If our government won’t act on Gaza, young people will
Ahead of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s mission in April, Australian participant Ethan Floyd reflects on how our Government’s apparent apathy towards genocide has compelled ordinary young people into action.
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For many young Australians, Gaza has become a test of whether governments are willing to act when the principles they claim to uphold are clearly being violated.
Over the past two years, a familiar pattern has emerged across much of the Western political world. Governments will acknowledge the scale of civilian suffering in Gaza and express “concern” about the humanitarian crisis. At the same time, the political and military relationships that shape these atrocities remain untouched.
Australia’s response reflects this broader pattern. The government has repeatedly voiced concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza while continuing defence cooperation and maintaining its place within global weapons supply chains.
Meanwhile, major human rights organisations have issued far more severe assessments. Amnesty International has concluded that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, while Human Rights Watch has documented acts of extermination and persecution as crimes against humanity. Yet diplomatic language from Western governments continues to emphasise restraint and de-escalation even as homes, hospitals and civilian infrastructure across Gaza are systematically destroyed.
This tension between language and action is hardly unique to Australia. Across much of the international community there has been a clear reluctance to confront allies even when humanitarian law appears to be openly violated. For younger generations, that posture has become increasingly difficult to accept.
In recent years, we have seen a remarkable wave of civic mobilisation. Student encampments have spread across university campuses. Mass demonstrations have filled major cities around the world, and boycott campaigns and worker-led direct actions have targeted companies tied to the global arms trade and firms operating in illegal Israeli settlements.
These actions are often dismissed as symbolic or disruptive. Yet they reflect a broader shift in how many people understand political responsibility. When institutions appear unable or unwilling to respond to overwhelming humanitarian evidence, civic participation begins to take on a different, and more vital, role.
Later this month I will travel to Italy to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian mission attempting to deliver food and medical supplies to Gaza by sea. The flotilla is unlikely to fundamentally change the strategic dynamics of the genocide. We are a small group of civilian vessels confronting a deeply entrenched system of military control and political protection. Interception before reaching Gaza remains a real possibility, but so does the possibility that the voyage forces renewed international attention onto the blockade itself.
But the fact that ordinary people feel compelled to attempt something like this tells us something about the political moment we are living through. Attempts to reach Gaza by sea have been taking place for almost two decades. Activists, journalists and aid workers have repeatedly tried to challenge the blockade through non-violent maritime action. These missions have always carried risk, but they have also served another purpose: drawing attention back to the blockade itself and, by extension, the oppression of Palestinians.
The blockade is often treated as background noise; as something that fades into the landscape of a broader “conflict” rather than being recognised as a deliberate design feature of Israel’s political and military machine. The flotilla is, in part, an attempt to challenge that sense of normalisation.
Another striking feature of the current moment is its generational dimension. Many younger people have experienced the destruction of Gaza through an information environment where images, testimony and documentation circulate instantly across borders. The war has unfolded through a constant stream of footage and reporting shared in real time. That visibility changes how responsibility is understood.
When evidence of civilian suffering is widely available, it becomes harder for governments to rely on the slow rhythms of diplomatic caution without facing growing public pressure. Citizens are not bound by the same strategic calculations that shape state decision-making, and many young activists have begun looking for ways to act rather than simply observe.
For some this has meant organising boycotts or workplace campaigns. Others pressure universities, unions and cultural institutions to sever ties with companies involved in the arms trade. A small number of people are preparing to join this flotilla in an effort to intervene directly in the humanitarian crisis.
Critics often describe initiatives like the flotilla as politically naive or purely symbolic. History suggests a very different picture. Campaigns against entrenched systems of violence (apartheid South Africa is one example, the Vietnam War is another) were sustained for decades by civic mobilisation before governments eventually adopted meaningful sanctions.
Soon, I will board a plane to Italy and join other volunteers preparing for the voyage.The flotilla will not end the genocide in Gaza. Those of us taking part understand that. But what it will do is reveal the growing chasm between the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe and the willingness of our leaders to confront it. Simply, it is a reminder that when our governments refuse to act, the people will.
Ethan is currently raising funds to cover travel costs related to the flotilla mission, with surplus funds to go towards purchasing aid for the convoy. You can make a donation here.
About the author
Ethan Floyd (any pronouns)
Ethan is a student and organiser from Sydney, currently studying law at the University of Sydney. Ethan has also been active in politics, and is a director of multiple racial justice, climate, and housing advocacy groups including Democracy in Colour, Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, and the Tenants’ Union of NSW.
They are a Wiradjuri, Wailwan and Ngiyampaa person and have been a visible organiser in solidarity with Palestine through student movements, including long-running encampment protests and rallies in Sydney calling for justice and humanitarian support for Gaza.
Ethan believes that ordinary Australians have a responsibility to act when their government’s political and economic ties contribute to the suffering of civilians abroad. They are joining the Global Sumud Flotilla to help deliver humanitarian aid as part of a peaceful civilian action to challenge the blockade on Gaza.
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