Almost one year on from the beginning of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine, members across the motū have been organising in their local communities calling for justice, peace, and an end to the occupation by the Israeli state. Meena, a Palestinian PSA delegate, is one of them.
How did you begin in taking action for Palestine?
I was raised going to protests for Palestine. My dad was the head of a few Palestinian migrant organising committees. I have a really vivid memory of being about nine years old and reciting Mahmoud Darwish's poems to kick off a march. I've always been involved in organising, and I think that that's just the case for most Palestinians, whether they're in the homeland or the diaspora you know – you won’t ever meet a Palestinian who doesn’t instantly tell you that they're Palestinian, they just don't exist. I think because of the way our identity and our story has been politicised it means that we've all been raised from a very young age to know how to talk about Palestine, which is honestly a devastating thing to think about. We come out of the womb arguing for our right to exist. So, yeah. That's how I came into it.
What have you been doing?
I work in libraries and community spaces, which means engaging with and supporting intersecting vulnerable communities, including migrants, refugees, and Muslims. I've been doing a lot over the last two years to integrate Palestinian visibility into my workplace. We have done displays for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, which has involved children colouring in pictures with specifically Palestinian imagery and putting that up on the walls. I have included Palestinian books in our Indigenous peoples displays and worked to highlight Palestinian books in other ways. This is a huge step to make Palestinians visible, and show the connections that we have with other Indigenous peoples.
I spoke at the Pride hikoi earlier this year, which was a huge honour as I live at the intersections of being Palestinian and being a trans man. On top of this, my friends and I made a huge banner last summer that we bring along to as many of the marches as we can.
How does this kaupapa connect to union values for you?
The movement for a free Palestine is a union issue because Palestinians are workers. Unions are about upholding people's rights to ‘be’. To have a comfortable and full life. To not be exploited, not to be worked to the bone until you die.
Since the war has started in Palestine, all of the employment has dried up completely because there's no money, and people aren't allowed in and out of Israel. Their permits to work can be taken off them at any time. They can be shot at any time. Their lives are not their own. In what world is that not a union issue?
And ultimately, for a union to not be hypocritical, it has to be an anti-colonial cause. Which is what Palestine is.
How can people join you?
As a Palestinian, what I want to tell people is to not focus so much on being visibly pro-Palestine by buying clothes with Palestinian slogans on them, or buying $50 keffiyehs. That money right now more than ever needs to go directly to Palestinians. It needs to go to Gazawis and their families.
There are three integral things that you can do instead, and that is to:
1. Donate to GoFundMe’s through Operation Olive Branch, and encourage others to do the same.
Operation Olive Branch consolidates GoFundMe fundraisers created by individuals and verifies them so people feel more secure donating their money towards them. They have a huge team of dedicated workers working to GoFundMe’s together, and they have a lot more resources to be able to do it. It's a lot more up to date, and it's all in one place.
2. Buy eSIMs for people through gazaesims.com.
You can get the information on Instagram through @connectinghumanity_. They’re almost always running out of eSims at the moment, and this is the main way Gazawis are able to communicate with people outside of Gaza right now.
3. Donate to the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN).
They've got a project called Revive Gaza’s Farmland. They are doing an incredible thing, where they’re already growing and planting and distributing food for Gazawis across Gaza – not just in the south, but in the north, where food is much more difficult to get, and much more expensive if you can find it.
There’s so many different ways to support Palestine. There's no point in getting overwhelmed. I would suggest picking one thing, whether it's a family’s GoFundMe or donating to Revive Gaza’s Homeland, and putting all of your attention into getting other people to also give to that one thing.
Don't stop believing that Palestine will be free. There's no room for hopelessness right now, especially not from the people who are being bombed. They don't need your helplessness. What they need is your attention and your energy.
The PSA has donated $500 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), voted in favour of the October 2023 New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) remit calling for an immediate ceasefire, supported Maritime Union New Zealand through the NZCTU in their pressure campaign to ban ships owned by ZIM Shipping from docking in New Zealand ports, and supported the May 2024 NZCTU National Affiliates Council decision to start a CTU forum to discuss trade union support for Palestine.
The PSA follows the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. As supplier contracts come up for renewal we review these. The PSA also asks its caterers to boycott Obela Hummus, and has advised staff to boycott BP/Caltex petrol stations.