claim, his spokesperson explained that he “misspoke”. Nicholls himself is yet to apologise for what appears to be a bald-faced lie.
The LNP claims that the slogan is about spreading hatred and violence; this isn’t true. As Liam Parry, one of those arrested, said in his speech at the rally: “The slogan is about saying those people [the Palestinians] deserve freedom ... it is a slogan of liberation for the people of Palestine”.
He has since been charged and will face court in April. The other activist arrested, a young woman who had the slogan hand-written on her singlet, was released with a caution.
The arrests mark the beginning of a new, dark period in Queensland politics. We knew freedom of speech and expression would be threatened by the laws. That the police immediately used them to arrest peaceful protesters shows how committed this LNP government is to undermining these fundamental rights.
At a press conference on Thursday, Police Minister Dan Purdie continued the government’s line, claiming that police arrested the activists to “stamp out hate”. Again, this is ludicrous. The pro-Palestine movement has been the largest anti-racist movement in this country for generations.
More than that, though, for anyone who knows anything of this LNP government, Purdie’s hypocrisy is eye-watering.
His government is infamous for its “adult crime, adult time” laws, which allow children convicted of certain crimes to be sentenced as adults. “Adult crime, adult time” has been described by Amnesty International as “openly racist”, as the laws disproportionately target Indigenous youth. The LNP recently updated the legislation to add “riot” as an offence punishable by life imprisonment (yes, you read that right). If Purdie wants to stamp out hate, he should start by looking in the mirror.
The double standards are everywhere. Two weeks ago, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said in an interview on Sky News that she did not think there was such a thing as a good Muslim. As far as I know, no police have come knocking at Pauline’s door.
This week, a far-right activist stormed an iftar dinner at a Mosque in Ballarat, Victoria, screaming Islamophobic abuse and death threats. The ABC reported that the attack traumatised many of the young children in attendance. The man was not arrested, nor have any charges been laid.
Open hatred against Muslims is fine, according to politicians and the police. But if you say, or wear a T-shirt displaying a popular slogan calling for equal rights for Palestinians, and an end to a genocide? Expect to be arrested and threatened with prison.
Of course, these laws were never about stamping out racial hatred. They are an attempt to silence an anti-racist, anti-imperialist movement which, in the eyes of the ruling class, has gone on for far too long.
None of this means our movement will slow down. An early sign that the strategy of intimidation was failing was the large turnout at the protest on Wednesday. The willingness of hundreds of young activists to skip class and stand up for the Palestinians, despite all the slander and intimidation, should give all of us hope.
We have a lot to fight for. Gaza remains under blockade, and Israel is moving to annex much of the West Bank and southern Lebanon. The US and Israel are massacring civilians in Iran, bombing schools and turning Tehran into a hellscape of rubble and toxic gas. The Albanese government has now sent Australian military personnel to assist in fighting Trump’s criminal war.
If the LNP and Queensland police think that they can stop us from protesting against such crimes, they are wrong.
Connor is a co-convener of Students for Palestine Queensland.
