Photo Above: Palestinians inspect the damage to buildings that were attacked by the Israeli army in the refugee camp of Tulkarm in the north of the West Bank on 12 September 2024. While carrying our a genocide of the Palestinian people of Gaza, the U.S. and Australian imperialist-backed Israeli regime has been escalating its attacks on the people of the West Bank.
Photo: Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua

STAND WITH PALESTINE!
STAND WITH THE CFMEU!

RESIST OUR COMMON
AUSTRALIAN CAPITALIST ENEMIES!

19 September 2024 – Nowhere are the Palestinian people safe in their homeland. Israel is massacring Gaza’s people in Israel’s own designated “safe zones” and in schools turned into shelters – even the ones run by the UN. Israel has also escalated its assaults in the West Bank. From its assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran to its deadly air strikes on Syria to its bombings of Lebanon’s people, Israel’s terror is expanding. The only reason that Israel’s rulers are able to do all this is because of the massive support that they receive from the U.S., Australian and British imperialists. Let us not be fooled when these imperialists call for “ceasefire now”! They are just trying to limit the damage to their battered, self-appointed, “pro-human rights” image. They truly only want a “ceasefire” that’s based on greater Israeli control of Gaza.

Their puppets are also playing a criminal role. The exploding pagers that killed dozens of Lebanese people were made by a Taiwanese firm. Given that Taiwan’s rulers have long been rabid Israel backers, it is likely that Taiwanese ruling class actors were part of the plot. During South Africa’s Apartheid era, the Taiwanese, Israeli and Apartheid regimes formed an unholy alliance that assisted the Apartheid and Israeli regimes to acquire nukes. This Taiwanese firm is especially suspicious. For its CEO’s claim that they had not made the pagers but only sold its trademark overseas has been proven to be a bald-faced lie! The “manufacturer” that the Taiwanese boss blamed was found to be a trader with no manufacturing facilities!

Yet despite all these powerful forces arrayed against them, Palestinian forces are heroically resisting. And not only in Gaza. Following on from July’s China-brokered unity agreement that brought together Fatah, Hamas, PFLP and others, Palestinian forces are fighting in the West Bank in a more united way. We have a huge responsibility to stand by this resistance given that we live under one of the regimes facilitating Israel’s tyranny. We must escalate our actions standing by the Palestinian people! Let us stand with Syria and Iran against Israel and the Western capitalist powers supporting them! Let us stand with Lebanese and Yemeni people resisting genocide! Let us demand: Israeli troops and fascist settlers get out of all of Gaza and the West Bank! Stop the Australian regime’s participation in Israel’s genocide!

FOR A PRO-PALESTINE MOVEMENT THAT
IMPLACABLY OPPOSES THE AUSTRALIAN RULING CLASS
THAT IS PARTICIPATING IN GENOCIDE!

Huge numbers have joined weekly Sydney marches organised by the Palestine Action Group. Alongside global protests, these actions have exposed the Western regimes behind Israel and thus compelled them to make concessions – prodding Israel to murder Gaza’s people at a lower speed than it would like to. But we should not be satisfied! A slower genocide is still a horrific genocide! We must realise the Palestine movement’s potential to have a much greater impact! Now!

The problem with the movement is not that “we need to get more creative with our organising”. Indeed, the organising has been fantastic. The sole flaw of the movement that we must correct is its political direction. Actually, there are promising aspects about this. Rally chants have become more hard-hitting – especially ones like Labor Party you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide! Yet there is simultaneously a different message coming from the protests: an appeal to Australia’s rulers to support the Palestinian cause. To appeal to the ruling class as a potential friend is actually completely counterposed to condemning them as a genocide-enabling enemy that we are demanding to back off from their support for Israel. Yet, currently these two lines are co-existing in the movement. But Australia’s imperialist rulers will never support the Palestinian cause. For they are backing Israel because it is in their own predatory interests – and not just those of their U.S. allies. Australia’s capitalists not only exploit local workers but plunder even more ruthlessly the peoples of the South West Pacific and Southeast Asian region. To guarantee this neo-colonial rape, Australia’s ruling class allies with the U.S. superpower. So for the sake of their own tyranny in this region, Australia’s imperialist rulers need U.S. power to be maintained, which is why they want to protect the USA’s Israeli attack dog in the strategic Middle East.

The biggest problem with appealing to Australia’s rulers is that it makes the pro-Palestine movement far less able to arm-twist the ruling class into retreating from their support for Israel. For if the capitalist rulers are not being opposed as an implacable enemy, the movement is doing the ruling class far less political damage than it could. Such political damage is not the same as electoral damage. Sure, the ALP tops would be upset if they lost the next election. But ultimately, the main feature that defines ALP politicians and those from all the current parliamentary parties is their loyalty to the filthy rich owners of Australia’s mines, construction firms, factories, banks, agri-businesses, the power sector, tech firms and big retailers – who are the ultimate power in Australia. What would most damage this capitalist class (who can be of any race but in Australia are mainly white Protestants) and their political servants is if there is a growing movement that brands them as an unambiguous enemy and mobilises actions against them. The Palestine movement needs to urgently transform into such a movement. It is partly there. But it needs to remove all appeals to Australia’s capitalist rulers from its agenda.

