The pro-Palestine protests.
Thousands in the street. Flags, megaphones, fists in the air. The anger is real. The grief is real. But the slogans? The chants? The signs? A fucking mess of contradictions and hypocrisy.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
Sounds catchy, right? Rolls off the tongue. But do you even stop for a second to think about what it means? To wipe out Israel. To erase millions of people. To pretend it’s just a cute little rhyme while ignoring the genocide baked into it. You’re chanting about “freedom” while calling for someone else’s destruction. That’s not liberation. That’s annihilation dressed up as poetry.
“Stop the genocide!”
Yes — the civilian deaths are horrific. But when the rockets fly the other way? When Hamas fires into cities? When they brag about October 7? Silence. Suddenly “genocide” becomes a one-way street. Justice when it suits you. Blindness when it doesn’t.
“Israel = Apartheid!”
Okay, then explain it. Go ahead. Explain it without collapsing into a slogan. Explain it without ignoring the fact that Arabs vote in Israel, that complexity exists, that it’s not South Africa redux no matter how many signs you wave. But no, easier just to slap “apartheid” on cardboard and march away like you dropped a mic.
“Media lies!”
Always a classic. The media is lying — until it isn’t. Until you need that same headline, that same image of rubble, that same casualty count to wave around on your phone. Then suddenly the media is gospel truth. You can’t have it both ways. Either it’s all lies or it’s all proof. Pick a lane.
And the signs. Christ, the signs.
“Zionists = Nazis.” Really? That’s the intellectual level? Comparing Jews fleeing genocide to the people who committed it? That’s not solidarity. That’s just historical illiteracy scribbled in Sharpie.
“Globalize the Intifada.” Do you even know what the intifada was? Suicide bombings, buses exploding, cafes in ruins. That’s what you’re globalizing? That’s what you’re so proud to scream in the middle of Sydney?
And the antisemitism — don’t tell me it’s not there. We all see it. Placards with “Killers” scrawled over Stars of David. Chants that slide from “Israel” to “Jews” in the space of a heartbeat. Speakers with megaphones who don’t bother to hide the venom. You say you’re fighting for human rights, but you let hate march right alongside you. And if you don’t push it out, you own it.
Here’s the calm truth: the suffering in Gaza is real, but screaming slogans you don’t understand, waving signs you can’t defend, and giving space to hate isn’t helping anyone. It’s not solidarity. It’s not justice. It’s noise.
Here’s the brutal truth: you’re not freedom fighters. You’re not champions of peace. You’re crowds of people screaming contradictions, demanding nuance from others while refusing it yourselves, and letting extremists define your message. You’re burning credibility as fast as you’re burning through chants.
The pro-Palestine protests could be a movement for peace, justice, coexistence. But right now? They’re a megaphone for hypocrisy, for blind rage, for slogans without substance. And until you cut the bullshit, you’re just another crowd screaming into the void while the real victims stay buried under rubble.
– The Hollow Centre
