Picket Line ---- Where things stand ---- Israel's assault on Gaza is
entering its final stage. Israeli forces have killed over 50,000 people.Tens of thousands more are wounded or missing in the rubble. The strip
has been flattened. Now, the survivors face a blockade with only a
trickle of food and medicine admitted. ---- This has been the goal all
along. There was never a war in Gaza - only an attempt to impose a
permanent solution on the "Gaza question". Another ceasefire deal is
being considered. If this one holds, it will be because the Israelis
believe they have made Gaza sufficiently unlivable.
With the end in sight, and the judgement of history looming, governments
around the world are changing their rhetoric. The genocidal propaganda
in Israel has become too obvious to justify outright support. It's not
that these politicians have discovered a back bone or plan to impose
real consequences on Israel. The Israeli government's overt extremism
has simply forced its allies to save face.
In the UK, the Labour government has condemned the blockade and
suspended trade talks with Israel, but continues to supply it with parts
for the F-35 fighter jet. Here in Australia, the language of the
Albanese government has changed too. But while the PM has been willing
to call the starvation of Gaza an "outrage" and slap sanctions on a pair
of the most extreme Israeli ministers, nothing has been done to end
Australian complicity in the genocide. Like the UK, Australia also
supplies Israel with parts for the F-35; the very planes now bombing
Gaza. Some of these parts, like the bomb bay doors, are only made in
Australia, and the planes can't fly without them.
The more isolated Israel becomes, the better. But the reality is that
we've failed to stop the genocide. Israel's assault has mobilised one of
the largest mass movements in recent Australian history and there is now
unparalleled international support for the Palestinian cause. But
despite this we still weren't able to stop it.
Why are we failing?
Why hasn't turning millions of people into the streets been enough to
stop the genocide? Why hasn't re-electing Anthony Albanese - who
co-founded the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine in 1999 - been enough
to change things?
The Palestinian solidarity movement lacked the kind of power necessary
to force real change. In the place of that power, there has been a
strategy based on two mistaken assumptions. The first mistake is the
idea that Australia has no interest in supporting what Israel is doing,
or that it only supports Israel because it is following the orders of
the U.S. The second mistake is that government policy can be changed if
enough people become educated on an issue, turn out to protest, and vote
the right way in elections.
The reality is very different. Australia has a real interest in
maintaining its relationship with both Israel and the U.S. To confront
this interest, we need working class power.
U.S. puppet or willing accomplice?
The idea that Australia is an unwilling puppet of the U.S. is used to
explain our participation in everything from the Vietnam war, to the
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Many on the Left share this idea. At
the last election, the Greens argued for "an independent foreign policy"
capable of "reducing reliance on the United States". The language of
"independence" has also been embraced by some socialist groups. It
paints a picture of Australia as a bullied nation, acting contrary to
its peaceful instincts.
This is wrong. When Australia joins the U.S. in its imperialist wars, or
support for Israel, it is because it is in the independent interests of
Australian capitalism. Australia is a willing accomplice.
Australia is an imperialist power-a minor one-but still imperialist. Our
ruling class seeks to dominate the Pacific and parts of South East Asia,
projecting power through its role as an enthusiastic junior partner in a
U.S.-led alliance. For instance, supporting General Suharto's
dictatorship in Indonesia was good for the U.S. dominated world-system.
But that didn't stop Australia establishing domination over Timor Leste
when Indonesia had unrest in 1998.
Australia's main contribution to the U.S-led alliance is the Pine Gap
facility in Alice Springs. Pine Gap is jointly run with the CIA, and
conducts surveillance over a third of the world, including China, Korea,
Eastern Russia, and West Asia. Central Australia was chosen because it
was too remote for spy ships to intercept its signals from international
waters.
Again, there are parts of the Left that like to talk about Pine Gap as
if it were a purely American base which has been forced on Australia.
While it's true that the base is largely managed by U.S officials, no
Australian government has ever seriously objected to its existence or
following U.S. leadership. They supported Pine Gap's use in the Vietnam
War and later for coordinating drone strikes. Today, they support its
being used to provide targets in Gaza.
The Israel connection
Israel has played a similar role in the alliance, and likewise
benefited. It is a strong counterweight to the threat of Arab
nationalism - and so control over one of the most strategically
important and oil-rich parts of the world. Like Australia, Israel has
also been a reliable ally in the struggles against communist movements.
By serving the alliance, Israel has gained support for its own colonial
and imperialist ambitions over the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
Israel and Australia share another unique connection in the alliance,
which stems from their shared history as settler-colonial states. Like
the United States (and apartheid-era South Africa), both countries
consider themselves islands of European, capitalist civilisation in a
"savage" part of the world. This is a powerful psychological link, but
the real driving interest is material. As colonial outposts, these
countries have been able to extend American power across the world, and
establish their own regional dominance in reward.
Where do we have power?
Australia is directly complicit in the genocide, and has a real interest
in maintaining that complicity. This is why protesting hasn't been enough.
This raises the question of how and where we have power. It's clear that
we can't build it in parliament. Government policy isn't dictated by
morality, popular opinion, or even the personal positions of elected
leaders. Capital calls the shots. Government's either ensure those
interests are served, or they get replaced.
Clearly, we also have very little power in the streets. Governments can
ignore or wait out protest movements, while the police are equipped to
deal with both civil disobedience and riots. Where we really have power
as ordinary people is as workers, primarily in the workplace. Workplace
power gives us two points of leverage. First, workers in key industries
can refuse to participate in harmful work. Second, all of us can strike
and hit the ruling class where it hurts them most: their profits.
Hitting them where it hurts
To operate, Pine Gap needs electricity, water, and other logistical
support supplied by workers who don't work for the base itself.
University workers can fight to end research assistance to weapons
companies. The engineers, manufacturers, and logistics workers who
supply Israel with crucial parts for the F-35, or the R400 remote weapon
system, can limit the Israeli army's supplies. Union dock workers at the
French port of Fos-sur-Mer took this kind of action on 5 June, refusing
to load a container of machine gun parts bound for Israel. Because of
their industrial action, fewer guns will be aimed at the people of Gaza.
If we're going to do the same here, it requires getting organised and
having the strength to pull off unprotected industrial action. This is
the kind of power that the Palestine solidarity movement has largely
failed to focus on.
As long as we keep our activism to our free time, and bosses' profits
are safe, the Government can ignore us. Hundreds of thousands of people
around Australia can turn up every Sunday, for years, and it won't force
them to stop. But workers' make society run, and we can decide to run it
differently if we want.
'Never Again' means getting organised
It's time we place a price on Australian imperialism. If we want to save
what's left of Gaza, and make sure that Never Again means never again
for anyone, we need to build the kind of movement that we don't have today.
Building real power means building strength in our workplaces. All of us
need to be organised with our co-workers in our unions. Our delegates
and branches need to be linked together in rank-and-file networks across
every union in every industry - including those that produce and
transport weapons.
Only workers' power can put us in the driver's seat. Without it,
Australia will continue to follow the imperialist demands of capital.
With it, we can make a revolution - and build a new world.
https://ancomfed.org/2025/07/australia-a-willing-accomplice-to-genocide/
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