Peace in Palestine needs us — in our thousands and our millions

The worldwide protest movement against the Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank is growing. Hundreds of thousands are marching for Palestine in cities and towns all across the globe. Dr Martin Hirst looks at how far the movement has come and how far it has to go.

WE ARE MANY, they are few.

A reported 2 million attended a protest in Jakarta. An estimated 300,000 turned out for the November 4 March in Washington DC. That same weekend, 100,000 marched in London for the third week in a row. More than 50,000 were in Melbourne and large numbers showed up in other Australian capital cities. In Germany, despite attempts to ban pro-Palestine marches, tens of thousands came onto the streets of Berlin. Marches are happening in the most unlikely of places, like Nigeria, Morocco and the Congo.

Israel’s attempted genocide in Gaza has stirred righteous anger in the hearts and minds of decent people. Nobody can say they don’t know what’s happening. Nobody can pretend that it is not ethnic cleansing of Palestinian lands on an industrial scale.

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And nobody can pretend that the governments in the imperialist West are not complicit. Political leaders from the Far-Right to the so-called “Centre-Left” have refused to condemn Israel, except in the weakest of terms. Western arms manufacturers, backed by their local ruling class, continue to profit from the slaughter. Global institutions like the United Nations have shown their utter uselessness and the laughingly-named “rules-based order” – so beloved by liberals and conservatives alike – has been proven a sham. The rules don’t apply to Israel. It is unlikely that Bibi Netanyahu or any other Israeli politician or military figure will ever be brought to justice for war crimes, despite the mounting evidence, the rising body count and the wilful destruction of schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, universities and child-care centres in Gaza.

This tells us that there is a massive ideological and political disconnect between how our supposedly democratically elected leaders behave and the will of the general public.

While marches demanding a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the West Bank continue, politicians like Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron and our very own Anthony Albanese utter meaningless phrases like “humanitarian pause”. What Western leaders want is for Israel to slow down the rate at which is it massacring Palestinians so they can calm down domestic public opinion or put in place draconian anti-democratic measures to stop us from protesting effectively.

The British government is leading the ideological battle in this regard. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has repeatedly called pro-Palestinian marches “hate” marches. She has threatened to ban peaceful protests and now she has whipped up the worst of Britain’s racist and fascist filth to attack a planned peaceful protest on November 11, ironically, Armistice Day; the day that signalled the end of the slaughter of World War I.

In the United States, the Republican Party has introduced legislation to give the American Government the power to revoke the residency status of foreigners who take part in pro-Palestine marches.

The lawfare campaign against protest is also ongoing in France, where Macron’s Government is proposing to make it a crime to “insult” Israel. University students are so far copping most of the anti-democratic attacks, Palestine solidarity clubs have shut down and student activists targeted for retribution.

Here in Australia, prominent pro-Israel figures are threatening to bring a case against the organisers of pro-Palestine rallies because they are antisemitic. Zionists know that this accusation is a lie, but continue to repeat it because they are losing the propaganda battle.

Zionists and Israeli apologists are finding it difficult to conjure up serious charges of antisemitism against the pro-Palestine movement. Antisemitism is indeed a problem, and there have been instances of attacks on Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and other institutions, but the number is tiny and there is no evidence that these disgusting attacks have been carried out by our side. Anti-Muslim attacks are also on the increase. You won’t be surprised to know that most real anti-Semites (like the Far Right) also hate Muslims.

It's figures like Suella Braverman who are really fomenting racial prejudice. She is openly encouraging fascists to attack Arabic and Muslim people for standing up for Palestine. It is the actions of the American politicians who want to target Muslims and Arabs for deportation who whip up hate speech. Not to be out-Trumped, Peter Dutton has chimed in, pathetically calling for Arabic-looking demonstrators to be “deported”.

The bottom line is that the attempts by pro-Israel political figures to disrupt our marches, to shut us down and to derail the movement for a just and peaceful resolution in Palestine are failing. They might be able to gaol one or two people on bogus charges and create a small fascist/racist backlash. But they cannot stop the people.

For a start, too many can see what’s going on. It is difficult to hide the wanton destruction of entire city blocks by bombs and missiles. You cannot disguise the fact over 10,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombing. You cannot look away from the fact that nearly half of those killed are children. We cannot be convinced otherwise with lies, denials and propaganda.

The world knows what’s happening in Gaza and many of us want to stop Israel in its tracks.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

The question is: how to do that?

The first thing we must do is keep up our regular protests. We should continue to expand the numbers on the street. But by itself, that is not enough.

The second thing is to increase our civil disobedience through peaceful occupations and constant pickets when politicians try to pretend they can go around like it's business as usual. Protestors in London and New York have shown the way by blockading busy railway stations during peak hours.

In addition, a small action in Melbourne and picketing Anthony Albanese show the way for us. These actions have also drawn new layers into the struggle and have been supported by workers on their daily commute to and from work.

Third, we have to step up our efforts to blockade arms shipments to Israel. Unions in Belgium and some other countries are banning weapons shipments. On 3 November, there was a picket and blockade on a U.S. military shipment to Israel in the port of Oakland in California. Protestors climbed onto the ship so that it couldn’t leave. Similar actions are planned in Sydney and Melbourne.

Fourth, we have to upskill ourselves in knowledge about Palestine and Israel and the politics of imperialism. The only way to win this struggle is to understand its significance and the powers that are so blithely backing genocide in Palestine.

Why do Western leaders feel the need to offer unconditional support to Israel’s genocidal attacks in Gaza?

Why are Western leaders so reluctant to call out Netanyahu and apply their own so-called “rules” to Israel’s murderous assault on civilians?

The answers to these questions – a lesson in the politics of imperialism and global capitalism – help us to understand the power of our forces.

Imperialism needs Israel to keep the Middle East unstable and as a threat to other nations, such as Iran, that challenge Western hegemony in the region. Imperialism is the economic, political and military division of the world that gives all the power to the wealthy one per cent — the ruling class. It is a system built on exploitation and oppression. It is a system where one small group of people can control the lives of everyone else on the planet. It is a system that encourages racism and ultimately encourages genocide.

To defeat this system, we have to understand that strength is built on the working class. We need the strength of numbers, but also the strength of organisation. Chances are you know someone in your workplace who has attended a rally for Palestine in recent weeks. Now is the time to reach out, to talk to that person and to have a political conversation that helps you to break down the system of capitalism through developing your understanding of why exploitation and oppression exist.

It is the power of the working class that will ultimately bring peace and justice to Palestine. The working class has the power to bring the system to its knees. Marching for Palestine is only one small step towards this ultimate goal, but it is worth taking in our thousands and millions.

Read more by Dr Martin Hirst on his blog Ethical Martini and follow him on Twitter @ethicalmartini.