A big guy delivered a parcel to me. On my flyscreen door is a small Palestinian flag with “Free Palestine” on it, which I’d saved after a rally. As he was about to leave, he turned to me and, with a halting voice, asked. “You support free Palestine?” Yes. “I am Palestinian. My relatives are in Gaza.” I’m so sorry… we were both about to cry and finding it hard to speak.
As I walk around this wicked city, searching for street art and beauty in this insanity, I ask myself, is all hope lost? And then I see a message written in large aerosol letters, a stencilled image, an act of resistance, however small and apparently futile, that gives hope and shows that we are not alone. Hundreds of messages supporting a free Palestine have been painted across Melbourne, and thousands of stickers have been slapped on poles and other surfaces in the city. Most are basic, simple messages, their urgency outweighing aesthetics. (As I predicted in a 2021 post, the underside of Melbourne’s Skyrail would be covered in graffiti.)
Of course, in Hosier Lane, posters in support of Palestine were pasted up. There were also many stickers, painted pieces, and ceramic pieces about women’s rights. Hosier Lane remains a platform for political statements, a democracy wall for street artists. Walls that are viewed, photographed and shared both by locals and international tourists.
After my last visit to Hosier Lane (Wednesday, 20 March), Van Nishing and Marcus Arted painted a small mural in Hosier, urging Australia to stop selling weapons to Israel. (This is not veteran Socialist activist Van Nishing’s first pro-Palestine mural, and there is no reason to believe it will be his last.)
Melbourne’s street art always had a political edge to it. Still, with only the Greens and Lydia Thorpe calling for Australia to stop supporting the genocide in Gaza, so many people in Melbourne look unrepresented in parliament.
