Inner West Labor Councillors Vote Down BDS Motion

Last week, Labor Councillors voted down a motion for an Inner West Council investigation into whether any of its investments and contracts benefit companies involved in the weapons industry or profit from human rights violations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

The motion was moved by Greens Councillor Dylan Griffiths and seconded by Independent Councillor Pauline Lockie. If passed, it would also have led to an adjustment of IWC’s ethical investment policy to exclude companies involved in human rights violations, including in Gaza and Occupied Palestine. The council’s current policy excludes investments in fossil fuels but not human rights abuses.

It was a moderate motion calling for an audit and reports before any steps were taken.

Inner West Labor’s defeat of the motion leaves the IWC out of step with the City of Sydney, Bankstown- Canterbury Council where Labor Councillors supported successful similar motions. 

Mayor Darcy Byrne led the debate against the motion from the chair while the remaining Labor Councillors remained silent. The motion’s defeat is the latest of many examples of how the Mayor and Inner West Labor have used their narrow majority of 8 Councillors against 7 Greens and Independents to control the Council’s agenda. The results of the coming election will determine whether they can continue to do so.

Mayor Darcy Byrne Issues Misleading Media Statement

After the meeting, Mayor Darcy Byrne circulated a media statement that was quoted by News Corporation media outlets and Jwire, a Jewish online news service. These media reports contain many misleading statements. This writer attended the meeting and this report is an attempt to provide an accurate account of what happened and correct some statements.

The evening began with a peaceful protest organised by the community group InnerWest4Palestine. Speakers included Greens Councillor Dylan Griffiths who explained why he was moving the motion and John Gauci from Teachers for Palestine.

Speaking as a private citizen, Gauci told the protesters that many teachers across the whole education system supported the protest. “You can’t be an educator and not be appalled by what is happening. Some supporters of the genocide tried to intimidate us and stop us from speaking out. What they hate is people coming together to speak about it. What supporters of this genocide want is to keep it in the dark.” He went on to talk about the direct targeting of schools by the Israeli army.

By 6.30 the public gallery was full. Byrne then delayed the start of the meeting and asked staff to invite protesters who remained outside into the meeting. The room became very overcrowded with many people left standing. The Mayor stated in his media statement “that the protest continued for several hours inside the meeting” – the webcast soundtrack reveals that there was no continuing protest.

The public gallery was silent for an initial 40 minutes and mostly silent for the next three hours. During the four-hour meeting, there were several occasions when members of the public made comments or booed. On these occasions, the Mayor called for silence and several times briefly adjourned the meeting. Leading Palestinian activist Fahed Ali and another activist also stood up and urged others to listen in silence.

In his statement, Byrne blamed the “aggressive disruption” for “only one item on the agenda” being dealt with and “dozens of important issues unable to be voted on.” In fact, the long meeting was due to the Mayor’s own use of the meeting procedure. 

IWC rules allow for three community members to speak for and against each motion. Speakers are required to register the day before the meeting. Instead of sticking to these rules, the Mayor successfully moved a motion that every person who had registered to speak on two different matters – the BDS motion and a motion that he had moved to install artificial turf at Callan Park Parkland – should be allowed to speak.

It took two and a half hours to get through 47 speakers. The mayor described it as the “longest session of community speakers” in the history of the IWC. Meetings normally finish at 11 pm so this was the reason that much of the agenda was not covered and will need to be completed at a supplementary meeting.  

‘Shame’

A news.com story falsely reported that “A Sydney-based council was forced to phone police after hundreds of Greens-led pro-Palestine protesters crashed their final pre-election meeting, with elected officials being escorted out for their safety. Protesters from the InnerWest4Palestine group donned keffiyehs and descended on the Inner West Council’s meeting on Tuesday night, sparking alarm from the mayor over the group’s “continual abuse and threatening behaviour”. No one crashed the meeting. No one attempted to breach the cord separating the public gallery from the area where Councillors sit. There was no continual abuse or threatening behaviour. 

Immediately after the motion was defeated, some disappointed supporters of the motion began to chant ‘shame’ and other slogans at Labor Councillors. No one harassed or abused any public speaker against the motion who left the chamber. No one moved towards where Councillors were sitting. The chanting prevented the meeting from continuing which would have finished soon afterwards in any case.

