WORLD WORLDWIDE AUSTRALIA MELBOURNE - news journal UPDATE - (en) Australia, Melbourne MACG: The Power To Stop a Genocide By Ablokeimet (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The genocide in Gaza has been paused by the current ceasefire. Phase 1,
which provided for a cessation of military action and a staged exchange
of hostages, was due to end on March 2. Phase 2 provides for a permanent
cessation of hostilities and total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, along
with the exchange of more hostages, including all remaining Israeli
hostages. ---- Israel has refused to shift to Phase 2, or even to make
serious negotiations about it. Instead, it has demanded an extension of
Phase 1, with the remaining hostages exchanged under that. It has also
threatened dire consequences if Hamas doesn't agree. The difference
between the two positions is that, under its own proposal, Israel won't
withdraw from Gaza. By refusing to move to Phase 2 and demanding
changes, Israel is in violation of an agreement it signed less than two
months ago.

Since reneging on the ceasefire agreement, Israel has imposed a total
embargo on aid entering Gaza and cut off the supply of electricity. This
is a war crime of immense proportions and, if persisted with, would mean
re-commencing the genocide of Gaza.

Meanwhile, on 5 February, Donald Trump, the US President, announced his
intention to support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and its redevelopment
into the "Riviera of the Middle East", with the United States owning it.
The Palestinians were to depart to unspecified Arab countries and
possibly dispersed amongst many. This would be a crime against humanity,
aggravated by the level of violence necessary to compel the Gazans to
submit to a second Nakba.

Trump's proposal is aligned with Israel's tactics over the Gaza
ceasefire. His proposal makes public US support for Israel's maximum
military objective in Gaza, which is the total depopulation of the
territory of its Palestinian inhabitants. However, the US plan for Gaza
faces an obstacle in the opposition of all Arab States to taking
refugees from Gaza. An Israeli assault on Gaza that drives the
population over the border into Egypt's Sinai peninsula would overcome
this. Given the Palestinian resistance to being displaced, the assault
would need to have genocidal dimensions, with no upper limit on the
casualties imposed. Presumably, Trump considers the political fallout in
Egypt would be manageable.

Genocide Must be Stopped
With the US eagerly participating in the genocide of Gaza, both through
political support and through providing Israel with the arms necessary
to accomplish it, international law requires other countries to do all
within their power to stop the genocide. Stopping military exports to
Israel, including parts that go via the US or elsewhere, is therefore
compulsory. States which won't do this are, themselves, guilty of genocide.

Central to Israel's military operations is the F35 fighter-bomber, which
is manufactured in a distributed process in the US & across a number of
key US allies, including Australia. Some of the components are only made
in Australia and the plane can't fly without them. A particularly
telling example is that the bomb bay doors for the F35 are made here.
Workers in Australia have the ability to stop Israel's genocide in Gaza,
even in isolation.

If governments won't act to stop the genocide, it becomes an obligation
for workers in relevant industries to do so. Unions worldwide should ban
the export of war materiel, automobiles, oil and petroleum products to
Israel. In Australia, this means F35 parts. While workers who
manufacture these parts should ideally do this, our best opportunities
today are in preventing their transport via sea or air. Workers in a
position to black ban war materiel are far more likely to do so if there
is a large public campaign supporting this.

The Task Before Us
Workers in every union should form groups opposing the Gaza genocide and
ethnic cleansing. They should urgently demand black bans on war
materiel, automobiles, oil and petroleum products bound for Israel,
directly or indirectly. They should acknowledge that, in Australia, this
includes F35 parts. They should demand that their union support that
position and that the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) also
support it. This means providing relevant solidarity action for workers
at the pointy end who will actually be implementing bans. These groups
should link up together to wage a strong public campaign demanding the
Labor Government cut off the export of F35 parts and demanding the ACTU
black ban them until it does.

This campaign will not be welcomed either by the Labor Government or the
union officials. Support for Israel is cemented into the Labor Party at
all levels and even the current Gaza genocide has only compelled it to
make marginal changes to its language. The union officials, meanwhile,
though somewhat more critical of Israel and a little more supportive of
Palestinian aspirations, are rigidly opposed to independent actions that
would break the legal straightjacket of anti-union laws in Australia.

The fact that the legal obligation to prevent genocide trumps industrial
law won't change that.

Workers organising to stop the genocide in Gaza should certainly seek
the support of their union officials, but they mustn't let them have a
veto. Rather, this organising should be done even in the face of
opposition from the officials if necessary. By organising in the
workplace, workers in Australia have the power to stop the genocide. In
the process, workers will build the networks necessary to rebuild the
unions, which are vital in creating a movement that can make a
revolution - to abolish apartheid Israel and capitalism all together.

FOR WORKERS ACTION AGAINST GENOCIDE

TOUCH ONE TOUCH ALL

https://melbacg.au/the-power-to-stop-a-genocide/
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