Responding to the genocidal starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and the community organisations working for justice, Merri-bek Council passed a four-point motion, on September 10, which include calling for sanctions on Israel and raising the Palestinian flag at Coburg Town Hall.
Socialist Alliance Merri-bek councillor Sue Bolton (Bababi Djinanang Ward) initiated the motion which was seconded by Greens councillor Ella Svensson (Brunswick West Ward). It included calling on council to organise an event to mark the international day of solidarity with Palestine on November 29.
Merri-bek Council flew the Palestinian flag in 2023, also at Bolton’s instigation. That motion said it should be up until a permanent ceasefire had been negotiated in Gaza. It was the first Victorian council to take such action and set a precedent for others. Controversially, council officers removed the flag during last year’s temporary ceasefire.
Merri-bek for Palestine and Northern Suburbs for Palestine (M4P) organised a spirited rally outside Coburg Town Hall where councillors, rally-goers and locals heard from Palestinian Australian Sara Alasad and anti-Zionist Jew Veronica Sherman.
“I have seen Merri-bek proudly supporting First Nations struggles and refugees and human-rights causes. Let us continue that legacy now by raising the Palestinian flag,” Alasad said. Sherman said “collective solidarity is powerful ... [and] we have a moral obligation not to be silent. Raising the flag is raising our collective voice.”
“There is a need for Merri-bek to raise its voice again, to indicate its solidarity for the people in Gaza, who are experiencing the most horrendous genocide,” Bolton told the council meeting. She called on councillors to “renew calls for Australia to impose new — full — sanctions on Israel, including an end to the two-way arms trade, a permanent ceasefire and an end to the siege”.
Bolton had pushed for council to reinstate the Palestinian flag earlier this year, but it was voted down. She tried against in August and it was disallowed. However, her motion this time was successful, with Bolton telling Green Left that the local organising for justice for Palestine had made a difference.
There was unanimous support for point one that council “notes the distress” within large sections of the Merri-bek community from “witnessing the human-made famine in Gaza as a result of the denial of food, and the destruction of Gaza as a result of relentless bombing”.
Bolton told the meeting that adopting point one is “meaningless” without adopting the subsequent action points.
However, Labor councillor Helen Politis (Harmony Park), who mostly voted against or abstained, spoke against the motion as a whole. She said that asking council to take a position on the Gaza genocide is what causes “division” and that council should focus on “social cohesion”.
Bolton replied that the division is caused by the “rich and powerful”, which have an interest in keeping the war going and “maintaining the Middle East for economic exploitation”. “There is a precedent for councils taking positions [on international issues],” Bolton said, citing solidarity groups working alongside the East Timorese.
Eight councillors, including Bolton, four Greens, one right-wing independent, and two Labor councillors, voted for the second point that council: “add its voice to renewed calls for Australia to impose sanctions on Israel, until a permanent ceasefire is enacted and the siege of Gaza is fully lived to allow Palestinians in Gaza to have unlimited access to food, water, fuel, electricity, medical supplies and construction materials to repair damaged homes and civilian infrastructure”.
Three councillors voted against, including two independents and one Labor.
Seven councillors voted in favour of raising the Palestinian flag (point three), including Bolton, four Greens, one Labor and one independent. Two Labor councillors abstained.
The fourth point asked council to organise an event to mark November 29, a United Nations-recognised international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Eight councillors voted in favour, including some who had voted against other points.