Open Letter to the National Assembly of Professionals Australia
To the National Assembly, National Board, and Jill McCabe, CEO of Professionals Australia,
As of 15/11/2023, Israeli Defence forces have killed over 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza. As we write this letter, Israeli Defence Forces are invading the Al-Shifa hospital. The Israeli government is commiting genocide.
In our union we have health workers, chemists, and ambulance personnel. We are watching in real time as Israeli soldiers murder our members’ international comrades.
Some of our IT, engineering, and science professionals work in companies which contribute to the Israeli government’s apartheid regime. These members want their labour to go towards bettering people’s lives, rather than to militarism and surveillance.
Many of our members are from communities directly impacted by the war on Gaza and the ensuing racism which comes with the dehumanisation of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities.
We refuse to be passive observers in the face of the ongoing genocide. The Australian labour movement has a long history of being at the forefront of international struggles for justice.
Organised workers in Australia were strong opponents of apartheid South Africa. Australian unions were instrumental in opposing Dutch colonialism in the Indonesian National Revolution which opened the way for Indonesia's independence.
Members of Professionals Australia have individually participated in and helped build the nationwide demonstrations against the Israeli government’s genocidal attacks on Palestinian people.
But we need our union to back us, to keep building solidarity with the Palestinian people. In this process we will also grow the union and build a stronger labour movement.
A union which struggles against oppression is one which recruits and energises workers who want to do the same - both at work and in wider society.
For many oppressed groups there is no distinction: their struggles at work are political, and political events impact their safety at work.
We are inspired by workers in unions like the Australian Services Union, the National Tertiary Education Union, and the Maritime Union of Australia, who are organising as Unionists for Palestine, representing their unions and signing people up at the demonstrations.
We support the call for Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS), particularly from the perspective of workers refusing to handle goods destined to be used against the Palestinian people. We also call on the Australian government to cut all ties with the apartheid state of Israel.
We urge the National Assembly to align itself with members who have already pledged their support, as well as the undersigned members, by endorsing Professionals Australia's inclusion in the "Union Members in Solidarity with Palestine" statement.