Over a thousand people came out in rainy weather for the annual Palm Sunday rally for peace and refugees on March 24, 2024. It was the largest Palm Sunday rally and march in years. “It was a great day to bring people together for Peace in Palestine and an international collaboration for common security. It was good to hear from the nurse from Liverpool reporting on the movement in the UK. Cameron, Omar, Remah, Janet, Pan and Peter all delivered different but important content. And the choir’s performance of El Pueblo was great and fitting for the day.” – Just Peace organiser Annette Brownlie said.
Solidarity with the people of Gaza was a strong theme of this year’s rally.
Speakers included a former Major in the Australian army, Cameron Leckie.
Rally chairperson Remah Naji from Justice for Palestine Magan-djin introduced the speakers by saying: “we’re not normalising the abnormal, we’re not normalising genocide”. After hearing from the Combined Unions Choir, Remah introduced a nurse from Liverpool in England.
“Hello, Scousers for Palestine. Okay. Thank you. I just like to say, It’s so refreshing to come here because mainstream media doesn’t tell you what’s going on in the rest of the world. But I can assure you demonstrations and rallies like this are taking place all over the world.
Our leaders might think that we are not going to know about this, but you’ve only got to watch it. It’s it’s happening. Our leaders ignore us, in Australia and in the UK. We’re coming up. We’re coming up on a general election in the next 12 months. And we’ve already said, if you don’t vote for a ceasefire, you don’t get a vote.
No ceasefire, no vote, no ceasefire, no votes, no ceasefire, no votes!
I am sick to death, of watching everyday the horrors that have happened on the television. I’ve seen children going into surgery with doctors that I work with and admire and see them having to carry out operations and amputations without any anesthetic, without any IVs, without any, any antibiotics for those children.“
“And what is even worse than that now is that they decided, well, if we can’t kill you this way, will now starve you. And we’ll take all your food. And now we won’t even give you any water. So the hypocrisy of the West, the hypocrisy of the West by trying to give some food on one hand, and then blaming our people on the rest.
While you can’t fool the people for long, because people are now starting to rise up. I can tell you that two weeks ago in London in England, we had half a million people on the streets. And it’s getting bigger and bigger every week.
So I just want to send solidarity from the UK from the ordinary working class in Liverpool in England and across the UK and send our solidarity to here. And I’m so glad I’m here. Thank you.”
Omar Ashour, Gazan Palestinian representing Justice for Palestine (JFP)
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/BEbBLTXZTGUb1dQE/?mibextid=oFDknk
March
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/o4WW72gz3uTAuPS6/?mibextid=oFDknk
Dr Peter Catt, Dean of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/BuqQMg2rBF63ZEhS/?mibextid=oFDknk
Fr Pan Jordon – Pax Christi
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4idzhiiDAdATZ5k2/?mibextid=oFDknk
Media
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/NQZGJnionQaQymy4/?mibextid=oFDknk
Cameron Leckie (Ret) Major, Australian Defence Forces) speaking for Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) and Australians for War Powers Reform
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/9rGQ4iBWSgmSC3Up/?mibextid=oFDknk
Photos from Green Left Weekly – https://www.facebook.com/QldSA/posts/pfbid02LCwg9PdAPrB5RyT6MCUo6oZXsXjxRyrM5PrswqdKvbFQrfvKnptqRaJ1gn8qYJEnl
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/24-weeks-protest-were-not-normalising-genocide