A vigil and art installation was held at Harmony Square, Dandenong in solidarity with journalists killed across Palestine and Sudan.
The art installation featured more than 300 press vests, laid carefully on the ground covered in red for blood, representing more than 300 journalists killed in the 26 months of genocidal war.
This equates to 12 journalists per month.
Hallam resident and Dandenong South business owner, Muayad Ali is a long-time activist and member of the Free Palestine Melbourne group.
His parents became refugees in Iraq from a young age when they were forced out of Palestine after the 1948 British Mandate for Palestine ended. This sparked the first nakba, the mass displacements of Palestinians.
“I was engaged with the Palestinian cause since a child because I was born as a refugee in Iraq.
“I opened my eyes to the Lebanese war when Israel invaded Lebanon.
“I witnessed the first intifada (Palestinian uprising), my people – refugees in Iraq and elsewhere – suffer by the consequences of nakba and being Palestinian.
“Therefore, I find myself advocating for my people, justice, our cause and also other oppressed people around the world.”
Now with his family of three in the south east, Mr Ali works at the Red Cross Blood service, his eldest son as a nurse providing care to senior Australians and his other two children continue their studies.
“I have the moral duty to educate people to advocate for the right cause, to educate the people who were never exposed to this cause, and they still have little information to stand on the right side of history. I do my best to represent the Palestinian community in Australia.
“It’s so painful to see innocent people massacred in Palestine and around the world.
“They (journalists) have done nothing wrong but to expose the truth and atrocities that occurred on their people.”
Many journalists are said and reported to have been killed alongside their families, in their homes, or while wearing clearly marked press vests.
Among other guest speakers were international community development researcher Elmardi Abdelrasoul and independent journalist Renee, who is focused on media literacy, online verification, addressing misleading narratives in Australian media coverage of Palestine and the broader Middle East.
Local speakers shared reflections on the essential role of journalism, the human cost of truth-telling under genocidal violence, and the urgent need for public resistance against efforts to silence those who speak out.
The vigil was organised by the Free Palestine Dandenong, an informal group of people from the South East communities formed two years ago.
It aims for the installation to build solidarity between Palestinian, Sudanese, local communities and allies, and to highlight how threats to press freedom abroad are directly connected to the erosion of press freedom and civil liberties here in Australia.
The group demands an end to silencing journalists in Palestine and Sudan, for Australian media to discontinue “misleading language” in their reporting and report accurately on genocide, apartheid and occupation.
It also calls for Israel to be held accountable for the killing of journalists.
