Protesting in the time of COVID-19
Protesting in the time of COVID-19
Margaret Cassar AFOPA Executive Member
COVID-19 restrictions have affected every aspect of our lives. They dominate our conversations and decision making, from where to buy toilet paper to can we visit a loved member of the family while they’re dying. The media fuels a sense of powerlessness and fear. An unintended consequence of this can be an intense parochialism that sees people completely focussed on the local; the larger geo-political issues like Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine can end up on the back burner. And Israel merrily takes advantage by increasing the oppression, most tragically increasing the number of Palestinian child prisoners kept in unhygienic conditions.
AFoPA’s BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group has resisted this switch from global to local and sought ways to keep the Palestinian cause alive during restrictions, especially social distancing, which have meant an interruption to almost 10 years of weekly street actions in Adelaide.
While dressing in pro-Palestinian regalia to keep the issue alive around town we are uploading all our actions to digital platforms. On my Instagram page you can find photos of activists out and about in Adelaide wearing their keffiyehs at markets doing essential shopping and sometimes holding a Palestinian flag on exercise walks.
The newly formed AFoPA initiative, Scribes for Palestine, has also been active and produced excellent articles for the AFoPA website. One by resident historian, Dr David Faber, explores the way Australian media aided Israeli hasbara and attempted to deny the Palestinian ethnicity of an Israeli citizen tragically murdered in Melbourne in 2019. Our Patron, Paul Heywood-Smith’s, piece Virus and other things asks a crucial question in the times of COVID-19 – Can we extend BDS to include the US? Journalist and Executive member Terry Plane has taken us for a walk in occupied Hebron. Thought provoking and timely pieces all.
Adelaide’s BDS activist also include keyboard warriors like Anisa Hamood and Joe Frank who have taken this opportunity to write to politicians and media about Palestine in the time of COVID-19. Other members of the group are constantly circulating links to webinars, petitions, articles and videos to ensure that we are fully informed of Israel’s latest atrocities and to let the Zionist monitors know that no matter what is happening in our lives our eyes remain focussed on Palestine.