The following is the transcript of a speech given by ISO member Josiah Fresnel at a Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa rally in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) on 3 January 2026.
Kia Ora koutou, ko Josiah tōku ingoa. I am Josiah. I am a student, a communist, an activist, and a member of the International Socialist Organisation of Aotearoa. Welcome and thank you everyone for coming today. This is the first Saturday of the New Year, and the first rally of this year. The theme we are here for is hope and solidarity. While that is the theme this Saturday, hope and solidarity have been bringing many of us here since that floodgate event on 7 October 2023. It is fitting that hope and solidarity have been paired together, as it is from solidarity – unity with each other – from which we draw hope.
Things seem bleak these days: we are facing increasingly right-wing blowback, which in some cases is turning to open proto-fascism like in the case of Destiny Church. The world order is becoming more militarised with a sudden increase in defence spending across the West, dead set on delivering war, genocide, and destruction.
There is a phrase we should draw wisdom from: we must have pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will. We all must be totally grounded in reality when we seek to understand colonial and imperialist violence. We must also have the greatest determination to act, unending energy and drive, and hope we can change minds, change hearts, and change the world.
As such I want to start by talking about the so-called “ceasefire”, then move onto victories we have had in this city among students, and lastly talk about where the power to change society really comes from.
On 10 October 2025, a “ceasefire plan” was put in place. A number of things were called for: the surrender of Hamas resistance fighters; the return of the civilian hostages and military prisoners taken; and the progressive exiting from Gaza of the Israeli occupation forces. The vast majority of Gazans, due to displacement and invasion, live beyond what the first phase of the plan calls the yellow line. 53 percent of Gaza remains under the control of the Israeli Occupation Forces – this so-called “yellow line”. The yellow line denies Palestinians the right to return to their homes – or what is left of them. Only 10 to 20 percent of this “yellow line” is actually demarcated with yellow concrete blocks, the rest might as well be imaginary. Going beyond the imaginary “yellow line” is justification for the IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] to kill on site.
The whole ceasefire agreement has always been a farce. As the reporter Bisan Owda shared on Instagram: this is not a peace, merely a slowing down. The agreement called for 600 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza per day, but Israel has only allowed an average of 171 trucks to enter per day, which is just 28 percent of the promised 15,600. Over 400 Palestinians have been killed since the “ceasefire”, an average of 33 a day, while over 1,000 have been injured. There is no justice, there is no peace.
No justice, no peace!
But this year has been one of incredible power and struggle. We have seen one of the biggest strikes in Aotearoa’s history by public service workers, and the links workers are making between our conditions and the Palestine struggle are not a coincidence. New Zealand Nurses Organisation ex-president Grant Brookes says: “fighting for Palestine is part of developing a mass psychology of solidarity among our union’s membership, which is key to any union’s strength”. The warmongering used to frighten us and justify the 12 billion dollar increase in military spending by our government falls apart in the face of our calls of internationalism: “Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada!” The Post-Primary Teachers Association, representing some 20,500 teachers, said the most important non-economic issue was Palestine. We have seen tens of thousands march for humanity on 13 September.
On our campuses we have seen numerous wins for Palestine at universities across this country, from Otago and Canterbury to Vic and Waipapa Taumata Rau. In Auckland, specific wins include pushing the NZDF off campus during the careers showcase, and the Student Association adopting a BDS stance due to the hard mahi of comrades.
But we mustn’t overlook the whole process of radicalisation and activism. Our whole lives we are told a narrative about the world through the education system and the deeply complicit media. The biggest win in my opinion has been the radical shift, globally really, in the consciousness of young and old alike. We are living in an unprecedented period of radicalism which the capitalist order, with all their power and money, cannot overcome. Even their efforts to attack the pro-Palestine perspective by rhetorically converting Palestinian hostages into “prisoners”, and murders into “deaths”, backfire in every instance and show their depravity.
But the thing which brings me the most hope of all has been the workers of Italy and Spain. When the Global Sumud Flotilla was attacked and boarded by the IOF, Italy erupted in strikes. The unions reported 1.6 million workers from all industries striking: dockworkers brought the maritime industry to a halt with the slogan “Blockade Everything!”, schools, hospitals and universities all ceased to function as workers marched in the streets. Workers occupied airports, streets, threw metal over railway tracks to seize up the whole capitalist system.
Similarly, on 4 October in Spain, almost one million people mobilised to support the flotilla, and later on 15 October workers again struck in their tens of thousands. The unions struck with political demands for their government to sanction Israel and to deny Trump’s call to increase military spending to 5 percent of GDP. We must remember, quoting Pedro Cano from Counterfire: “the struggle in support of Palestine is inseparable from the struggle against rearmament.”
Lastly, what I want to draw out of these examples is: it was not the flotilla itself which met any success. The participants were degraded by the IOF forces; their aid was confiscated. Yet global unity and solidarity sprung from these actions. And who were the actors? The working class of these countries. The teachers, port workers, doctors, builders, train drivers, customer service workers, and more. Because it is the majority, the working people, who run the world. This is made clear with Spain and Italy… but extend it to Aotearoa!
We have spent the past two years calling on the government to sanction Israel, and yet the Italian port workers did it themselves. They refused to touch anything and brought the capitalists and the State to its knees for some time. There is no solution in appeals to capitalist governments. We, the working class, must self-organise and act in our best interest. Hope is the fire and solidarity is the fuel; let’s burn this colonial system to the ground!
Free! Free! Palestine!
Banner Image: People rallying at one of the many Tāmaki Makaurau rallies for Palestine. Photo credit: Rudi Karmakar.
