Thousands of students have walked out of school across the country for the second time as part of a national campaign of solidarity with Palestine. Hundreds of Sydney demonstrators gathered at Town Hall where student activists called for an end to Israeli occupation and genocide in Palestine.
The rally was chaired by Year 12 student activists and rally organisers Eva and Noura, who opened the protest with a series of chants condemning the Israeli state and Albanese Labor government.
Eva spoke to the importance of students striking in mass solidarity with Palestine stating, “high schoolers have a history of making a difference,” and that “we won’t sit idly in school while children in Gaza can’t go to school… are dying, and while our government is complicit.”
Following an Acknowledgement of Country and a statement reiterating the need for Indigenous justice, Noura declared that all those rallying stand as “symbols of resistance” akin to that of the watermelon.
She also noted that it is “the tears of the Palestinian people [that] propel us to continue to fight for a liberated Palestine.”
The first speaker was 15-year-old Palestinian student Tala, who began the proceedings in Arabic. “Allow me to speak in my Arabic tongue before they occupy my language as well.”
Tala shared that her grandparents on both sides survived the 1948 Nakba. She condemned the inaction and silence of complicit governments worldwide as “this catastrophe has happened and it is happening once again, and once again the world is doing nothing.”
Tala also condemned NSW Premier Chris Minns’ comments advising students to stay in school, stating, “If the children of Gaza are old enough to be bombed, old enough to be displaced, old enough to be orphans, we are old enough to understand the genocide taking place!”
Similarly, Jenny Leong, NSW Greens Member for Newtown, stated that “we cannot continue life as normal when we are witnessing the horror that is happening in Gaza now.”
Leong went on to reaffirm her solidarity with the student-led campaign for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire” as well as an end to the occupation, citing hope in the next generation of student activists.
She concluded by calling for further mobilisation to increase numbers and the strength of Palestinian support amidst Zionist lobbying.
One high school teacher scheduled to speak was unable to attend the protest. Instead, Gina Elias from Students for Palestine UNSW read their speech.
Whilst schools are promoted as “neutral spaces”, many teachers and students refuse to be neutral. They identified that the current school curriculum explores the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities in Australia, and resistance to oppression through studying Apartheid in South Africa and the US Civil Rights movements. Yet, students are discouraged from linking their historical knowledge to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Jewish anti-Zionist Year 10 student Rex emphasised the need to stand against all forms of injustice and oppression as they occur, arguing that “history often fails to recognise the horrors of genocidal regimes in real time”.
Year 10 Palestinian student Zane relayed the death toll of Palestinian children in the past days and condemned Netanyahu and his government’s actions, stating that Palestinian “blood is on every Zionist leader’s hands.”
Yasmine Johnson from USyd’s Students for Palestine then read a statement of solidarity for the school strikes in Australia from King’s College students simultaneously protesting in London.
The final speaker was Eddie Stepheson, a MQ Students for Palestine organiser, who thanked students for their loud voices of indignation and for “refusing to sit down and be obedient when told to.” She noted that across the past 6 years, Australia “has approved 222 so-called defence exports to Israel” and that many are currently being used against the civilians of Gaza.
Stephenson also condemned the United States for propping up Israel via the funding of weapons, and that it is up to us to disrupt “the business of genocide.”
Protesters then marched through the Sydney CBD chanting in support of a permanent ceasefire and end to occupation. The march stopped for a brief sit-in on Pitt Street before reconvening at Hyde Park.
Palestine Action Group will host their 9th consecutive rally at Hyde Park this Sunday, December 10.