Among those pushing appeals to Australia’s rulers to “act” for Palestine are the pro-ALP, ACTU union leaders. Saying that the government “should do more”, the ACTU tops call for Australia to put sanctions on Israel. This seemingly pro-Palestine slant disguises a treacherous intent – to provide an alibi for their ALP parliamentary mates. By saying that the government “should do more”, they are hiding the truth that not only is the ruling class here doing absolutely nothing to defend the Palestinian people, they are instead doing much harm: from helping operate the U.S.-Australia Pine Gap spy base that is directing Israel’s missiles, to participating in the Red Sea military operation against Yemeni opponents of Israel, to providing military supplies to Israel. Two days ago, the Australian regime joined the U.S., British, Ukrainian, South Korean, Israeli and other Western-aligned regimes in refusing to support a UN motion to end Israel’s occupation that was voted for by two-thirds of the world. True support for Palestinian people would not make futile appeals to the enemy that prettify its nature but would demand that the Australian capitalist enemy withdraw from their participation in genocide. It would demand: Close the Pine Gap spy base! U.S./Australian/British troops get out of the Red Sea! Stop Australian military supplies to Israel!

Within the Palestine movement, this diversionary, “the Australian government should do more” line is pushed by the Greens. For, although individual Greens politicians have powerfully condemned Israel’s genocide, the Greens do not consistently oppose Australian ruling class support for Israel. During the early phase of this latest Israeli war, the Greens officially took a nauseatingly, “even-handed” “condemn both sides” stance. Today, they retain elements of this stance. Moreover, ultimately, the Greens uphold the imperialist domination of the world that underpins Israel’s tyranny. They supported NATO’s 2011 “regime-change” war on Libya and imperialism’s proxy war against the not-obedient-enough Syrian government. Just a year ago, they fed into the U.S.-led war drive against Iran by pushing for the imperialist Australian regime to more harshly sanction Iran – which is very different to supporting an explicitly anti-imperialist, pro-working class opposition to the women-oppressing, Iranian capitalist regime. Today, the Greens back all the Western-backed forces seeking to undermine socialistic rule in China. For the Greens are ultimately a party that also represents the capitalist class – albeit its liberal-progressive wing, as well as the pro-capitalist sections of the progressive-minded affluent professionals. Thus, although much of the capitalist class is angered at Greens leaders speaking at pro-Palestine events, at the same time, however, the capitalist rulers remain largely reassured by this. For the movement’s links to the Greens prevent it from becoming a consistent force against Australian imperialism and the Australian capitalist ruling class. We need to urgently liberate the Palestine movement from loyalty to the Greens!

FOR FULL-SCALE CLASS WAR
AGAINST AUSTRALIA’S CAPITALIST EXPLOITING CLASS!

If the Palestine movement is able to transform into a movement of irreconcilable opposition to the Australian ruling class it would be able to intersect with the widespread fury at these rulers over unaffordable rents, rising living costs and racist scapegoating of migrants and refugees. Many from Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander and African backgrounds are also angry about Western neo-colonial depredations in their homelands. Right now, workers are especially furious at the regime’s takeover of the militant CFMEU union. Every genuine supporter of the Palestinian people must support worker resistance to this attack on the CFMEU as this has the potential to bash the genocide-enabling Australian capitalist class onto the back foot. We must connect the pro-Palestine movement with the resistance to this union-busting attack. Already, some speakers at Palestine rallies have proclaimed solidarity with the CFMEU. That is a start. However, the ruling class will not feel threatened unless the movement as a whole declares opposition to the regime takeover of the CFMEU. That means slogans like “Hands Off the CFMEU” must become part of the official slogans for each Palestine action and must be included on the front main rally banner alongside opposition to Israel’s genocide. However, to do this is a big political step. For one, taking such a stance implicitly means abandoning the strategy of appealing to the capitalist rulers. Secondly, taking such a clear side in the class war will necessarily put off the small number of capitalist and other strongly pro-capitalist individuals attending Palestine rallies. But so be it! Australian ruling class support for Israel’s genocide must be stopped! The Palestine movement must be turned into one that can compel the capitalist enemy here at home to end its participation in this atrocity! This is the only way.

If we do this, then pro-CFMEU actions could also take on an explicitly pro-Palestine character and pro-Palestine contingents could be arranged to join CFMEU worker strike rallies and vice versa. However, for this to be fully realised and for worker outrage at the attack on the CFMEU to turn into a powerful indefinite strike action, something else needs to happen. There needs to be built a new, militant leadership of our unions and a new workers party connected to it. This is made possible by large numbers of working class people now turning away from the ALP at disgust at both its attack on the CFMEU and its support for Israel’s genocide. However, if this support goes to the pro-imperialist and capitalist-accepting Greens, it will not be a step forward. What we must build is a workers party that will support militant class struggle and oppose every one of Australian imperialism’s actions – including its acts against Palestine. Such a party would understand that positive change will not come from gaining office to administer regime institutions serving the imperialist, exploiting class. Rather, it will come through class struggle and other progressive actions. Let’s build such a revolutionary workers party to organise this struggle. Let’s transform the Palestine movement into a force of uncompromising opposition to Australia’s imperialist rulers! Let’s build joint resistance to the war on Palestine and the war on the CFMEU!