- by Comrades L and J
- The Guardian
- Issue #2149
Communist Party of Australia members attended a snap rally in Naarm/Melbourne on 10 June to protest Israel’s terroristic seizure of the Madleen Flotilla.
The flotilla is carrying crucial aid to the people of Gaza, including food, clothing supplies and even essentials for newborn babies. In a disgusting display of coloniser arrogance, the Israeli ‘Defence’ Force has resorted to distraction tactics, characterising the mission as a “show”; designed to garner attention on social media rather than to fulfill its true purpose of assisting the victims of Israel’s genocide. Australian media has cooperated, with pieces in the Murdoch and Nine papers supporting this narrative.
The snap rally was having none of it. The Madleen Flotilla was attempting to deliver aid to a population which is the subject of collective punishment and the use of starvation as a weapon. That’s a war crime.
Representatives from Students for Palestine and Free Palestine Melbourne spoke to a large and mobilised crowd at the State Library. Their message was uniform and clear:
Capitalist governments of the West (including our own Labor government) have enabled this violence by continuing to arm Israel.
The intent of those in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) is clear: Starve the populations and prevent aid (some 20,000 children have already been killed since the beginning of the genocide through systemic and militaristic means)
Only by overthrowing the capitalist institutions that both arm and benefit from this violence can there be peace.
The Communist Party of Australia wholly supports the people of Palestine. It is only though the mobilisation of the proletariat in Australia that a workers movement can effectively stand in solidarity with those suffering effectively.
