this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
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The anti-war movement has picked up massively where I am (Syd) since Oct 7, which means there are a lot more options for 'doing something' than there were even one year ago.
I was going through some of my photos from the Nakbah protest in 2023 just a few days ago, and it was honestly quite shocking to see how tiny it was compared to even the smaller weekly rallies that have been happening since Oct 7.
Obviously it's a lot easier to get involved in activism if you are in a larger city, but off the top of my head there are quite a few organisations like food not bombs, the Palestine advocacy network, the anti-aukus coalition which operate across the country.
But yeah, I feel you. When you watch the news you can see how blasé we all are about the horrors of war, and our role in proliferating it. I want to get out too.
I'm in a small town, so not much going on here. And while the protests should continue and I'm happy with their numbers, the media actually manage to turn it against the cause and increase the general population support for this kind of atrocity. When I see the news on the tv covering protest I'm afraid, because I know exactly what it will show and I'm always right. They usually don't even mention what the protest is about and the few people they give voice and the morons they interview are always just talking about how dangerous the protesters are, how "against peace", how pro terrorists, how they damage the economy and how they will eat your dog and rape your kids. Basically inciting the population to protest against the protesters.
I have never seen such biased and clearly controlled media as here, except for the US. It's amazing how powerful they are. I know that in most countries they usually just show the israeli side and just "forget" to show the other one. But here it's a clear propaganda and manipulation. So if anything the average person who doesn't look for more info will just defend the war point of view more with the protests being shown on tv.
And it shows. Even here, where people are more "leftists" (whatever that means) I see many "fox news" points of view. On reddit it's a lost cause. And talking to the average people it's the same. Everyone just knows that "israel is fighting terrorists".
It's what I complained about on my other posts regarding the military monuments. It's a fundamental part of australian culture and I see little hope of that changing. The countries that show some courage against israel have a whole history of not admiring the military and not being dogs of the US that often. Or being muslim based countries.
So I don't see how that can change any time soon but that doesn't change that I am being part of the problem being here, and that people are being murdered with my support.
Supporting help for palestinians is good and should happen, like the protests. But that won't fix anything and will just have to be something that needs to be done forever. Or until there is no Palestine left.
Honestly, the neoliberal propaganda is good, and it has convinced a lot of people that they can only act as individuals, and that you need to get instant results. Don't fall for it. We're going to have to organise together, over a long period of time.
There's groups all over the country organising in their own local area. This page has a sizeable list of them: https://wevoteforpalestine.net/solidarity/
Even if there's not an established group in you area, there are decent people everywhere. Create a social media account for '[PLACE] for Palestine' and share it around in local social media groups.
Even if you can't find anyone, get on down outside your local MP's office with a sign.
You might also be able to contribute remotely. Either volunteering to contribute your time and skills to one of these groups, or even monetarily to APAN (apan.org.au).
I'm not sure if it's influence of propaganda. I used to be very active against israel and US some 15 years ago. I was sacrificing my life for it and I realized nothing would change but I was hurting myself. 15 years later nothing changed. It didn't change 15 years before I started either. So a long period of time will mean I won't live to see it.
I stopped getting involved and tried to just not know about it. The result is the same but I don't suffer. But living here it's impossible to ignore and I'm part of the problem. It won't change, but I'm helping to make it worse here
But yes, I'll do what you and jaek suggested until I figure out what to do. To me it's much more important to not help israel than it is to help those they destroy. And that's the main thing I want to do, not help them.
Yeah, part of acknowledging that it will take a long time is making sure your efforts are sustainable. Working as part of an organisation - even a small one - lets you share the work around and take breaks.
If you sign up for the APAN newsletter they'll let you know when there's campaigns on where you can take action. They have a list of stuff you can do here: https://apan.org.au/take-action/
The BDS Australia site also has targeted actions you can take: https://bdsaustralia.net.au/
There's nothing like local organising, though, if you can get involved that way. While regional organisations are going to be smaller, I think they can have an outsize impact. The difference between there being nothing going on in your area and something is huge.