Our West Country correspondent gives an idiosyncratic account of his attendance at recent Palestine protests – with apologies to Bill Summers.

Getting to the Ceasefire Now demo on 9th December was not as easy as usual. We took a bus on the Bayswater Road along Oxford Street and Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus and trudged down Shaftesbury Avenue, only to meet the most amazing sight at Cambridge Circus – dozens of small two-person horse-drawn carts racing at incredible speed up and down Charing Cross Road. The police were rushing to the scene with sirens blaring just as we arrived so, unbelievably, it looked like an impromptu affair.

We dodged the crowds and, as time was pressing, jumped in a cab. The cabbie was pessimistic about  getting to Bank – “It’s chaos down there, they`ve blocked off the whole of the City area, nothing’s moving.” He dropped us off as near as possible and we found ourselves in a deserted area of tall buildings and roadworks. Lost.

We struggled to find our way until a stocky bloke in his sixties came into view – wearing a Palestine Solidarity badge! This was Tony from West London who said he`d arrived early so he could visit churches in the area. He was sure we would soon find the demo but seem a bit hesitant when it came to finding the right direction.

We hurried on to another corner and ran into a bewildered looking middle-aged man wearing a Jewish Voice for Labour badge. Yes, he was also looking for the march and was not sure of the way as he was from ‘up country’. No, he wasn`t a member of JVL but supported them and was still in the Labour Party for the moment. “I`ve been booted out!” said Tony.

We joined forces and eventually came to a slightly busier street and spotted some activity in the distance. This turned out to be a Socialist Party pagoda/stall manned by a lanky youth on a windswept corner, still far from the route. But he did have some placards and I picked one up. “These cost two pounds to make,” he said.  “We are asking for donations.” I reluctantly dropped a quid in his tin and off we went.

Tony had been a Militant supporter way back and grunted at my placard slogan “For a Socialist Intifada”. We agreed that the SP were way off beam as usual. The urgent need was to engage the widest possible support for a ceasefire and to build a fresh Anti-Apartheid movement worldwide.

We picked up our pace and, as a group with a placard, began to gather a following. Finally someone caught sight of the march crossing a narrow gap in the far distance. We soon reached a heaving mass of thousands of people, hundreds of flags and a cacophony of chanting and drum beating. We changed our placard for a “Ceasefire Now/End the Siege of Gaza” one and joined the fray.

The event was as inspiring as ever. It was moving and heart-warming to be with people who could hardly bear to watch the nightly scenes of horror and genocide on TV and just had to do something. As a chant on the march went: “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.”

We’ve been on a couple of the London marches and also some well-attended local ones. Last Saturday`s march in Exeter had around 2,000 supporters and was noticeably bigger than the one in November, with people from all over the county. The Exeter Trades Council banner was noticeable and there were many trade union flags, mainly Unite, although there were far fewer Muslims present than were on an earlier demonstration in November.

Palestine Support Groups are springing up all over the region. A long list was given in the latest newsletter from the Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign.  There are an amazing array of activities, every single day, sometimes several. Their newsletter can be four to five A4 pages long.

Other Palestine Solidarity news

Below is a resolution passed by the national executive of the National Education Union last week:

Over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed including over 7,700 children since the war on Gaza began.  Many more have been injured and many are missing.  By mid-December some 372 school buildings have been damaged – some have been destroyed. According to the UNRWA – the United Nations, Relief and Works Agency which is responsible for Palestinian refugees – 150 of their schools have become shelters alongside 130 local authority schools.   

There were 625,000 school aged children before the war but none of them can attend school now according to a report in The Guardian (18/12/23). Jonathan Crick a spokesperson for UNICEF is quoted as saying that “There is absolutely no form of education or schooling in the Gaza strip at the moment”. 

At least 200 teachers have been killed and more than 500 are injured. Some 85% of the population are internally displaced – around 1.8 million of Gaza’s population are internally displaced.      

Water, electricity, and gas have been stopped.  The World Health Organisations and other bodies believe that more people could die because of starvation and disease as a result of the shortages and contamination that is happening to the water supply. 

This is a human catastrophe cause by the deliberate action of the Government of Israel and is clearly a war crime and an act of genocide. 

The UK government has failed to call for a permanent ceasefire and continues to give unconditional support to Israel.

The Executive commits to:

1. Build for the next national day of action on Wednesday 7th February sending guidance to all members on actions that they can take in their workplace – this to be shared with members by Wednesday 31st January at the latest

2. To call an emergency ISO/members online meeting to share the NEU guidance, discuss how members can raise issues within their workplace and get involved in the campaign for Palestinian rights

3. Encourage all members and districts to attend National demonstrations and take banners and flags

4. Circulate updated guidance on Prevent and how members can challenge unacceptable use of this in their workplace

5. Start to build a bank of resources that can be used by members in schools and colleges to teach about Israel/Palestine both the historical facts and the current situation

6. Provide guidance to members on Solutions not Sides and their one sided narrative

7. Challenge NSPCC about their ongoing complicity in the occupation through their links with JCB and consider how we can plan a targeted campaign with members to oppose this

8. To organise a delegation to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express our concerns and to the leaderships of the political parties of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.