Over the weekend, tens of thousands again took to the streets of major Australian cities to oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the full support for it of the Labor government.
Below the WSWS is featuring further interviews with participants, following our coverage Monday.
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In Sydney Mel, a government worker in her 20s, stated: “This is an injustice on a global level, this is genocide. Never again means never again. I cannot see how this is anti-Jewish. What is happening is the killing of innocent people.”
Mel condemned the attempts to equate opposition to Israeli war crimes with antisemitism. “It’s a form of harsh control. It feels like a tactic. The West is trying to stay with the colonial powers and be good to the US and the US is completely backing Israel. The US wants a stronghold there. It’s ‘their’ place in the Middle East.” Mel said she felt a broader war “was on the cards.”
Asked about the disconnect between the millions protesting the genocide, and the governments supporting it, she continued: “I have been struggling to understand why that is the case, I haven’t found a single reason. It makes me feel terrorised. How can they say Israel has a right to defend itself, while they are carpet bombing hospitals and schools. What is stopping them from doing it here? The support for Israel shows there is no line, there is no distinction anymore.
“All our systems are failing us here. What is so good about our ‘democracy’ when it is supporting genocide and failing the people here as well. The child protection system is in rubbles. Daily people are struggling to meet their basic needs. It is so bad out there.
“A lot of people aren’t going to the protests because their lives are so hard. They are fighting for their very lives. So many people are homeless, struggling to pay rent, to find housing. It is overwhelming.
“The Labor Party has been going so far downhill. I don’t know what makes Albanese say he will fight for Palestine when he is younger, but then not stand up for it when he is in a place of power. Obama has done the same thing. It is a trend, using people’s suffering for political gains, then doing nothing when in power.”
Chanel said: “I’m here to show support for the people of Palestine and Gaza. It’s horribly unfair what they’re going through. Seeing the footage on Instagram and social media of burnt babies, children killed is shocking. We’re from East Timor, which also suffered colonial oppression, so it’s important for us to be here.
“I’m shocked that they’ve started the bombing again. We knew that the ‘pause’ was only going to be a few days, but seeing it resume stronger and worse than before is atrocious. We want the killing to end permanently.
“I want Anthony Albanese and the Labor government out of the picture. Supporting genocide is not on. Wars are about greed and the greedy people who want to get their hands on money and oil and gas. And it’s never fair for the innocent people who are the ones that suffer.”
In Melbourne, Terry, a retired nurse spoke about recent revelations that the Israeli state had prior knowledge of Hamas’s October 7 operation. “That's been on YouTube,” she explained. “I know the New York Times only just wrote an article about it, but on YouTube a week or two ago, I saw videos explaining that Israel either had the most incompetent government or they just willfully ignored the warnings. As for the US, I think it needs a base in the Middle East, and that’s what Israel is, just as Ukraine is a base next to Russia.”
On the refusal of the Maritime Union of Australia to organise industrial action to block the shipment of critical goods to the Israeli war machine, Terry said: “I think there’s financial incentives for the unions not to call a strike. But if you have an ethical stance, a moral stance, that should just be irrevocable.”
In Newcastle, Anthony said: “I have lost hope in all these political parties. It is not a democracy. Nowadays there is so much injustice. In this war they have already killed over 15,000 civilians, most of them women and kids. There were reports this week of 15 kids left to rot in incubators. People have lost their humanity.
“All over the world, they are dividing and destroying families, neighbourhood connections. We are so busy working and paying off mortgages. We need independent leaders and a grassroots movement. I don’t know how it’s going to change, but we need to tell the truth, and social media is a powerful tool for that.”