Thousands of high school and university students walked out of class on February 29 as part of a national day of action to protest the ongoing genocide in Palestine as well as the Australian government’s continued support for Israel.
Convening officially outside Town Hall, the walkout began on Eastern Avenue, where a USyd contingent formed. Following speeches by Jasmine Al-Rawi and USyd SRC President Harrison Brennan, the USyd contingent marched to Town Hall, with UTS, MQU and UNSW contingents joining along the way.
The rally at Town Hall was co-chaired by Year 12 Palestinian student activist Noura Hussein, with anti-Zionist Jewish student and Sydney Students for Palestine Organiser Yasmine Johnson.
Noura, from the city of Tulkarem (طولكرم), began by affirming that the student strike was “to show our government and the international community, [that] while you may stay silent, the students will not.” Noura noted the climbing figures: over two million Palestinians forcefully displaced, 30 000+ killed, including 15 000+ children and others unaccounted for. A minute’s silence was held, especially after the invocation of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, whose family was killed in their car by Israeli tanks, and who then stayed on the phone with the Palestinian Red Crescent for hours before her death.
Noura signalled that the government understands “the power youth have in revolution” before reassuring the crowd that “we will disrupt any sense of normalcy shoved down [our] faces.”
Yasmin noted the continuous sieges in what Israel used to refer to as “mowing the lawn” and the deliberate policy of starvation, cuts to UNRWA funding, and the fact that the last time food was delivered to northern Gaza was on January 23. Yasmin exclaimed that “leaders cry crocodile tears” and delay a ceasefire, while Aaron Bushnell self-immolates in protest. She also denounced the Australian government’s recently announced deal with Israeli-based Elbit Systems worth almost $1 billion ($917 million).
Ethan Floyd, Wiradjuri and Wailwan activist and USyd First Nations Officer, spoke to the complicity of the Minns and Albanese government in placing Australia’s diplomatic and trade relations above the lives of Palestinans, “there is no neutral stance on genocide. If you’re not taking action, you’re complicit.”
He condemned the political reassurance that Australia is not supplying arms to Israel, and encouraged students to show Chris Minns and Prue Carr that we are educated by learning the “lessons of history in the classroom and standing up outside.”
Palestinian activist and UTS student Raneem Emad brought to attention how education has empowered students, highlighting “[our education] taught us that when we see something wrong we do what we can to stop it…it never taught us to be complicit and silent when we are watching war crimes, it never taught us to be ignorant of the suffering of others.”
Raneem continued, “how can we stop when the Israeli occupation shows no signs of stopping?”, stating that this is not a “war”, “conflict” or “complicated situation”. She also asked how she is expected “to sit in international law classes” while Palestinians are being killed, and “if that’s the case, the Minns government has never met a Palestinian from Gaza.”
The Greens City of Sydney Councillor Slyvie Ellsmore spoke in Jenny Leong’s absence, noting the irony of speeches taking place near the “colonial building of Town Hall and close to ground zero of invasion.” She relayed the UN alarm of an imminent famine in Gaza, while the “one action Australia has decided to take is suspend funding to UNRWA.”
A Palestinian community organiser and climate activist spoke about Israeli degradation of Palestinian land, and how the fight for Palestine is intertwined with the fight for climate justice, contending that “the system is not broken, it works exactly as it is meant to!”
The activist revealed that since 1967, “800,000 olive trees have been murdered” and that graves and cemeteries are dug up to “make the desert bloom.” She concluded by reiterating the need for collective self-determination, including the Palestinian right to “self-determination from the river to sea.”
Eva Sutherland, Year 12 student activist and high school Students for Palestine organiser, called out the US and Australian governments who “can barely bring themselves to call for a temporary ceasefire.” Eva disagreed with politicians redirecting students to use “proper channels because that’s how we make real change” and their arguments that students have no real power, because “we stand in a long tradition of global student activism.”
Following the speeches, protestors marched to the ALP office on Sussex St. After chanting, the organisers called the office, and sent a voicemail with the crowd vocalising their grievances with the Labor Party.
Organised by Students for Palestine, the strike was backed by the Australian Greens, Victorian Socialists, and university contingents from the USyd, UTS, UNSW, MQU, UniMelb, and ANU. Students for Palestine will be protesting outside the ALP office on Sussex St, March 15.
