Thousands of protestors gathered in Hyde Park yesterday to mark the eighth week of the Palestinian Action Group’s planned rallies across Australia. Similar to previous weeks, attendees were encouraged to take banners, posters, and flags donning “Free Palestine” slogans while organisers led the crowd in chants condemning Israel’s state-sanctioned violence.
Following disturbing reports from the Gaza Health Ministry that more than 170 people have already been killed by Israeli forces in the last twenty-four hours following an end to the seven-day ceasefire, this week’s rally focused specifically on mourning within the Palestinian diaspora, solidarity between First Nations people around the world, and calls for a permanent end to the genocide.
Following a musical performance from two young members of Eora’s Palestinian community, co-chairs Assala Sayara and Rayaan Hussain opened the rally with an Acknowledgement of Country. As the first speaker, Sayara called for unity amidst the division and violence perpetrated by governments like Israel and Australia that are “built on colonisation.” Bringing together a community that will “continue to mourn” and “continue to cry”, Sayara defiantly declared: “we are the people – power to the people.”
Leader of the Redfern Youth Spirit Mentoring Program and community Elder Uncle Dave Bell drew attention to the significance of “unceded and sacred” land within all Indigenous struggles for liberation. Taking the crowd on a journey “from the river to the seas” of Sydney’s diverse nations, Uncle Dave led a call-and-response with the crowd, paying respect to the “Bundjalung, the Dhungatti, the Gadigal, the Wangal, the Eora, the Bidjigal” and surrounding clans including “the Dharawal, the Dharug, the Wadi Wadi People, the Yuan People and the Wiradjuri People” to the North, East, South and West.
Co-convenor Josh Lees followed with a condemnation of the recent “Say No to Antisemitism” open letter signed by over six hundred people, pointing out that the letter “does not mention that there is a genocide happening right now in Gaza.” He went on to state that the signatories “want us to believe that they care about racism”, but that there “is a racist massacre taking place in front of our eyes, supported by our government.”
Reem Borrows echoed these sentiments while sharing stories of her childhood in Haifa and Nazareth. She recounted the experiences of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother born in the old quarters of these cities, where Jesus “fought against injustice, questioned division, and rejected separation based on faith, status, wealth, and ethnicity.” Burrows also commemorated the millions of Palestinians who have been “forcibly uprooted and brutalised” despite the country’s rich history of “pure love and oneness.”
After leading chants meaning “we will return” in Arabic, Hussain welcomed her seventeen-year-old sister Noura to the stage. An emblem that “the old will die but the young will never forget”, Noura shared her experiences of continuing Palestinian tradition in the diaspora. Speaking of her time learning tatriz with her late grandmother, Noura stated that “mere existence is resistance.” Referring to the seven thousand children injured and displaced in the conflict so far, Noura also pointed out that “while I have walked those same roads, I’ve never had to navigate myself through them while bullets and air strikes were being fired left and right.”
As the final speaker, Shaykh Wesam Charkawi criticised Chris Minns, Jason Clare, and Anthony Albanese for their attempts to suppress “the fire” of the pro-Palestinian movement and their complicity in Israel’s violence. Charkawi went on to ask “where is the moral code that says it is okay to drop white phosphorus on innocent civilians?”, calling out Australia’s “double-talk” in investigating Israel’s war crimes at the International Criminal Court in 2020 but continuing to express solidarity with Benjamin Netanyahu in 2023. Charkawi called on the crowd to continue to “take a principled stand” in the coming weeks.
Following an hour of speeches, protestors marched through Pitt Street and Elizabeth Street chanting “Israel, USA, how many kids have you killed today?”, “1, 2, 3, 4, we don’t want your bloody war” and “ceasefire now.” Although no arrests were made, New South Wales Police maintained a heavy presence with their Transport, Dog and Mounted Units. The route returned attendees to Hyde Park, where some speeches and chants continued.
This week’s protest coincided with other rallies in Meanjin and Naarm also organised by the Palestinian Action Group. Eora’s next protest will be held on Sunday December 10th at 1pm in Hyde Park.