Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Australia, Migrante Australia, Anakbayan-Australia and Anakbayan-Melbourne participated in actions for the freedom of Palestine on August 31 in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The protests formed part of the solidarity for all migrants, refugees, and First Nation people (indigenous people in the country) across the nation.
These actions also served as counter-protests to the “March for Australia,” an anti-migrant mobilization of neo-Nazi, racist, ultra-right and extremist groups, which was launched in different parts of Australia on the same day. In “protest”, they blamed migrants for the ongoing crisis in housing and infrastructure in the country, rather than the decades-long neoliberal policies and privatization in Australia.
According to Migrante-Australia, the anti-migrant “protest” in Australia manifests the intensifying and spreading movement of global white supremacists in the US, Japan, and Europe. As the global economic crisis worsens, these movements use migrants as scapegoats for issues like housing and unemployment.
“While Filipinos experience discrimination, the government of the Philippines only advises ‘caution’ instead of acting to protect our safety and rights. The government benefits from the labor of Filipinos but retreats from its most basic responsibility—to care for its citizens,” Migrante-Australia stated.
During the action in Melbourne, anti-immigrant groups violently attacked rally participants from the First Nation (indigenous people in Australia) and pro-Palestine citizens, which resulted in injuries among some of them.
Bayan Australia calls on all Filipinos to organize and defend their community, and to stand with First Nation peoples in their struggle against eviction and land-grabbing by capitalists.
“We call on the government of the Philippines to fulfill its responsibility to safeguard its citizens abroad as racist violence [against migrants] escalates,” Bayan-Australia stated.
