Defend Palestinian and anti-war protesters!

The brutal police assault on Disrupt Land Forces (DLF) protesters on 11 September, and spate of arrests which accompanied it, is an attack on all opponents of Australian militarism and defenders of Palestine. Over three days, scores were arrested, with further raids and arrests ongoing. Almost 100 people have been charged. Now, in a wave of threatened state repression, opponents of the Israeli attack on Lebanon are being targeted. Already one protester is facing a year in jail for carrying a Hezbollah flag. Drop all charges against DLF protesters! Drop all charges against victims of the Zionist witchhunt! Defend all opponents of the genocide in Gaza!

The Victorian Labor government allocated police an estimated $30 million to suppress the protests, imposing a “ring of steel” protecting the professional merchants of death at the Land Forces weapons expo. In the biggest police operation in 24 years anyone within a designated area was subject to extraordinary anti-terror laws and extreme violence by the bosses’ thugs in blue. Echoing the description Zionists use to justify their slaughter of Palestinians, the secretary of The Police Association Victoria labelled protesters “dirty, filthy, disgusting animals.”

While the intent of DLF protesters is laudable, small-scale actions facing down state repression cannot stop Australia’s military build-up and support to the slaughter in Gaza. The power to do that lies with the unions, which have the capacity to shut down Australia’s war industry and black ban military goods to Israel. Making this happen would require a determined struggle against the Laborite union bureaucracy, including those who declare their support to Palestine while not lifting a finger to mobilise their base.

Regardless of political differences, united-front action in defence of these pro-Palestine protesters is urgently necessary—mobilising the combined forces of the workers movement, the left, and all supporters of Palestine. The Partisan Defence Committee (PDC) has contributed $100 towards the legal costs of those DLF activists facing charges. We urge others to contribute at chuffed.org/project/113528-disrupt-land-forces-legal-costs and to contact the PDC to organise co-ordinated actions in defence of DLF protesters and other supporters of Palestine.