Freedom for Palestine
On Saturday the 19th of July up to 5000 New
Zealanders took to the streets of Auckland.
Their demands were nothing less than the end of Israeli violence against Palestine. Over the last
two weeks the Israeli military has rained down bombs and missiles with impunity
on the Palestinian people. No one has been spared, mothers, fathers, children,
even whole families have been wiped out by Israeli ordinance. The disabled are
not even given a reprieve, with those injured and maimed by blasts and shrapnel
from previous Israeli bombing campaigns finally murdered as Israel finishes
the job.
Israel, as with previous bombing
campaigns, accuses Palestinian civilians of being sheep who are herded into the
war zone by Hamas terrorists. But this is merely an attempt to muddle the facts
and excuse murder as collateral damage. This so called "war zone" is where
Palestinian neighbourhoods and homes are located, crushed within an ever
shrinking border as Israel
illegally seizes territory from Palestinians. They have no where left to go,
unwilling to leave their lives and homes, and if they do leave, there is no guarantee
their occupied land would ever be returned. Thus these are not war zones, but
sanctuaries Palestinians are reluctant to leave, upon which Israel reigns
death.
Hamas are the elected leaders of Gaza, and the only
organisation which has shown the will to resist Israeli aggression. That is why
they won, because Palestinians have no option but to resist, if they stopped
they would be left at the tender mercy of Israeli bulldozers. They are decried
as terrorists by Israeli politicians and our own media, but how can someone who
seeks to defend their borders from a vastly superior force which occupies their
nation as a matter of course, be called a terrorist, are they not partisans? We
may disagree with their politics but until free from occupation they cannot put
down their guns.
So it was with conviction that 5000 people marched
in solidarity with Palestine upon the United States embassy,
the largest financial and moral supporter of Israeli aggression. The U.S has
only called upon Israel
to 'minimize' casualties, seeing any civilian deaths as acceptable we denounce
as repugnant and criminal. Outside the embassy protesters laid olive branches
to symbolise their solidarity for peace for the Palestinian people, and sung
"We are all Palestinians".
This has been done before but was unique and
valuable for a two reasons. Firstly this was the largest protest for the
freedom of Palestine in New Zealand,
ever. This is significant, it represents the slipping of the
Israeli/imperialist story about plucky Israel beset upon all sides by
'terrorists'. This represents a portion of the population who have seen through
the hegemony of the Israeli narrative, a chink opened by the suffering of Palestinians
and the valiant efforts of activists. We must set about widening this chink
into a gaping chasm, until the majority of the population can no longer doubt
the complicity of our own government in supporting Israel and its murderous agenda.
Secondly, for the first time in New Zealand
history, a political party has decided to unreservedly support the Palestinian
struggle for freedom. The MANA Movement has called for political and economic
isolation of the Israeli state. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11296381
Socialist Aotearoa was invested in this
internal debate and is delighted in the stance MANA has taken. However this
raises new questions over the unity of these two factors, growing solidarity
for Palestine
and a new left parliamentary party with strong ties to both indigenous and
workers struggle.
MANA could be a sizable voice in further
challenging the existing narrative over the Palestinian conflict, while providing
a much broader base from which pro-Palestinian activists could work in a
sympathetic atmosphere. Conversely as
the Imperialist narrative collapses, MANA could stand to gain substantial votes
from an electorate who recognises in MANA a party willing to take a stand, not
just on domestic but also international injustices. These ideas need to be
further discussed and a cohesive plan assembled to avoid squandering a historic
opportunity to both build a mass workers party and international struggle.
Therefore, Socialist Aotearoa is holding a
public meeting on:
Wednesday the 23rd of July, 7:30 pm, at Unite
Union, 6a Western Springs road, Kingsland.
Workers of the world unite!
By Dave J.
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