We publish this short and insightful article by Jeff Rickertt who is an historian and socialist activist in Meanjin. – Ian Curr, Ed., 10 May 2023.
The View from the Bar
On Saturday night I worked the bar for another Palestine fundraiser by Meanjin activist, trade unionist and musician Phil Monsour. It was a remarkable evening of music, video stories, delicious food, dabke dancing and uplifting camaraderie amongst the 70 or so people in the room. As I served the drinks and observed the night unfold, I reflected on the meaning and importance of solidarity. It’s such a simple concept that we on the Left reference every day. But on Saturday night, and across the span of the many similar events that Phil has organised over a 14-year period, solidarity is revealed as a living tradition with many dimensions, each important in its own way.
First, there is the straightforward and tangible solidarity of fundraising. Over the 14 years that Phil and the organising team have been putting on these events, over $50,000 has been raised, mostly for Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA to disburse to education, medical and food security projects run by Palestinians in occupied Palestine and besieged Gaza. This is a significant and measurable expression of solidarity which has delivered material benefits to hundreds of people living under the brutalities of the Zionist colonial project.
Second, there is solidarity as psychological support. The funds raised at these gigs have never arrived at their destination as impersonal money. The organisations who receive it and the people who benefit from it understand it is sent as an expression of active support. This is important. Sustaining the flames of hope and resistance in the face of seemingly intractable odds is always made just a bit easier when there is awareness of outside allies lending a hand. Understanding that you are not alone is a precious intangible.
In addition to the financial solidarity, these events educate and inspire. Phil performs songs of his own about Palestine and the Middle East, past and present. They grow solidarity by providing audiences with the information they need to tackle the silences and lies surrounding the Israeli occupation. Their emotional power motivates. For two decades they have drawn new people into the movement, and encouraged old hands to keep going.
Finally, this event and the many that have preceded it have helped to cohere a Meanjin Left. By attending a space filled with music, food, conversation and dancing, activists come together in an environment of unity. This builds and sustains a community of resistance in which doctrinal differences remain legitimate matters of debate but not an anchor on cooperation or collaborative organising. The bonds that allow collective resistance to happen are strengthened.
Saturday night’s community comprised members of the Palestinian diaspora and other refugees, older activists unlikely to hang up their marching boots any time soon, and, the largest group, activists in their 20s and 30s whose lives and activism have been shaped by the existential threat of ecological collapse and the neoliberal challenges of employment precarity and housing insecurity. This latter group is proving once again that Marx was right – capitalism produces its own gravediggers. These are people taking radical politics forwards.
From my vantage point at the bar, I saw a crowd diverse in life experiences, views and approaches to politics, but sociable and united by a commitment to justice for Palestine and a better world more generally. As I looked around the room I realised that this is what a non-sectarian Left looks like. Solidarity for others, solidarity with each other. A mighty achievement.
Jeff Rickertt
9 May 2023