#I hope anyone feeling full of despair in Australia can attend a rally and feel how healing it is to stand alongside thousands

[stil-lindigo]

For the past 10 weeks, there’s been weekly rallies for Palestine in Naarm/Melbourne and the government’s claim that protest like this needlessly divides Australia is such bullshit. These rallies are one of the most diverse collections of people I’ve ever seen. Indigenous elders, Palestinian students, queer teens and adults from all walks of life. I saw an old Chinese grandma here a few weeks ago with a Palestinian flag stitched onto her sunhat. At another rally, a girl had come with her service dog - on his harness she had fixed a pin of the Palestinian flag. A prominent re-occurring chant is “ From the river to the sea / Always was, always will be” which combines Palestine’s call for freedom with an affirmation of Aboriginal people’s continuing sovereignty of Australian land.

Today in the rally, the speakers emphasised the value of not losing sight of Palestinian freedom during Christmas “festivities”. If the birthplace of Jesus Christ himself is under siege, what else is Christmas but a capitalist joy fest of consumerism?

This is not to say you can’t still celebrate, but do it responsibly. Observe the rules of BDS, observe the general strike on the 18th. Be more than a convenient idiot this holiday season.

[angstandhappiness]

IMPORTANT

For the past 10 weeks, there’s been weekly rallies for Palestine in Naarm/Melbourne and the government’s claim that protest like this needlessly divides Australia is such bullshit. These rallies are one of the most diverse collections of people I’ve ever seen. Indigenous elders, Palestinian students, queer teens and adults from all walks of life. I saw an old Chinese grandma here a few weeks ago with a Palestinian flag stitched onto her sunhat. At another rally, a girl had come with her service dog - on his harness she had fixed a pin of the Palestinian flag. A prominent re-occurring chant is “ From the river to the sea / Always was, always will be” which combines Palestine’s call for freedom with an affirmation of Aboriginal people’s continuing sovereignty of Australian land.

Today in the rally, the speakers emphasised the value of not losing sight of Palestinian freedom during Christmas “festivities”. If the birthplace of Jesus Christ himself is under siege, what else is Christmas but a capitalist joy fest of consumerism?

This is not to say you can’t still celebrate, but do it responsibly. Observe the rules of BDS, observe the general strike on the 18th. Be more than a convenient idiot this holiday season.