The images coming out of Gaza are horrific. Each morning we wake to news of the rapidly rising number of Palestinian people murdered and maimed by the Israeli state. Israeli bombs target hospitals, ambulances, schools, bakeries and journalists. Israel is attempting genocide of the Palestinian people with the complicity of the governments of the global north, including our own.
The Albanese Labor government is firmly on the path set by the previous Coalition government <a href="https://overland.org.au/2021/03/the-secretive-world-of-australias-arms-exports/">to make Australia one of the top ten global arms dealers</a>. During a recent Senate hearing, it was revealed that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/24/australia-approved-322-defence-exports-to-israel-in-six-years-as-greens-fear-equipment-used-in-gaza-assault">Australia has approved 322 defence exports to Israel</a> over the past six years, including 49 permits for Israel-bound exports last year and 23 in the first three months of this year. Greens defence spokesperson David Shoebridge observed that Australia has “one of the most secretive and unaccountable weapons export systems in the world”.
Elbit Systems, a private Israeli-owned company, is one of many weapons manufacturers that the Australian government has engaged. With the imprimatur of former defence minister and now defence lobbyist Christopher Pyne, Elbit has gained lucrative military, surveillance, training and artificial intelligence research contracts with state and federal governments, and with universities.
<a href="https://dimse.info/elbit-systems/">Elbit is the largest weapons manufacturer in Israel</a>, providing up to 85 percent of the land-based equipment procured by the country’s military and 85 percent of its drones. Elbit markets its military technology as <a href="https://bdsaustralia.net.au/campaigns/stop-elbit/">“field-tested”</a>, by which it means <a href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/loewenstein-occupied-palestine-used-testing-ground-israeli-weapons-surveillance-technology">tested in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Gaza</a>. Eighty percent of Elbit’s market is outside of Israel. The company has <a href="https://dimse.info/elbit-systems/">military contracts with governments </a>in the US, the UK and Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. 
It manufactures most of its equipment in Israel, the US, Europe and Brazil. Elbit Systems has a presence on every continent, supplying weapons that are used to suppress democratic uprisings and in attempted genocides of Indigenous peoples. In our own neighbourhood, Elbit Systems sells to the Indonesian government weapons used in the oppression of the people of West Papua.
The Israeli Air Force announced last week that it had used a new bomb in Gaza named the<a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231023-israel-tests-new-iron-sting-bomb-in-gaza/"> </a><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231023-israel-tests-new-iron-sting-bomb-in-gaza/">“Iron Sting</a>”. This is one of the “field tested” bombs made by Elbit Systems. The announcement followed<a href="https://x.com/OsaidesserMD/status/1715843043541291063?s=20"> </a><a href="https://x.com/OsaidesserMD/status/1715843043541291063?s=20">accounts from doctors and nurses in Gaza</a> describing full thickness burns in an unusual pattern on the bodies of victims. These types of burns had not previously been encountered and it was believed that a new type of bomb was the cause. These burn injuries are even more horrific given that supplies of analgesia, anaesthesia, sterile dressings and other essential items <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinian-health-care-doctor-israel-bombing-gaza-siege-hospital-63d00d907f5469c81f49c0201801c997">are exhausted in overwhelmed hospitals</a>. 
