I’m not sure why I felt an obligation – perhaps because I’m now residing within easy walking distance of Hyde Park – but I decided to drop in to hear and observe the Sydney pro-Palestine protest, which was scheduled for 1 p.m. the day before October 7.
I got there early. I find the pre-event period most instructive in understanding who is turning up to express their views. Once official proceedings begin, everything becomes performative, a group dynamic takes hold, and all compete to see who is most pure and strident in their advocacy.
When I arrived at the park around midday, the organisers had set up some tables and were testing the sound system by piping through Islamic protest songs. They were quite close to the Archibald Fountain.
The police were divided into groups of five or six and were undertaking visible patrols around the park’s perimeter.
Members of one of the left-wing/socialist organisations arrived as a group, walking slowly, with megaphones carried in a style that reminded me of cowboys hanging their six-shooters off their belts. The group pulled up near me and, in a coordinated fashion, like footballers holding each other’s shoulders for balance while stretching their legs, spread sunscreen over their skin. It seemed to be something of a solemn ritual, a reflective moment of commonality before they charged over the trenches.
There must have been a mass sunburning at some point in earlier protests, as the first three loudspeaker announcements at the event were to advise attendees that plenty of sunscreen was available if needed.
The NSW Teachers Federation made an appearance, with at least five of their representatives proudly bearing the Federation’s flag. They also arrived in a formal manner, entering the protest area in a single-file march.
The protest entrepreneurs had gotten there early. When I arrived, there were about eight pop-up market stalls selling merchandise, such as necklaces and earrings.
I saw a collection of cross-stitch wall hangings, each one cut into the pattern of a map of Israel. The designs depicted the current Israeli territory divided up into what looked like flags of Palestinian tribes. The only flag not included was the blue and white of Israel.
At the same shop, a Chinese woman in big sunglasses was trying to negotiate a lower price on a ‘Stop the Genocide’ pendant.
One of the stalls was selling badges with a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the words ‘War Criminal’ in dripping red ink. Another set of badges had logos criticising capitalism; one said ‘F.ck Capitalism’. I noted the shopkeeper proudly displayed acceptance of MasterCard and Amex.
Keffiyeh scarves were everywhere on sale.
I didn’t understand at the time, but I realised after seeing news reports later that there was a childish game underway where protesters were trying to taunt the police by brandishing symbols that came close to (but did not quite break) the law with respect to displaying terrorist insignia.
Police had notified protest organisers of zero tolerance for Hezbollah and Hamas flags. Hezbollah’s flag is yellow and green. There were three people in a group sitting near me who were cutting yellow and green streamers and offering them for free. A woman, who said she was in Lebanon during the 2006 bombings, remarked that the streamer cutters were the best thing she’d seen in weeks.
The police also advised against displaying photos of the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. One clever strategy used to defy this order was to display photos of Nasrallah as a much younger man, so he bore little resemblance to the recent photos used by news sources that covered his recent death from an Israeli airstrike.
The most telling moment for me occurred when I was eavesdropping on a couple of old leftie retirees who were discussing the damage capitalism had wrought on the world.
As a Middle Eastern outpost of US capitalism, they were in full agreement about Israel’s evil. They listed off every statistic about civilian deaths and hospital bombings in Gaza but never once mentioned the words October 7, hostages, human shields, Hamas, or rockets fired into Israel.
One of the retirees revealed that his retirement life consisted of operating an Airbnb near Kiama. He navigated onto the topic of the Minns government’s proposed tax on short-term rental properties as a measure to help with the rental crisis. His opposition to the Airbnb tax sounded like a dissertation from Milton Friedman, even invoking concepts of supply-side economics to oppose the ‘ridiculous’ idea.
Overall, the young Muslim protesters seemed to be very well-dressed, at least compared to the white kids from the university protest groups, who seemed to relish their vibe of slovenly cool.
I sensed that most protesters were friendly and courteous. It was the over-the-top and fact-free ranting speakers who came across as unhinged and rude. The number of civilian deaths in Gaza and Lebanon is a genuine issue, but there was no attempt to provide balance of context. No mention of hostages or the use of human shields, for example.
One of the speakers repeatedly referred to Peter Dutton as a ‘maggot’.
There were new protest chants I hadn’t heard before. In addition to the genocidal ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!’ there was this one: ‘From the Sea to the River, Palestine will live forever.’ There was also: ‘Glory Glory to Our Martyrs!’ and lots of slogans using the words ‘uprising’ and ‘intifada.’
Despite the grave implications of the slogans used, the crowd in general seemed well-behaved, and the police professional. I observed nothing overtly antisemitic, although the personal attacks on Netanyahu were intense.
It’s really a shame that the event went ahead to coordinate with the Hamas-led massacre of Jews on October 7. The civilian deaths following that massacre should also be mourned, but a different date would have been far more appropriate.
Nick Hossack is a public policy consultant. He is former policy director at the Australian Bankers’ Association and former adviser to Prime Minister John Howard.
