SOLIDARITY PALESTINIAN TRADE UNIONS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY As RAFFWU members, we know that the role of unions goes beyond the fight for better pay and conditions in our industries. We stand against injustices both in and beyond the workplace. Just as we turn up to support other Australian unions when they go on strike, we turn up when unions in other countries call for our support. Throughout Australian history, unionists have heeded international calls to stand in solidarity with people oppressed by apartheid regimes and war, even when our governments fail to do so. In 1938, the dockworkers at Port Kembla in Wollongong refused to load pig iron on a ship destined for Japan. They knew that the iron was to be made into weapons for the Japanese military for use in their invasion and occupation of China, which had already resulted in the slaughter of many innocent Chinese people. The then-Attorney General, Robert Menzies, called the action “a provocative act against a friendly power”. The strike lasted ten weeks, after which the union secured a guarantee that no further Australian ships would provide the raw materials of war to Japan. In 1971, Apartheid South Africa’s white-only rugby team The Springboks were scheduled to tour Australia. Mass protests opposed the tour, but the Liberal Party government was determined to see it go ahead. When the team arrived, unionised pilots and flight attendants refused to work on Springbok flights. Unionised hotel and restaurant workers refused to carry the players’ bags and serve their meals. Similar actions took place around the world that caused significant damage to the international standing of the apartheid South Africa. In Australia and elsewhere, unions made it their business to refuse to accept the legitimacy of a racist apartheid state. Since 2005, the Gaza Strip has been blockaded by the Israeli state, which controls all movement of people, food, medical supplies, electricity, water, and fuel across the border. The two million people of Gaza in Palestine live under horrific conditions. Over half of all Palestinian children and pregnant women are anaemic due to malnutrition. 80% of the population rely on humanitarian assistance to survive. Due to the economic impact of the blockade, 45.3% of the population are unemployed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council and independent non-government human rights organisation Human Rights Watch categorise Israel's occupation policies as forms of apartheid. On 7 October 2023, members of Hamas, the political party that controls Gaza, breached the borders of the blockade, and launched an attack on Israel. They killed 1200 people, many of whom were innocent civilians, and took hundreds of hostages. The attack on civilians was an atrocity that drew widespread condemnation from the international community. Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas, but its response did not limit itself to targeting combatants. The blockade that affects all Gazans escalated to a siege. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared, "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly." In the month that followed, Israel dropped 25,000 tonnes of explosives, the equivalent of 2 nuclear bombs, on Gaza. To date in mid-November 2023, 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 4000 children. Over 1.4 million Gazans were displaced. Israel acts with impunity on Palestinian people because it enjoys the backing of the United States and other international allies, such as Australia. In Australia, demonstrations of tens of thousands of people filled the streets in all capital cities calling for the government to support a ceasefire. Instead, the Federal Labor government spared Israel of its criticism and repeatedly justified the war on the grounds of Israel’s right to self-defence. On 16 October, Workers in Palestine, an organisation representing 30 Palestinian Trade Unions, issued a call out to unions worldwide to take action to stop the trading of arms, funding, and military research to Israel. Trade Unionists for Palestine, a newly formed group of rank-and-file union members in Australia, launched a petition calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the illegal Israeli occupation. Over seventy RAFFWU members signed on to the petition. In Sydney, RAFFWU members connected and started to discuss how we could advance our solidarity with Palestinian workers. We contacted other members who signed the petition and collectively organised to attend future pro-Palestinian rallies with RAFFWU flags. When Trade Unionists for Palestine called an all-union meeting to discuss the call from Palestinian unions, we mobilised our RAFFWU group to attend. Drawing from the inspiration of historical Australian union opposition to war and apartheid, we planned to protest the Israeli shipping container Zim, scheduled to dock in Botany the following week. RAFFWU members have also attended rallies together in other cities such as Brisbane and Melbourne. We must stand against discrimination in all its forms, including where it manifests as unadulterated apartheid. “We make this call as we see attempts to ban and silence all forms of solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask you to speak out and take action in the face of injustice as trade unions have done historically. We make this call in the belief that the struggle for Palestinian justice and liberation is not only a regionally and globally determined struggle. It is a lever for the liberation of all dispossessed and exploited people of the world.” 26
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