In the face of these crimes against humanity, Whistleblowers, Activists and Community Alliance (WACA) and friends, in cooperation within a global network of #ShutElbitDown activists, took direct action to obstruct Elbit Systems’ operations. Within the space of a week, the Port Melbourne Elbit Systems building was twice occupied by protesters. Between the 19 and 25 October, the company removed its name from the building directory and external signage at 650 Lorimer Street. Its website lists a former address. 
While it is only too happy to welcome defence ministers bearing military wish lists and security forces procuring surveillance systems, it seems less welcoming of public scrutiny. 
The WACA actions occurred concurrently with protests by <a href="">Palestine Action</a> at Elbit facilities across the UK and the <a href="">US</a>. They also coincided with protests by students and staff at RMIT University against RMIT’s joint partnership with Elbit Systems and the Victorian state government. This contract involves a <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/global-innovator-elbit-establish-melbourne-centre">laboratory</a> to research “Human-Machine Teaming” and artificial intelligence. Known as the <a href="https://www.ex2.com.au/news/in-detail-elbits-centre-of-excellence-teams-with-rmit-university/">Centre of Excellence</a>, it is co-located in the Victorian government’s <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/88805-victoria-development-edge/">Defence Industry Precinct at Fisherman’s Bend</a> in Port Melbourne. 
RMIT has since <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/media-releases-and-expert-comments/2023/october/israel-gaza-conflict">denied</a> that it has any research engagements with Elbit Systems—an assertion contradicted in reports of the <a href="https://www.ex2.com.au/news/in-detail-elbits-centre-of-excellence-teams-with-rmit-university/">partnership</a> in defence journals last year. The Fisherman’s Bend precinct is being developed on the site of the former General Motors Holden Automotive factory. Rather than embedding the state more firmly in the military-industrial-complex, the Victoria government would better serve the public by establishing a Centre of Excellence for climate change solutions technology and supporting publicly owned manufacturing capacity. 
WACA condemns the complicity of the Victorian government and the Australian government with Israeli crimes against humanity. The federal and state governments ought to cancel all contracts with Elbit Systems. Australia is contravening international treaties by supplying arms to war criminals in Israel and worldwide. We further demand that Australia stops arming the Zionist Israeli state. 
These demands will never be met by asking politely. Union members should agitate for a union embargo on arms exports in the global arms supply chain. Union leaders should institute an embargo on arms exports to Israel. People everywhere need to join in solidarity with #FreePalestine rallies around the country. All people who are able should protest at Labor parliamentarians’ offices around the country and organise a group of like-minded people to shame the Labor Party for its egregious alliance with the US in supporting Israel’s genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people. We should flood Labor MPs phone lines and inboxes with questions about what they are doing to condemn Israel’s attempted genocide of the Palestinian people.
There are arms companies in cities and towns around the country. Find the one closest to you and organise a protest. See #ShutElbitDown hashtag on social media for inspiration. The mainstream media is using dehumanising language to portray Israel as a righteous victim and all Palestinians as terrorists deserving of punishment. Share factual information on social media, talk to family and friends, invite them to join you in taking action.

