At Friends of the Earth, we believe that peace is a precursor to gender, climate, economic, social, and environmental justice, and that real system change requires us to challenge systems of oppression and seek justice for those most impacted.
It is for this reason that we have been outspoken and unwavering in our commitment to an end to the bombardment of Gaza, and to freedom for the Palestinian people.
This Sunday, we’re calling on you to join us in starting regular climate movement contingents at Melbourne’s Free Palestine Rallies. Will you join us?
In December we were informed that Israeli airstrikes had killed five of FoE Palestine’s staff, including some who were murdered while travelling from north to south Gaza to seek refuge under instruction from Israel.
Hundreds of relatives of FoE Palestine members’ staff have also been killed.
More than 80% of FoE Palestine team members have been forcibly displaced, the majority having been displaced several times looking for a safe place only to be subject again to ongoing bombing, food and water scarcity.
These numbers may in fact be greater now; the dire situation has left many staff out of contact with their colleagues while they do what they can to survive.
Now, after months of directing more than a million civilians - including our surviving FoE Palestine colleagues in Gaza - to take refuge in the south, Israel is moving its military into a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
Please join us this Sunday In Melbourne as part of the Climate Movement Contingent at the Free Palestine Sunday Rallies - starting this Sunday 18th February.
How to join: The climate movement contingent will gather at 11:30am ahead of Sunday’s Free Palestine Rally, meeting at the Corner of Swanston St and Little Lonsdale St, on the grass close to the library. Look for the Friends of the Earth flags.
What to bring: Banners, placards, keffiyehs, water, sunscreen, and covid safety measures like masks and hand sanitiser. Importantly, bring your friends. We need numbers to be bigger each week!
Share the posts with your community: on Facebook and Instagram.
If you live outside of Melbourne, please see a list of regional events here.
Despite the International Court of Justice putting Israel on notice for plausible genocide, and calls for a humanitarian ceasefire from the UN General Assembly, Israel’s violence, backed by the military might of the United States and its allies has continued.
In the past four months, an estimated 28 000 people, overwhelmingly civilians and nearly half of them children, have been murdered, and over 67,000 have been injured, with thousands still missing. Many more are facing the threat of death from starvation or disease due to the lack of humanitarian aid, the bombing of farms and food supplies, contamination of water and more. Israeli attacks on agricultural land and infrastructure is denying Gazans food sovereignty, and is part of the use of starvation as a weapon of war, according to Human Rights Watch.
We must as a global community maintain the pressure in calling for an immediate ceasefire, and political self determination for the Palestinian people.
For the last 18 weeks we have seen First Nations communities, unionists, healthcare workers, faith groups and so many others mobilise relentlessly to demonstrate the widespread community opposition to the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
We know that there can be no climate justice or environmental justice without the protection of human rights. In face of undeniable attacks on Palestinian lives and land, it’s time for the climate movement to be louder in our support for justice for the Palestinian people.
Please join us on Sunday.