Since the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, there has never been peace for the Palestinians. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, which released an estimate in May last year, some 134,000 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli state.
Not a single branch of a single union in Australia has authorised industrial action in opposition to the Australian government’s role in arming Israel’s genocidal military.
Our leaders talk of peace. In reality, we are witnessing the beginning of the brutality that is to come if the capitalists are allowed to blast their way through in the coming decades.
In the first week of the so-called ceasefire, the Israeli army killed 97 Palestinians. Imagine if it had been 97 Israelis killed. There would be no handwringing about the ceasefire holding. It would have been wall-to-wall justifications for Israel to continue the genocide.
A perfect level of consciousness about oppression is not actually a precondition for resistance. A far-reaching and nuanced understanding of oppression is of course desirable, but what really makes a difference is having a sense of what side you are on, and our side being organised.
For two years, millions of workers, students, the poor and oppressed around the world have counterposed their decency to their governments’ complicity in relation to the unspeakable horror inflicted on Gaza.
The Palestine movement worldwide must keep marching, striking, occupying and sailing for a complete end to genocide—not just what Israel started fast-tracking in 2023, but the longer-term genocide of Palestinians it’s been carrying out since 1948.
Italian workers and students have planted the flag. It’s now up to the rest of the world to emulate these efforts. Mass, militant class struggle is the way forward for Palestinian liberation, and the liberation of us all.
Over the last two years, Australia has become home to one of the most enduring movements for Palestine anywhere in the world. We have refused to be silenced. We have stood with the Palestinian people in their darkest hour. And we will continue to do so until Palestine is free.
