John Janson-Moore, Week 38: Fatima (PEOPLE & PORTRAIT 2024)

Portrait of Fatima Tofaili, lead drummer, at the 38th consecutive weekly ‘Free Palestine’ rally held on Gadigal Land, Sydney, Australia. Like many of the other protesters, Fatima had never attended a demonstration before these rallies began. She works as tow-truck driver during the week and then makes the one-hour trek from Sydney’s southwest to the city centre each Sunday to partake in the rallies. Select drummers have been a feature of the protests, leading the marches in a circuit through the CBD. Organisers have been calling for an immediate ceasefire to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine. These demonstrations have been unprecedented in the history of protest in Australia in terms of sheer cumulative numbers, attracting thousands of marchers every week, despite little or no mainstream media coverage. The rallies have far outstripped other large protest movements, such as those against the Vietnam War during the early 1970s and, more recently, against the war in Iraq in the early 2000s. According to the Gazan Ministry of Health, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October last year, while the International Court of Justice is investigating Israel for genocide. This portrait, part of a series, was taken in situ in Hyde Park, where many of the Free Palestine rallies have taken place. As the first anniversary of the war approaches, the rallies continue to garner support from diverse communities across Sydney.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.