Ahead of Palestinian Prisoners Day tomorrow, we reproduce a speech by Samira Yussuf made last week at the Community Camp4Palestine, opposite the US embassy in London.

Good evening everyone. It fills us with a sense of hope that we can be here together offering our different perspectives and our diversity for a unified front against fascism, racism, environmental chaos and genocide.

Today, we are marking the start of a collaborative effort to not only expose Israel’s colonialist, expansionist, supremacist and genocidal nature, but also together, we are making it clear to the USA and UK governments, alongside the global economic and political elites, that we are not going to be silenced, that we are not going to submit to state repression, that we are not going to allow the narrative distortions and the lies spread by the mainstream media to supress our expression, cloud our minds or weaken our spirits.

The people in the world, and here in London, know the truth. They know how populations were almost completely erased by the colonial powers. Latin Americans can tell you endless stories about how their people were massacred and about how, in the name of civilisation, their indigenous way of living is being destroyed even to this day. The Native Americans of what today is the USA, are still trying, over 200 years later, to gain recognition for the massacres they had to face. The descendants of enslaved Africans traded by the UK and other colonial powers have yet to enjoy equal civil and human rights in most parts of the world and are still demanding reparations. The poor, the disabled and the homeless are having their benefits cut, their neighbourhoods gentrified, and are being regarded as disposable, non-productive entities.

All of this and more is being perpetrated under justifications for the need for strong, thriving economies, the need for strong defence and state security. It is also being justified under the need for homogenous societies that are congruent with capitalist values of competition, individualism, and liberalism. The notion of tolerance and acceptance is being replaced by narratives of assimilation and conformism. Our activists are being charged with conspiracy and support for terrorism only because they want to expose what is really happening in Palestine. We have a fresh example of this from yesterday’s Greenpeace action and the charging of activists with conspiracy for pouring non-toxic dye on the waters surrounding the building behind me.

I don’t need to tell you in detail about what is going on in Palestine or in the broader Middle East. We all know. However, I want to emphasise the following.

There are over 13,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Most of them were abducted from their homes. They are all being isolated from the outside world; they are being tortured, some of them starved.

The vast majority of them are hostages. They are people defending their homeland. So when we are here at camp, or when we are demonstrating anywhere and the pro-Zionists come and shout at us ‘Free the hostages’ we need to remind ourselves of the fact that the Palestinian hostages are over 100 times as many as the Israeli hostages. Next week, 17^th April, marks the Palestinian Prisoners Day.

The Palestinians in Gaza are being exterminated. The forecast at the moment is that, within the immediate future, as many as half a million will be killed either because of bombing and executions, or starving or disease caused by the Israeli war on our existence. The Palestinians all over Palestine are facing systematic attacks, driving populations into displacement from refugee camps and villages.

As we know, we have yet to see any effective measures taken by the international community. Even though arrest warrants have been issued against Netanyahu, the USA receives him and Trump meets with him in defiance of the very international law they pay lip service to.

Our UK government cannot bring itself to cut all ties with Israel, despite the call by Francesca Albanese and many other international law experts outlining how the international community can isolate Israel for its multiple violations of international law and UN resolutions.

This is because our international global system is governed and controlled by the United States and its allies, including the UK. Israel is their main weapon and contracted mercenary in the Middle East. They are doing and will do everything in their power to protect and support Israel financially, politically, diplomatically and even morally.

The Palestinians have resisted empire and colonialization for over 100 years. For example,  9^th April (two days ago) was the commemoration of the great Palestinian revolution of 1936 – a Palestinian revolution of workers, peasants and intellectuals that fought against the British presence in Mandate Palestine. That revolution lasted three years and left over 5,000 people martyred and over 25,000 injured.

Our beloved and much respected poet, writer and fighter, Ghassan Kanafani, was born on 9^th April. Had he not been assassinated by the Israeli Mossad, he would be 89 today. Leila Khalid, whom you all are familiar with, had her 81^st birthday also on 9^th April. You probably have seen a clip that was circulated the day before yesterday, where she says that what is happening in Palestine today is the start of Palestine’s liberation.

Palestinians have not lost hope or determination. This is despite their land being stolen in 1948, despite living under military occupation since 1967, despite the expanding settlements and the Judaification of the land, despite the mounting number of martyrs and the sufferings of those forced into the diaspora.

For over 100 years, Britain, the USA or Israel have not succeeded in silencing Palestinians. With all the challenges the Palestinian resistance face, they have not been shaken or led to believe that one day Palestine will not be free. Even if we are killed in our hundreds of thousands, even if we are displaced and exiled from our homeland, even if the attempts to erase our diversity, our culture, our identity and our history seem to succeed, we will rise up again and again to remind everyone that we exist until justice prevails.

We at the community camp for Palestine want to project our community values, support each other, fight alongside each other, and expose the injustices with a particular focus on Palestine and the forces trying to erase Palestinians off the world map. We have a welcoming space, and we need to have you with us. So please, contact any of our CC4Pal members if you want to discuss how to get more involved.

Starting today, we are engaging in the learning of working together for a 24 hour display of unity and comradeship. We have organised a variety of events to reflect our diversity, our histories, and our stories. We will have a display of our talents and our tenacity. A detailed programme has been circulated. Please refer to the announcements put out on our socials and to the board displayed here at camp. You are most welcome. Ahlan wa Sahlan, to all of you.

Palestine has become the epicentre; Palestine is where all of our rages find a common place. The Palestinian cause is what makes us All Palestinians. No one will be free, until Palestine is free. Samira Yussuf is an activist with the Community Camp4Palestine

Image: Protest at the Israeli embassy, c/o Labour Hub.