Gaye Demanuele

Stop arming Israel!

It has been a busy few weeks for activists in Melbourne. The Australian government forced a humanitarian crisis with its cruel treatment of refugees and asylum seekers held as political prisoners on Manus Island. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton’s starvation and dehydration tactics and denial of medical aid did not deter the courageous resistance stance of the prisoners who refused to be moved to another prison camp on Manus Island. The minister resorted to brute force. Under the watch of the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police the men on Manus were beaten by the notorious PNG mobile squad to force them to leave the compound.
The events on Manus created a real sense of emergency among refugee supporters in Australia, with a resurgence of attendance at rallies, along with direct actions to disrupt business as usual. The demands are clear: to evacuate the Manus Island and Nauru detention facilities and to safely resettle the asylum seekers and refugees.
In step with the increased mobilisation on the streets came an increased police presence, including the use of intimidatory tactics. Miltarised “robocops” have lined the streets of Melbourne, with mounted police on alert in the laneways, in an attempt to stop people marching and blocking roads. This has created a contested space, with the state seeking to block intersection occupations that disrupt business as usual. Paradoxically, this has resulted in the police blocking the intersections in place of the protesters.
Last Friday night became a crisis point in the state’s attempts to control activist freedom of movement and our right to demonstrate. Several known fascists stormed the stage and grabbed the microphone from the speaker. The police intervened, not to defend those demanding human rights, but to arrest an activist who had been attacked by a fascist. While some cops had a familiar little chat with the fascists down on the corner, other cops beat an activist until he was bloodied and limp. We called an ambulance to attend to our wounded comrade, but police prevented it reaching the man; instead, they held him in the “brawler” for 40 minutes until he was driven to the police station, not the hospital.
Fortunately, the victim of the police assault was not as badly injured as first suspected. The issue remains, however, why the paramedics were not permitted to treat a patient. Did the paramedics, as health professionals, question the police decision to delay medical treatment? Prisoners have died in the back of police vans. Close the Camps Action Collective asks United Voice and the Health Services Union what their position is on the delay of medical treatment by their members to a fellow worker and unionist at the direction of the police.
After the police “intervention”, they squirted pepper spray at us. Enraged by the police treatment of our comrade and concerned for his health, we held our ground. We were determined not to be kettled on the streets. We pushed through police lines, chanting “We will march!”, to occupy the contested space of the Flinders Street intersection which we held for several hours by encircling the police lines.
Two days later, on Sunday, we were back on the streets to protest against the police violence on Friday night and to reiterate our demand for an end to the violence against refugees on Manus Island and Nauru. Setting out from the Bourke Street Mall, we marched down Swanston Street to join the “#SOS Manus” rally organised by GetUp at Federation Square. The police, again dressed as if for battle, tried but could not stop the power of the people: we again succeeded in blocking the Flinders Street intersection. The mood in the crowd was calm and powerful. People shared water, food, umbrellas and sunscreen. Passers-by shared their support, and many challenged the cops why they looked like they were prepared for a war zone rather than the streets of Melbourne.
Stymied by the activists sitting peacefully on the road, the police directed a tram driver to nudge his tram up to the police line to effectively divide the protesters. We may have been physically divided, but we remained united in purpose and in communication with each other. Close the Camps Action Collective asks the Rail, Bus &amp; Tram Union (RBTU) what their position is on the use of their members by the police to attempt to break up protests. Their fellow workers and unionists were protesting human rights crimes committed by the Australian government, not sitting on the road for no reason in particular.
On Wednesday, climate justice activists and environmental defenders gathered at Parliament House in Spring Street to protest against the state government’s logging of old growth forests which will endanger native species. An experienced climber suspended himself from the roof of Parliament House in an attempt to unfurl a banner. The police refused to negotiate with our police liaison team; instead they unnecessarily called in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Two firefighters, at the direction of the police, used the sky lift on the truck to remove the climber, a fellow worker, from the roof anchor points. Close the Camps Action Collective asks the United Firefighters Union what their position is on the use of their members by the police to attempt to break up protests.
Meanwhile, another activist was detained by construction workers on the adjacent building site until the police arrived. A worker wearing a CFMEU shirt walked past the activists and yelled at us to “get a job”. We do have jobs, mostly jobs in an insecure casualised workforce. Close the Camps Action Collective asks the CFMEU what their position is on the use of their members by the police to attempt to break up protests. Our Collective reminds the CFMEU that there are no jobs on a dead planet and invites members of the union to fight together with us for environmentally sustainable jobs.
Many activists, whether they act for human rights or as environmental defenders or both, also support workers’ rights and unions. We have supported campaigns, signed petitions, marched and boycotted. We are fellow workers and unionists.
Close the Camps Action Collective asks the Victorian Trades Hall Council to review the affiliation of the Police Association of Victoria with the Council. The police, as enforcers of the state, attack pickets and break up protests. They bash our comrades and assist deportations of asylum seekers who have not had the opportunity to exercise their full rights to seek asylum.
Victoria Police must be held to account. They have a choice: stand down from attacking workers’ pickets and breaking up protests for human rights and the environment or be disaffiliated from Trades Hall.
Gaye Demanuele is a member of the Close the Camps Collective
Join the next “SOS Manus &amp; Nauru, Evacuate Now!” protest this Friday evening, December 1st at 5.30pm, State Library.
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1312924098812554/">https://www.facebook.com/events/1312924098812554/</a>

Unite with your fellow workers, not the state!

