Genocide Lives: A Palestinian Voice from Brisbane
Genocide lives in every Gazawi who goes a day without food, who has to make hour-long trips in the hope of finding water.
Genocide lives in every hospital, depleted, bombed and besieged.
“Standing here, always here, eternally here, we have one aim and one aim only… to continue to be” — Mahmoud Darwish
Genocide lives in every child missing a limb, and genocide lives in every girl using tent straps as a hygiene pad.
Genocide lives every day that passes despite the tragedies in Palestine, and yet genocide lives every time we must pause our lives, victims to the all-consuming grief of bloodshed and displacement.
Genocide lives every time we forget to update the mental tallies in our minds.
20,000. 40,000. 70,000 more.
Genocide lives every time a Palestinian is forced to leave their house alone.
Genocide lives in the space between a refugee and their home.
Genocide lives in the space between here and there.
14,000 kilometres.
Genocide lives in the space between where I get to live and where people like me have to die.
The instinct to survive
It has been three years, and what was once an unimaginable fate has now become the norm.
And some of us have resorted to romanticising the resistance of a people who were given no other option.
The next time you sift through a wave of livestream content pouring out of Palestine, look closely.
You will see that for every malnourished father running to aid points in search of food to feed his family, or every child shuffling with a water jug half their size, there is the instinctual need to survive despite everything that is endured and suffered.
The next time you see a tent with worn-down blankets functioning as dividers of what little space their lives are forced to fit into, there comes a craving for dignity.
And the next time you see half-torn buildings turned into schools, mass weddings and kids playing with pipes, there is, in every fibre of their being, the desire to live, to be human.
We are human. There is no other way we can be.
Australia’s complicity
Genocide is a product of greed, and there is no shortage of instances I can list for you now.
Very recently, a series of bills that would prevent Australia from being complicit in, or benefiting from, any genocide was proposed.
It is said that no one can guide us into being better people than the generations that came before us.
So, if that is the case, how lucky is the Albanese government to have activists and advocates screaming, [urging] them to be on the right side of history?
How lucky is the Crisafulli government to have us stubbornly telling them for months that free speech is a necessary asset?
And how foolish [unclear] was it when the Labor Party and Coalition blocked the proceeding of the Red Lines package into Parliament?
There is no doubt about it.
They had no reason to fear criticism of the Red Lines, but they were driven by the dread that it would pass, knowing that constructing the means of massacring tens of thousands of children is just too profitable.
On stolen lands, these rules are curated, while Australians can’t afford homes. [The following passage about profiting from Palestinian suffering is unclear in the supplied transcription.]
14,000 kilometres is not enough to absolve complicity, and we will continue to hold Australia accountable until Palestine is free.
Palestine will never die
The British Mandate, the Ottomans, [unclear reference to earlier empires], the Byzantines.
Palestine has almost always existed under external control.
And who could blame them?
Beautiful Palestine, with a sea and a river, century-old olive trees and the most kind-hearted villagers.
But all of these empires were temporary.
And despite what they think, this occupation is [unclear — possibly “temporary”].
Palestine will never die, and Palestinians will be free.
Standing here, always here, eternally here, we have one aim and one aim only:
To continue to be.
Thank you.
Nada Ibrahim
11 October 2026
Remah Naji addresses the rally
Following the speech, Remah Naji addressed the crowd.
“Free Palestine! Free, free, free Palestine!”
She then made an announcement about the scale of Australian solidarity demonstrations.
“A very important thing to announce here.
“Now we, as activists, have made it to the top of Israel’s watch list of countries organising rallies against [the genocide].
“We are the country in the world with the most rallies organised against Israel’s genocide.
“That’s according to their so-called, I believe, something called Diaspora Affairs.
“So we decided that we want to give them a special gift and take a picture collectively.
“So I’m going to ask you all to stand up, hold your [unclear], and [unclear].”
Workers Bush Telegraph — Editorial note
The speech places the experience of Palestinians in Gaza alongside the political responsibilities of Australians living thousands of kilometres away.
Its central argument is that genocide is not confined to a single military operation or a particular day of mass killing. It is experienced through hunger, displacement, the destruction of hospitals, the loss of homes, and the daily struggle to preserve human dignity.
The speaker also challenges a tendency to romanticise Palestinian resistance without acknowledging the circumstances that make resistance necessary.
Her insistence that Palestinians want not merely to survive but to live as human beings is the moral centre of the address.
The closing declaration is both simple and profound:
“Standing here, always here, eternally here, we have one aim and one aim only: to continue to be.”
