Posted on Sunday, 17 December
On Monday December 11th Jorge Jorquera (Maribyrnong Councillor) met with Palestine solidarity activists at Victoria University (VU).
Eleven people (staff and post-graduate students) attended the drop-in coffee hosted by the VU NTEU Palestine Action Group which brings together unionists organising in their workplace and community. Jorge spoke about the recent win on Maribyrnong Council where the motion ‘Supporting Peace in Gaza and Palestine’ was passed.
The discussion roamed from the politics of Palestinian oppression, to the complicity of the Labor Party at different levels of government, and concluding with the different political strategies and tactics for Palestine solidarity. Up until that point, there had been an eerie silence on campus around the Israeli state’s brutal violence against Palestinian people.
The VU NTEU Palestine Action Group then organised a contingent to the community event outside the Maribyrnong Council meeting on 6pm Tuesday December 11th where the Palestinian flag was flown.
These initiatives have helped to cohere a small team of NTEU members at VU that are learning and organising together. Now, in addition to sending contingents to upcoming solidarity events, the group has plans for organising their own community teach-in and other initiatives as they continue to show support and solidarity with Palestinians.