2024-01-06
Similarities between the British colonization of Australia and the Zionist colonization of Palestine
By Chris Johansen, Green Issue Co-editor
When the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza began in late October the standard response of Australian Government ministers to the situation was “Israel has a right to defend itself”, followed by a vehement condemnation of Hamas for its incursion into Israel on 7th October.
Actually, that phrase is contestable as Zionists forcibly occupied some 80% historic Palestine in 1948 – remembered by Palestinians as the Nakba, meaning catastrophe. This was followed by a massive ethnic cleansing exercise, proceeding to this day. During the 1967 Israel-Arab war Israel essentially took control of what was left of Palestinian lands, the West Bank and Gaza, and proceeded establishing Israeli settlements on the West Bank. That phrase needs to be corrected to “Israel has a right to defend all of the lands it has colonized since 1948”, although doesn’t make it in any way morally correct.
As the Israeli invasion of Gaza ramped up through November-December and now into 2024, and the horrors of the mass slaughter of Palestinians were shown on the news every day, Australian Government ministers softened their stance, with the oft repeated phrase “mourn the loss of every innocent life in the Middle East”. However, it was invariably followed by, again, a vehement condemnation of the 7th October Hamas attack with no explicit mention of the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians by Israeli military forces. Australia also initially refused to vote for a humanitarian ceasefire in the UN General Assembly.
As Australia projects itself as a peace-loving country, respectful of human rights, and so on, I wondered how a Labor Government no less could take the stance of seemingly supporting Israel’s ongoing genocidal actions and blatant ethnic cleansing. Ah, of course, they do not want to offend the USA, who they see as their great protector, but who is also Israel’s greatest backer.
But there is another, perhaps subliminal, reason for Australia’s muted response to these blatant atrocities. Before 7th October, I had started reading David Marr’s book “Killing for Country”, a comprehensive documentation of the Australia’s Frontier Wars dating from 1788, through the 19th century and into the 20th century. This is essentially the history of Australia’s colonization, but not like it was taught in school. David, a renowned Australian journalist and author, embarked on this enormous task after he discovered that some of his family forbears were engaged in this endeavour.
While reading this book, as the Gaza war was unfolding I could not help but notice the striking similarities between the colonization of Australia and that of Palestine. The first one was the nonrecognition of the rights of tenancy of indigenous peoples to land they had lived on for eons. In the case of Australia the concept of Terra Nullius was invoked – uncivilized(?!) races cannot own land (the documentation is not there!) so it is therefore open to ownership by “civilized” peoples. In the case of Israel, Zionists point to their holy scriptures which purportedly claim that the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea was gifted to Jews, by their God. For the Zionists, the almost exact equivalent to Terra Nullius is their foundation claim: “a land without people for a people without land.”
Then, there was the blatant racism, the idea that the civilized races – the British in the case of Australia and the Jews in the case of Israel – should call the shots in establishing and administering a society. Lesser races just have to fall in line.
And what about ethnic cleansing, the mass expulsion or killing of members of one ethnic or religious group in an area by those of another. What more blatant examples of this are Australia through the 20th century and Israel from 1948, and currently being ramped up in Gaza?
Then what to do with the conquered indigenous population remaining within the conquered lands? A source of cheap labour of course. In Australia’s case, this descended into slavery, in the case of Aboriginals and Pacific Islanders pressed into labour in Queensland’s cane fields and other agricultural activities. And the Aboriginal stockmen who were traditionally unpaid, just receiving sufficient food rations for survival. Claims of such stolen wages are still before the courts to this day. And the Aboriginal women required to work as domestic servants across all of rural Australia, for no pay but just subsistence food, clothing and rudimentary shelter.
In Israel, Palestinian labour is sourced from the Occupied Territories, under strict security arrangements and with little option for those workers to negotiate fair terms and conditions. And I would doubt that Palestinians still living within the borders of 1967 Israel would have much negotiating clout with regard to their terms and conditions.
The colonization process usually involves an attempt to convert the conquered peoples to the religion of the conqueror. Here, there is a difference between the colonial histories of Australia and Israel. In Australia there was somewhat of a contradiction. On the one hand Aboriginal people were originally considered as sub-human, but on the other human enough to be converted to Christianity. Thus they were herded onto missions to accomplish that conversion while expunging their original spiritual beliefs. Personally, I would think that the original Aboriginal spiritual beliefs, of how to live with rather than conquer nature, would be of great help to us today considering the environmental mess we have made.
Especially among conservative Jewry, who now control the Government of Israel, as I understand it conversion to Judaism from other faiths is not encouraged, it is considered largely hereditary. Thus, unlike in Australia, in Israel there was little attempt to convert the indigenous peoples to the religion of the colonizers. Furthermore, Islam, the predominant religion of Palestinians, was considered as a hostile religion, with its followers unlikely to be convertible to the other side in any case.
So, the struggle against colonialism is far from over, with colonialism flourishing in Israel, and Australia still grappling with its attempts to evolve from colonialism. During the Voice campaign, the vestiges of colonial racism raised their own voice, to the extent of quashing any attempt to right the historical wrongs perpetrated on the indigenous population. And, completely beyond my understanding, recent Australian governments have been doing their best to become a colony of the USA (e.g. AUKUS).
Header photos: Painting by W.O. Hodgkinson, Bulla, Queensland, 1861, from the album of Miss Eliza Younghusband, South Australia, National Library of Australia; and, Israeli tanks in Gaza Nov 2023 – Public domain by the Israeli Defence Forces Spokesperson's Unit, Wikimedia Commons.
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]