In Australia, we have a plethora of examples of “what they thought they could get away with”. From the founding of the colony on the genocide of Aboriginal people, to the wealth of the ruling class built on convict labour and the stolen wages of Aboriginal people, through to the White Australia policy, the Northern Territory intervention and beyond.
This racist history permeates immigration policy today; the Australian government continues to “get away with it”.
So far, successive Australian governments have got away with imprisoning people who sought asylum – as is their right under the UN Refugee Convention – in the detention camps of Manus Is and Nauru, in Christmas Island, and in on-shore “detention centres” around the country.
The current government continues to use our tax dollars to fund lucrative contracts for private corporations to run these prisons in which refugees suffer abuse, ill health, and preventable deaths as in the cases of Reza Berati and Hamid Kehazaei. It gets away with turning back to danger boats carrying people seeking asylum, and it has refouled people to regimes that met them with torture and murder.
When it is challenged in law, it simply passes new legislation to allow it to bypass judicial censure, usually with bi-partisan support. It has become a world leader in cruelty, admired by the far right globally.
Our government has turned refugees into political hostages in a cynical race for votes predicated on xenophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment. This divide and conquer strategy not only damages the lives of refugees, it obscures what else they are getting away with – the undermining of workers’ wages and conditions, including the casualisation of the workforce, which normalises insecure employment, the privatisation of public services, cuts to welfare and publicly-funded services, environmental devastation, and the facilitation of corporate tax evasion.
Our government serves profit over people.
Why did we take the protest to Parliament House, the so-called house of democracy? Because our government is failing us all. The reactions of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition during the Question Time protest in late November are instructive: Malcolm Turnbull smirked and walked out with his party to “protect the dignity of the parliament” (which includes George Christensen who tweeted that he would like to introduce us to his whip). Bill Shorten said “This is the exact opposite of democracy”.
Neither understood the irony of their proclamations, the House of Representatives rarely being a place of dignity or true democracy. Both falsely blamed The Greens. Surely the common people of the Whistleblowers, Activists &amp; Citizens Alliance couldn’t have organised such a well-planned operation of their own volition?
They, and the majority of their fellow politicians, are far removed from the people they are meant to be serving. In the final two parliamentary sitting days of the year, during which we protested, the government passed anti-worker, anti-environment and anti-human rights legislation. Through the usual horse trading wheeling and dealing that has come to represent what we are told is democracy in this country, the union-busting Australian Building and Construction Commission was re-instated.
The High Risk Terrorist Offenders Bill was passed, which permits those convicted to be detained indefinitely, effectively creating a life sentence in a maximum security jail. The Indian Civil Nuclear Transfers Act was passed in a late night sitting of the Senate. It’s a new law that circumvents our international non-proliferation obligations, bypasses safeguards applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and protects uranium mining companies in Australia from domestic legal action.
The proposed life time visa ban for refugees who arrived by boat since 2013 was fortunately rejected by Labor – but it demonstrates the government’s willingness to create further inequality and division. In this time, we also heard about the legally-questionable and unethical actions of attorney-general George Brandis, the highest legal officer in Australia.
When our government finds a law that gets in the way of business as usual, it simply changes it, usually with Labor’s support. When the Manus Island detention centre was ruled to be operating illegally, the government just made new laws. When it finds international law that Australia is signatory to bothersome, such as The UN Convention on Refugees, it simply ignores its obligations. In a smoke and mirrors move, it has negotiated a potential people swap deal with USA, a non-solution for the majority of the people affected.
When there is no justice, there is just us – the people. That is why we acted, why we must continue to act and why we urge others to act for all of us.
The only thing that can close the camps now is the power of the people in direct action. We stand with the courageous political prisoners of Manus Island, Nauru, Christmas Island and on-shore immigration prisons. They must be evacuated to safety and offered resettlement with full rights.
When we protest, we can walk away, they cannot. Until they are free, the rest of us are not free. Until they are free, we will not stop.

Stop arming Israel!

Unite with your fellow workers, not the state!

Bringing democracy to the parliament

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