On Saturday 26 October, a 1000-strong pro-Palestine demonstration took place outside of the Labour Party conference currently taking place in Liverpool.
13 comrades from the Liverpool and Lancaster branches of the Revolutionary Communist Party gathered in front of St George’s Hall to take part in this protest.
The event had a decent turnout, but it wasn’t as large or active as it had been in previous years, and the crowd skewed towards an older demographic. But the energy of the attendees could still be felt through the loud chanting, which could be heard from streets away.
Once we got moving, however, this energy unfortunately faded. Despite attempts to keep them going by the organisers, the chants failed to spread throughout the crowd.
This left our communist bloc in a quiet spot between the two loudest sections, so RCP comrades filled this silence with chants attacking the IDF and calling for revolution, which quickly caught on with the surrounding protesters.
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Disappointing speeches
The march led us to the docks, where a stage had been set up for the speeches planned. The general content of the speeches was disappointing, with most of them covering the same, tired topics that we have heard since October 2023.
Speakers called for ‘peace’ with no clear idea of how to achieve it, and some even expressed their appreciation of foreign secretary Ed Miliband’s recent mealy-mouthed statements and token sanctions on illegal sentiments – despite a lack of actual, meaningful substance to it.
However, the few speakers which made harsher criticisms of Labour received much more support from the crowd.
The biggest disappointment, however, was the presence of several members of the Labour Party on the speakers’ list. This was a strange inclusion at an explicitly anti-Labour demonstration, and their presence caused a significant split within the crowd.
As each new speaker came up the crowd shrunk more and more, with protesters clearly becoming frustrated by the confused politics on display. It didn’t take long for the strong turnout to dwindle to a small gathering of people.
State attacks protestors
The following day, over 200 protestors sat outside the Labour Party conference hall. A 16-hour police kettle later, and 150 people – including Massive Attack singer Robert Del Naja – had been arrested on terrorism charges. The terrorism in question? Holding pieces of paper saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
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Today, from the conference stage, Miliband has proclaimed that those who were “outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people” were “right” – and that his party had been wrong.
But if this is anything more than a token gesture, then why were peaceful protestors holding signs dragged away by the police in the early hours of the morning? The hypocrisy is blatant.
These ministers can pay lip service to Palestine when it suits them all they want. But when they refuse to call Israel’s actions a ‘genocide’, and set the police on peaceful protestors, they should know that millions of people see through their cynical lies.
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Revolutionary leadership needed
The events of the past few days highlight the impasse that the Palestine movement faces. Activists and radical youth aren’t going to respond with enthusiasm to the same, tepid politics on repeat.
Palestine continues to be one of the most politicising topics amongst young people in Britain, as we witnessed with the massive ‘Nakba 78’ demonstration in May, and even the response to the recent Macklemore-Ed Sheeran dispute.
But in order to harness that burning anger and point the way forward, the movement needs revolutionary leadership. That is why the RCP is mobilising nationally for the upcoming demonstration in London on 10 October. We appeal to our readers to join us there!
