When it created its nation-state, the Zionist movement did not wage a war that ‘tragically but inevitably’ led to the expulsion of ‘parts of’ the indigenous population, but the other way round: the main goal was the ethnic cleansing of all of Palestine, which the movement coveted for its new state. – Ilan Pappe in THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE
in the later afternoon of 15 Feb 2024 about 100 people turned up at Ferra Engineering in a light industrial area of suburban Tingalpa in Brisbane. A 24-hour vigil beforehand had led to this. There were about 20 police there as well. At face values not as many as the previous picket at federal Treasurers Jim Chalmers office at Logan city the week before. There was the usual police beat van parked in the driveway blocking entry and exit. There were a number of police cars parked beside the Shut-down-Ferra tent that had provided shelter for the pickets over night. A paddy wagon was kept nearby in case previously arrested people violated bail conditions by coming within 50 metres of the Ferra factory.
The Bail Act is being used as a weapon against legitimate protest. Ferra is, after all, a crime scene that makes weapons parts for use in the Israeli genocide in Gaza. All the arrested people should defend the charges against them if only because the engineering works is in contempt of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that no one should aid or abet the genocide in Gaza. Ferra providing bomb parts definitively falls into that category.
The 24 hour vigil was interrupted on several occasions by a man wearing work overalls. His purpose was to steal Palestinian flags and conflutes. He may have been from Ferra. Some locals objected to our presence outside Ferra but for the most part we got positive feedback from motorists and people who lived in the area.
A comrade said that the gathering reminded him of the pickets down at the wharves during the 1998 MUA – here to stay dispute. That dispute was about destroying the union by sacking the entire workforce; this conflict is about destroying Palestine and killing its people. Both disputes had deranged daemonic leaders at the helm: Chris Corrigan versus the MUA then; and now Netanyahu against the Palestinians. Musicians turned up at each event, now 25 years apart. That’s a generation apart.
This time around we have a similar mix of naivete and old hands. Long time unionist Jeff Rickertt told the crowd that Australia does not have a defence industry but it does have enterprises like Ferra and Elbit Systems that wish to make profit out of states using military force as Israel is doing in Gaza. “AUKUS is not about defence, building nuclear submarines is not about defence” he said.
Both Australian and Queensland governments have taken us down a path of becoming an economy of arms manufacture. The Queensland government has already set up so-called defence industries in old railway towns.
The Labor government, having privatised Queensland Rail nearly 20 years ago, has developed sites for a defence-industries-economic-recovery in railway towns in Queensland like Maryborough, Rockhampton and Townsville. Rheinmetall is building armoured vehicles at Redbank Plains near Ipswich where there used to be the largest railway workshops in the state.
Using the Electrical Trade Union’s opposition to nuclear power as an example, Jeff Rickertt called on the union movement to choose which industries workers support and which ones we don’t. We should be excluding Elbit, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and, of course, Ferra. He said that our unions need to be telling Labor governments in Queensland and Australia that we do not need the military industrial complex here.
As the chairperson of the rally, Laura, pointed out the tables are starting to turn against Israel. The picketers were buoyed by the decision by Netherlands court of appeal to order the Dutch government to stop exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel inside the next 7 days. The court ruled that “there is a clear risk that serious violations of humanitarian law of war are committed in the Gaza Strip with Israel’s F-35 fighter planes.” The court decision may bring global production of the West’s fifth-generation fighter jet (F-35) to a halt.
As we stood on New Cleveland Road, Tingalpa, briefly blocking trafficking in weapons parts by the Australian Government, Prime Minister Albanese was issuing a statement expressing ‘grave concern’ with the Canadian and New Zealand Prime Ministers that read in part:
The hypocrisy of the high and mighty politicians is palpable while they send their arms exports to assist in the genocide. However there is a pragmatic aspect to their now qualified support of Israel. As John Curr points out: “The charge of genocide against Israel has yet to be heard and proven. However, Israel is already in contempt of the the ICJ interim orders demonstrating that its government and those governments which continue with unqualified support for Israel have no regard for International law.” – John Curr, Brisbane, Feb 9, 2024 in Israel in contempt of ICJ orders .
There was naivete on display at the picket as well with Izzy from Students for Palestine at UQ claiming: “That’s why you know, Australia has acquired $4 billion worth of contracts to build F-35 bombers. These contracts haven’t just totaled, you know, more than $4 billion, they’ve dropped 900 kilos of bombs on Gaza. And that’s actually the most recent statistic I could find … like … this doesn’t even include the stuff that’s been happening in the last week.”
Just one ‘bunker buster’ bomb weighs 900 kilograms and thousands have been dropped on Gaza. And it is Lockheed Martin that builds F-35 planes in Texas.
One of the picket organisers Jacky told the crowd: “In relatively recent years is that there are reports of a seven meter high wall being built from in the Sinai desert which runs all the way out to the sea and is supposed to be this new buffer zone for the Palestinians. Once Israel commences its ground strike any any day now really.”
Phil Monsour wrapped up proceedings by urging people to keep turning up and sang two anthems of the movement in Brisbane: Which side are you on? and Black fella, white fella from the Warumpi Band. He was helped by Ethan Enoch.
Live from Ferra in Magan-djin. Ferra you can’t hide, your supporting genocide. We want weapons out of Magan-djin now.
Ian Curr
16 Feb 2024
