March for Palestine Magan-djin

Over 400,000 people in Australia marched against the genocide in Gaza on Sunday 24 August 2025. One day later this mass mobilisation has already fallen off the evening news of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Why? People are making comparisons between the National Palestine mobilization with the Vietnam moratoria in 1970-71. This is understandable because of the size and radical nature of the protests challenging Australian government complicity in the Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel. 

However, the parallel may end there. It is true that Justice for Palestine Magan-djin (JFP) has been building organisation since 2009, and it did take several years for the anti-Vietnam War movement to build up to mass moratoriums. Be mindful that the Vietnam War raged for another 5 years after the three (3) moratoria in 1970-71.

The original Vietnam Moratorium committee in the US in 1969 was an attempt to make a radical movement more respectable by making appeals to more conservative organisations like churches, mainstream political parties, and unions. 

The Palestinian people do not have that long to wait for Western governments that have supported and are complicit in the genocide. Yet unbelievably, Israel’s murderous genocide may last for another two years.

By the time the Vietnam moratorium campaign was afoot, mainstream media and political organizations supported mass demonstrations against the war in Indo-China. Also, the unions, student organisations and civil society were better organised.

Union

The first part of the Electrical Trade Union ETU State Secretary’s speech from the JFP podium yesterday was to call the Palestinian resistance fighters ‘terrorists’ and to declare that hostages should be returned. While he did not name Hamas he was still mouthing Israeli talking points. The LNP talking point is the ‘Hamas’ flag was carried, which is stupid because it was not flown at the rally or on the march and the one they are referring to is actually a religious flag .

Peter Ong (ETU Qld) entirely missed the fact that these so-called ‘terrorists’ grew out of resistance against a murderous military occupation that has lasted 76 years. The ETU leader does not seem to appreciate that Israel has planes that drop bombs on people. If Peter Ong has ever been to Palestine, he should be ashamed of himself for inadvertently sprouting Israeli talking points.

It’s a shame the Electrical Trades Union took this position because their media officer, Andrew Irvine, has been to Palestine and should know the history. Or is it a case of PEEP: Progressive on everything but Palestine.

I hope that the union’s peace and social justice committee is looking closely at this. Palestine is Union business. Do not be fearful of racist blowback from union members. Union people say I should cut the ETU some slack, but I am struggling with that because people are being slaughtered, and there has not been a single union-led strike against the genocide! Are ETU and CFMEU unions hiding behind the attacks made upon them by government to justify inaction? This is no excuse. Unions  have to act now and support the mass movement. They have to be careful about their union vulnerability to such attacks, but they can’t remain affiliated to political parties that have supported the genocide.

At least Peter Ong turned up, and his union is the best organised union in the Queensland building industry with a strong commitment to social justice.  it is for these reasons that I think we need to cut Peter Ong a bit of slack.

Unlike during the Vietnam moratorium campaign, the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) has refused to support the growing radical movement that has sprung from humanitarian concerns about hospitals being bombed, schools destroyed, children slaughtered and journalists being murdered. The QCU is complicit because it called the cops on unionists carrying Palestinian flags during May Day 2024.

We need unionists who have been to Palestine and who understand the resistance struggle being conducted against genocide. Unions in the 1960s led the struggle against conscription, whereas this time around their participation in this campaign has been non-existent or sadly muted by a pathetic  leadership owned by the ALP.

Despite opposition from government, council, police, and Justice for Palestine Magan-djin  organised the largest mass rally in Brisbane’s history and we marched from Queens Gardens to Musgrave Park on Sunday, August 24th 2025, two years into the genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel.

People of all ages and diverse backgrounds came out in defiance of the authorities. Justice for Palestine Magan-djin organised the march after being refused the right to march over Brisbane’s iconic Story Bridge. We were jam-packed into a park in Brisbane CBD by the order of chief magistrate Brassington despite it being totally inadequate to meet the needs of the size of the protest. This was repeatedly pointed out in affidavits provided to the court by JFP organizers.

This is a political defeat for the government who opposed the march, for police who opposed the Peaceful Assembly Act introduced by a Labor government. The authorities did so under the lie that such a gathering marching over the Story Bridge would be unsafe.

Neither the Brisbane City Council nor police made adequate arrangements for the people coming and leaving the event. All the car parks were full, trains were stopped, buses could not relieve the pressure, traffic was left in chaos and everything was done to obstruct the will of the people to oppose Australia’s complicity in the genocide. The demand of the people was for sanctions now against Israel and immediate ceasefire. Yet the Australian government has slavishly backed Netanyahu, Biden, and now Trump in the murderous assault on the people of Gaza.

Political parties, professional organisations, NGOs, and civil society organisations have failed the people of Palestine. They have shown contempt for the will of the people to oppose the evil IDF machine that has slaughtered so many, dehumanized them, and tried to cover up this insanity with hasbara. The biggest proponents of Israel’s lies in Australia have been the Prime Minister and his foreign minister. Shame on them.

Former Brisbane City councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan had this to say: “Heading into the city this arvo for the Justice for Palestine rally and the council has replaced Metro vehicles with normal buses. The bus is already full at Holland Park West station, and the platform is crowded with people trying to get to the rally.

The next bus was also full to capacity.

BCC had plenty of notice for this rally and could easily have added extra services like they do for football games, but no.”

Despite 106 paragraphs of detailed logistics offered to the police and courts by Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, the preferred and safer route of the march was denied on spurious grounds offered by police as the IDF dropped even more bombs on the people of Gaza city using planes serviced by Australian parts and armoured vehicles using hardened steel from Australia 🇦🇺. Shame on them.

The only good thing was that the march ended up on Aboriginal sacred land, Musgrave Park in South Brisbane. Not since the 2012 May Day assembly has the park contained such a wonderful crowd of people. After a long afternoon people were still sitting in the shade voicing bittersweet solidarity for the people of Palestine.

After two weeks of opposition by police, right-wing media and LNP council, Chief Magistrate Brassington appointed herself chief political negotiator for the government and authorized a march from Queens Gardens to Musgrave Park. Rafferty rules in court. To all those so called leaders we remind them of the words of the poet Shelley:

Important reading

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bu81rqfVf/

Ian Curr, 24 August 2025