Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. The rich and powerful have their own political parties. We need ours. It’s the time to throw yourself into activity and join a revolutionary socialist organisation.
For weeks, it has been impossible to turn away from the heinous crimes Israel is committing against the Palestinians. The response from the establishment is enough to make you scream. Politicians, capitalists and their media are bending over backwards to justify Israel’s actions, to lie about them and to cover them up.
But just as Israel’s atrocities have exposed the evil of Western capitalism, the last month has confirmed that ordinary people have far more humanity than our rulers. Masses of working-class people have rejected the vile mainstream support of Israel by turning out for historic pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Gazan writer and founder of the Great March of Return Ahmed Abu Artema issued the following call to action on 14 October:
“This is the most important thing to do now: Organize very big protests in all the cities, in all places, and say enough of this genocide, enough of this massacre that Israel is committing against children, against families.”
The world has answered his call. Protests have flowered across the world from Washington to Cairo, London to Johannesburg. In this outpouring are the seeds for a socialist world.
The past month has made three things clear. First, capitalism is a barbaric system. Second, hope lies in the masses of working-class people who have stood against the atrocities. Third, we urgently need to build political organisations that break with the pro-capitalist consensus of the major parties and aim to overthrow this system in order to build a new one based on human liberation and cooperation.
Socialist Alternative is the largest revolutionary socialist organisation in Australia. We throw in our lot with every struggle against oppression and injustice—because it’s the same capitalist system oppressing all of us.
The week Israel began bombing Gaza, every member of Socialist Alternative attended a branch meeting based in their city or campus. We discussed the genocide in Palestine and the response of the ruling class and media around the world. We talked through what to do about it.
From that first week, we threw ourselves into action. As part of broader campaign groups, our members have organised, spoken at and chaired mass rallies in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Wollongong. We’ve released new editions of Red Flag dedicated to convincing readers to throw themselves into the fight for Palestine.
At the marches, we don’t just attend as individuals but as socialist red blocs to draw others into the fight for socialism. We have political conversations with as many people as possible to convince them to be involved in an ongoing way. And we’ve been organising mass meetings aimed at convincing those attending rallies to stand not only against Israel, but against the whole putrid capitalist system.
Socialist Alternative has always fought for Palestine, including when we were much more isolated in doing so. Until recently, Palestinian oppression was largely ignored by non-Arabs and non-Muslims. Our group has waged a long-term argument that those outside the Arab diaspora must stand with the Palestinians.
We remained steadfast even when in a minority, when practically every institution of Australian society has lined up behind Israel, because we stand against all forms of oppression and exploitation, regardless of whether it is popular to do so. We campaign regardless of whether there is a mass movement because we know that another world is possible.
We have to fight like hell to expose the lies of Israel and its backers, and to contribute to an international movement against the genocide of the Palestinians. We need to build the forces of socialism, so that we can connect this moment to the fight against the whole capitalist class.
If they are not overthrown, they will continue to unleash violence all over the world. Don’t let them—join Socialist Alternative.
