The following statement was written by our comrades from Melbourne Anarchist-Communist Group. Geelong Anarchist Communists endorse their position and express our own solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people against apartheid and colonialism. As anarchists in Australia a nation that actively supports the Israeli colonisation of Palestinian lands, we believe it is our duty to oppose the Australian governments position on anti-imperialist grounds.
Melbourne Anarchist-Communist Group Statement:
Contrary to statements made by Israel’s apologists, the attacks by Hamas militants in Southern Israel were not ‘unprovoked’. Palestinians have been provoked, ethnically cleansed, imprisoned, tortured, murdered, and subjected to daily humiliations for decades.
Where the attacks by Hamas (a thoroughly reactionary organisation) have targeted civilians, we totally reject them. The majority of the working class in Israel is certainly complicit in apartheid, and we don’t expect Jewish-worker solidarity with Palestinians to be a significant force in the near future. It remains the case, however, that such a development will ultimately be necessary, and that this is not encouraged by unjustifiable attacks on civilian Israeli workers. It is also important to recognise that the crimes of Hamas, though real, are merely a pale echo of Israel’s. The graveyards of Gaza overflow with the civilian victims of Israeli violence.
Armed resistance against the Israeli State, and the fascism it fosters, is another story. The people of Gaza — inhabitants of the world’s largest open air prison — have every right (whatever one thinks of the strategy) to break free of the hell the apartheid regime has imposed. Gazans are being poisoned by their water supply, economically strangled, and are subjected to routine bombardment. No war was launched by Hamas — war is the everyday reality for the Palestinian people.
The response by the far-right government in Israel will almost certainly be more savage than anything we have seen in the past two decades of ‘special operations’. There is a real danger of the military committing a monstrous act and presenting the world with a fait accompli .Moreover, the fascist movement in Israel increasingly speaks in terms of outright genocide — a final solution to the Palestinian problem.
To take their enormous courage and translate it into a defeat for the apartheid regime, the workers of Palestine have to act independently of their self-appointed leaders. The explosion of self-organisation and popular participation demonstrated in the First Intifada must be repeated.
Meanwhile, the workers of Israel must take up a position of No War But Class War. The settler colonial mentality, class collaboration, and fascism must be defeated. The apartheid State must collapse. Realistically, this will not occur without meaningful international working class solidarity. This will require struggle against the various dictatorships in the region, as well as a movement in the United States to end the vital support that sustains the status quo. Though the importance of Australia’s support for Israel isn’t comparable to that of the US, we must also have the same fight here.
The formation of a single binational State would not address the root causes of State conflict, racist nationalism, and exploitation. Only a movement of the entire class, united against bosses and politicians, both Arab and Jewish, can eliminate these poisons, and free every human being who currently resides Between the River and the Sea, in the land of Palestine.
DOWN WITH APARTHEID
NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR
Supplementary commentary from Geelong Anarchist Communists:
At a community gathering in Caulfield, local Corio MP, Deputy Labor Prime Minister and Minister for ‘Defence’ Richard Marles stated “Israel is a liberal democracy. She cherishes human rights and values freedom of speech. And in that, Israel and Australia are the same.” We too believe that Israel and Australia have similarities – they are both colonial nations that oppress minorities and use the sheen of liberal democracy to cover up their deeply entrenched racism and systemic violence.
Meanwhile New South Wales Minister Christopher Minns, also from the Labor Party, has outlawed a protest in solidarity with Palestinian people scheduled for the coming weekend. This is a disgusting attack on free speech, the rights of people to resist oppression and a dangerous precedent in Australia. As the nations media goes into overdrive to justify Israeli violence, and politicians of all stripes line up with colonialism, we urge everyone with a beating heart to make their voices heard in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Against colonialism and imperialism, always!
Anarchist Communist Federation - Geelong 