The protesters and half the Councillors left the building. When this reporter left the building the Labor Councilors and a few staff were still inside but the area outside the building was quiet. When police, who had been called, arrived, they escorted Labor councillors and a few staff from the deserted building. They told News.com.au there was no further incident.

Boycott Campaign To Continue

After the meeting, Clr Griffiths posted on Facebook, I understand that the Mayor and Labor councillors are seeking to play up the behaviour of the public gallery. This is a distraction from the fact that local Labor was unable to bring themselves to support a motion that sought to embed a focus on human rights in the council’s procurement and investment policies. Attending local residents were upset at the political decision made by Labor councillors. No one was prevented from leaving, and members of the public dispersed themselves.

InnerWest4Palestine activist Aiden Magro who spoke at the meeting said that Byrne had “slandered his constituents”. He said that the articles that flowed from Byrne’s statement distorted the events that had taken place. “Rather than side with the vast majority of their constituents, Labor Councillors had preferred to be loyal to a pre-decided Labor government line.”. He said that InnerWest4Palestine would continue to campaign for a boycott including during the current local election campaign.

You have a choice, don’t look away, says Greens Councillor

In moving the motion Clr Dylan Griffiths said that the motion was about the ethical use of Council rates. He referred to the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel is practicing apartheid and that the occupation of Palestine is unlawful and to the International Court of Justice’s finding that Israel is committing a plausible genocide.”.

Griffiths said that many people in the Inner West have told him that “they are deeply concerned that genocide is occurring in Gaza. They do not want their local council to do business with companies that profit from human rights abuses and violations of international law. He described Councillors as having a choice. ”We can join other councils to make sure we are not complicit in violations of human rights in Gaza. We have a choice not to look away. I urge you to answer the call.”

Growing International Consensus

In seconding the motion Independent Councillor Pauline Lockie thanked those who had come to support the motion. She said that there was  “growing international consensus that what we are witnessing is a genocide and apartheid….If there is any hope to be gleaned from this horror, it’s to be found in the people who are standing up against what is happening, and doing what they can to push for a ceasefire and a just and lasting peace. That is in essence what this motion is asking us as a Council to do.”

“It’s pretty easy to say that there’s nothing we can or should do as a local Council to affect a war that is happening so far away, but let’s face it, money talks, and there are choices that every level of government can make to build pressure towards these objectives of a ceasefire and a just and lasting peace, and make sure that our money isn’t being used to fund or enable human rights abuses – whether they’re being committed in Palestine, or anywhere else.”

She stressed that the motion’s call for an audit and a report to Councillors would enable Councillors elected to the new Council to balance “ principles of sound economic management” with “community fair and just expectation that we are not using their money to inadvertently fund or enable human rights abuses”. 

Why BDS Is A Local Issue 

Greens Councillor Liz Atkins spoke, responding to those who argue boycotts are not a local issue. “Local govt is about local issues but local issues are not as limited as some would have us think. Progressive councils have long taken a stance on broader issues, supported by their communities. In this term, we have passed resolutions on domestic and family violence, LGBTIQ+ issues, gambling harm minimisation and poker machines, renters’ rights, the Voice referendum, and continued contribution to the movement for Indigenous justice, fossil fuels, and Palestine.”

She described the Council’s role as twofold. Firstly to advocate and be a voice for their community to other levels of govt and secondly to “do locally what it can do to further its community’s views.

“Now it’s time to ensure that our investments and procurements are ethical and do not support weapons manufacturing or violations of human rights, including in Gaza or the other occupied Territories, or indeed anywhere else. This motion might be focused on Palestine but it takes a broader approach and would be equally applicable to Sudan, Myanmar, or human rights violations against the Kurds”

Several community speakers identified themselves as Jewish. They included speakers for and against the motion. Speakers for the motion also spoke out of personal experience of having Palestinian relatives forced out of their homes during the Nakba in 1848. 