Transcription errors have been corrected where the intended wording is reasonably clear. Uncertain passages require checking against the original recording before publication as a verbatim transcript.
Slave Revolt
Ian Curr
12 October 2026
STATEMENT ON POLICE CONDUCT AT 11TH OCTOBER 2026 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR PALESTINE IN MAGANDJIN (BRISBANE)
Justice for Palestine Magan-djin
This is NOT a police state! We have the right to demonstrate!
4,000 people turned out on Sunday in Magandjin/Brisbane, among tens of thousands more across the country, for the National Day of Action against 3 years of genocide in Gaza. A turnout that demonstrates that Palestinian solidarity in Australia is not going anywhere.
Everyday people are practising their democratic right to protest against a genocide in an ever-growing global civil movement for humanity and equality.
The QLD LNP, and other Labor governments, have been trying to suppress these protests for the last three years because these are proof that everyday people are against their pro-genocide policies.
And Sunday was no different with over-policing, agitation and disrespect for the protesters.
Police briefly arrested two young people, unnecessarily, and caused chaos and anger among peaceful protestors. They used brute force, that was not justified, in an attempt to demonstrate power.
Use of horses to intimidate protestors, and deployment of overreaching tactics are clear signs of politicisation of police.
There is a clear trend in stepping-up police’s aggressive attitude towards peaceful protesters, as QLD’s anti-democratic laws have failed to suppress this anti-genocide movement.
The arrestees were released shortly after. We are thankful to our volunteer legal observers and marshals that keep the police in check.
We know that everyday Australians are against the genocide, and against Australia’s complicity in it.
We know that nothing can shut down this people’s movement. We know that Palestine will be free.
Free Palestine! 🇵🇸
Who instructed the police commander to direct officers against people attending the Justice for Palestine demonstration in Magan-djin on 11 October 2026? What was the basis for that instruction, and was the commander acting on political direction from the Queensland Government or senior police management?
There was no breach of the peace at the Justice for Palestine Magan-djin demonstration on 11 October 2026. The demonstration was organised to oppose the genocide in Gaza. The chanting of political expressions, including “Intifada revolution”, does not in itself establish a breach of the peace or constitute a criminal offence.
I require the Queensland Police Service to identify any evidence of an actual or imminent breach of the peace that could have justified the arrests or the use of force against demonstrators and the person recording police conduct.
A breach of the peace must not be invoked as a formulaic justification for suppressing political expression. The circumstances must be assessed on the evidence, and any police intervention must have a lawful basis.
If no breach of the peace occurred, the Service must explain the legal grounds on which officers intervened, arrested demonstrators and used physical force against a camera operator.
Ian Curr
14 October 2026
“Standing here, always here, eternally here, we have one aim and one aim only… to continue to be” — Mahmoud Darwish
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Deao0kDTFev/
Policing of the Global Day for Gaza
Action Ready Queensland (@actionreadyqld)
Justice for Palestine Magandjin has a long track record of clearly advertising when its events are intended to be for everyone (i.e. there is no planned confrontation) and when there may be higher levels of police intervention (i.e. there is some element of deliberate confrontation).
This is an important measure to ensure that as many people as possible can attend events that are within their comfort zone, as some people will be at a much higher risk from adverse police interactions than others.
However, it is only effective when Queensland Police Service responds to protest events in a way that is reasonable and proportionate.
Increasingly, this is not the case.
Why did the ABC 7.00 pm News not report the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the threat of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio to end the ICC. The sanction of the ICC and its officers is an affront to the sovereignty of the 122 member nations of the ICC including Australia.
The purpose of the ICC is to deter and prosecute crimes against humanity.
The one case against U.S. citizens involver the investigation of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. No one was prosecuted and the case is closed. There are warrants issued by the Court against Netanyahu and one of his ministers and Putin.
Marco Rubio has now sanctioned the ICC as an institution saying “Either the ICC will end its threats or we will end the ICC.” What threats? This U.S. action and threats against ICC member states is tantamount to a demand for impunity for crimes against humanity committed by the Members of the U.S. administration and its functionaries.
How is this not newsworthy? Isn’t this what the ABC is for – to tell people what is going on?
“If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel.” … “That is natural: we have taken their country.”- David Ben Gurion, founding father of Israel.
After nearly 150 years of Zionist theft of Palestinian land, an American intellectual, Prof John Mearsheimer, finally comes to terms with what happened on the 7th of October 2023.