Meanjin: Thousands defy intimidation, demand an end to Israel’s war on Gaza

October 15, 2023

Issue

Thousands march in Meanjin/Brisbane on October 13 for justice Palestine. Photo: Alex Bainbridge

Several thousand people marched on October 13 to demand an end to the inhumane Israeli blockade and bombardment of Gaza.

Earlier in the week Israel had all food, water and electricity to the densely populated city of 2.3 million people.

The people of Gaza cannot flee, as all corridors out of the strip have either been .

With no electricity or supplies, the city's healthcare system is on the . Every day and night, Gazans are subjected to cruel and indiscriminate bombardment by Israeli jets. Thousands have been killed, including hundreds of children. The number rises with every passing hour.

Politicians have shown a complete disregard to the lives of Palestinians: rather than call for an end to Israel’s campaign of terror, they have callously regurgitated the dogma that “”. That amounts to an endorsement of Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

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The protest turn-out was impressive when one considers the corporate media’s , including to slander the protest as “violent” and a “celebration” of attacks against Israeli civilians.

The current war on Gaza did not start last week. As Ali Kadri, a representative of the Muslim community, said: “This catastrophe has been going on for 75 years” and involves Palestinians being occupied, brutalised, murdered and expelled from their land.

Speakers linked the plight of First Nations people in Australia to the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

Just like Australia, Israel is a settler-colony whose foundation was based upon the ethnic cleansing of an Indigenous people, in this case the Palestinians.

Will, an Indigenous activist, told the rally that “Colonisation is nothing new for my people” and that “the scale of the current massacre [in Gaza] is genocidal”.

Through the streets, the crowd chanted “in our thousands in our millions we are all Palestinians”.

The protest highlighted the diversity of support for Palestine. Flags of Palestine, Aboriginal Australia, Ireland and various trade unions marched together in a show of solidarity.

Earlier in the week, Justice for Palestine organised a flag drop of a .