The first public speaker Tamara Asmar said that her “grandfather was shot protesting Zionism”. She came to Australia as a child. She described herself as feeling privileged to grow up in Sydney’s West and contrasted the facilities enjoyed in the Inner West with the horror in Gaza.

“In the last ten days, Israel has bombed eight schools sheltering displaced Palestinians and refugees and I see my daughter’s face on every one of those lost children and it breaks my heart… Israel has produced the largest number of child amputees in world history.  21,000 children are still missing under the rubble, and 17,000 are unaccompanied and separated from their families. …Our Council can have no place in aiding and abetting an apartheid state that has denoted the equivalent of 5.5 Hiroshima bombs on a 41-kilometre-long strip of land. She referred Councillors to its key principles of  “integrity, transparency and fairness” and implored them to vote for the motion. 

She was followed by Eatin Harris who described the motion as being fuelled by “mistruths and propaganda”. He did not explain what these were but said that “most of all I am deeply concerned for the place of the Jewish community within the LGA. I am talking about the ethical use of Council funds but what greater ethical concern can there be than protecting the safety of all their residents.”

He said the motion was about “affairs distantly removed from the interests of this council ” and that it would bring about more hatred against Jews.” Other speakers argued that the motion was directed at companies and their relationship with the state of Israel and had nothing to do with religion or ethnicity.

The most provocative speaker was an Anglican Minister Reverend Mark Leach who began by saying that “on no reasonable understanding of the word could a genocide be happening” and accused the movers of the motion as being “deeply racist”. He described Israel’s actions as being in self-defense. One person in the audience could be heard questioning how a Christian minister could make such statements. 

Council’s Contract with Hewlett Packard which supports the Israeli Military

InnerWest4Palestine activist Aiden Magro drew attention to IWC’s Council’s services contract with Hewlett Packard (HP) as an example of how it is currently complicit in supporting Israel’s military forces.

HP is one of the main targets of the BDS and BDS Australia. It has deep links with the Israeli state including providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the siege of Gaza.

It maintains Israel’s central ID system and database for the Israeli police. The Public Service Association for Palestine is currently campaigning against the Minns government’s $24 million contract with the company. “ “Palestine is a local issue as much as a global issue. Every cent given to companies like HP is allowing this to continue, it doesn’t matter whether this money comes from the state government, the federal government, or our councils. If it’s money that is going to HP, it is money that is going to the continuation of 76 years of illegal occupation,” Magro said. 

In speaking against the motion, Byrne responded to this point by stating that the Council’s lawyer had advised that the contract with HP could not be broken. This is an issue that could have been in a report to the Council as suggested by the motion and a sound financial decision made including, for example, by telling HP the contract would not be renewed unless they break links with Israel.

Byrne’s other arguments were that he does understand why people were distressed by what is happening in the Middle East but that the Council should focus “on its local responsibilities, not foreign affairs” and that its current investment policy excluded “racially, nationally and ethnically based procurement decisions”. He referred to IWC’s 100% divestment from fossil fuels.  

In his right of reply, Griffiths responded that his motion was not about ethnicities or race but about a general principle of ‘human rights’ which he was disappointed had been ignored by the Mayor.  

All Greens and Independent Councillors voted for the motion which was lost.

A group then started chanting at Labor Councillors who left the chamber. The meeting was adjourned and the last sound on the webcast was a single voice repeatedly calling out, “What will you tell your grandchildren?” 

The issue will return when the Council holds a supplementary meeting to complete the agenda. The Mayor has moved his own foreshadowed motion which states that “foreign affairs is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government”, restates the Federal government’s current  policy on Palestine, reinforces the Council’s existing policy including its commitment to “principles of ethical investment management, and consists entirely of socially responsible investments and deposits in non-fossil fuel aligned banks”

Many in the Inner West community will be left wondering why “social responsibility” does not include a concern for human rights; why they should at the same time be proud of their historical role in the boycott of South African apartheid and not apply the same principles to a plausible genocide in Gaza today; and why involvement in local matters does not include a concern for how local decisions affect other global citizens. 

Wendy Bacon was previously the Professor of Journalism at UTS. She is an award-winning journalist. She is a long-time supporter of the Greens and the BDS.