About 200 people protested Israel’s campaign of pogroms against Palestinians in the West Bank and the ongoing genocide in Gaza on September 5.
Featured speakers at the rally, organised by Friends of Palestine Western Australia WA, were: Sisonke Msimang, South African-Australian writer and activist; Sandy Tu, from Teachers for Palestine WA; Dr Lama Al Ramahi; and Danica, from Friends of Palestine WA.
Sisonke encouraged people to keep fighting for justice, saying that during the Apartheid era many supporters of that regime believed it would never end. She spoke about the connection between the two movements and said the West Bank town of Ramallah hosts a statue of Nelson Mandela.
Tu described her experience of working within an education system, where those who speak up against Israel’s genocide and persecution of Palestinians are being targeted by authorities.
Al Ramahi said the conflation of antisemitism with criticism of Israel is wrong and introduced the Australian Healthcare Alliance for Palestine, an organisation providing solidarity to healthcare workers being attacked for raising their voices against genocide.
Danica described how the Labor government is planning to connect WA to the US military machine, and how the Land Forces weapons conference in October offers people an opportunity to show their opposition to this plan.
