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Palestine solidarity: Mass movement tells the establishment – blood on your hands!

Palestine solidarity: Mass movement tells the establishment – blood on your hands!

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After three weeks, with a nightmare playing out in Gaza, the mass movement in solidarity with Palestine shows no sign of letting up in Britain. Larger layers are drawing revolutionary conclusions, and are calling out: Intifada until victory!

As Israeli tanks and troops skirmish on the streets of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of workers and youth are taking to the streets across Britain.

And as a catastrophe unfolds inside the besieged strip, the message from these demonstrations to the British establishment can be heard loud and clear: the UK is not innocent! Sunak and Starmer – blood on your hands!

The latest weekend of Palestine solidarity protests saw the largest crowds yet in London, with an estimated half-a-million-strong demo marching through Westminster. And further huge rallies were seen in other big cities, such as Birmingham and Glasgow.

In towns such as Ipswich and Lancaster, and universities such as Warwick and Cambridge, Socialist Appeal comrades have taken the lead in organising solidarity activity.

And as we have reported previously, our comrades are increasingly coming under attack from the right wing for defiantly raising bold demands; most notably with our slogan ‘intifada until victory’ – a revolutionary call for a mass uprising across the Middle East.

This rallying cry is clearly gaining an echo amongst the most radical and determined layers on the protests.

More and more, supporters of the Palestinian struggle can see the limits of the demands being raised by official speakers on the platforms at these demos – whether it be appeals for a ceasefire, or calls for a two-state ‘solution’.

Instead, greater numbers are turning towards the communists, and are being drawn behind our banners.

If you want to fight for a revolutionary way forward for the Palestinian people, then join us and get organised today. From London to Gaza, we need an intifada!

London

On Saturday, more than 50 comrades joined up to half a million protesters in the centre of London.

Despite this being the third weekend in a row where a national demonstration has been organised, the energy of protesters remains, and fresh layers are still taking to the streets.

Comrades spread out before the march to talk to protesters, raise our revolutionary perspectives, and sell copies of Socialist Appeal.

We then held a rally, where IMT activists spoke about the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians, British imperialism’s role in this conflict, and what communists here can do to fight for a free Palestine.

We made it clear that there is no solution under capitalism, and that we must fight against the enemy at home: ‘our own’ imperialist ruling class.

Throughout the demonstration, we were bold with our slogans. These included “intifada ‘til victory” and “there is only one solution: intifada, revolution!”

We also continued to point to the complicity of the British ruling class, with chants like “Rishi Sunak, blood on your hands” and “the UK is not innocent”. These were enthusiastically received by other protesters, who joined in with us.

Notably, comrades reported that our slogan calling for intifada was independently being shouted by groups of protesters far away from our own bloc.

Largely it was the youth who were the most militant, with the boldest chants. Thousands of teenagers and young people were present at the demo, with many shouting slogans that pointed the finger at Britain’s role in the oppression of the Palestinian people.

There were children as young as twelve leading the chanting! This shows the clear radical mood of the youth.

Once again, there was lots of interest at our stalls, with people coming to us and asking about our ideas, and about how to get involved.

Over the course of the day, we sold almost 200 papers and received many donations to our fighting fund from other activists on the demo.

Ipswich

Socialist Appeal members and supporters organised a rally in Ipswich on Saturday.

The rally was really incredible. Over 200 people turned out for the town’s biggest demonstration in anyone’s memory, and its biggest pro-Palestine demonstration ever, bringing with them a powerful energy.

Comrades from Ipswich made bold speeches, putting forward our revolutionary stance. These were well received by the crowd.

Other speakers, from the local community and the labour movement, also put forward a class approach. This included calls for mass direct action – for example by workers at ports refusing to load Israeli weapons onto ships.

The demonstration remained un-heckled and un-bothered by detractors, though we were pleased to receive cries of ‘free Palestine!’ from passers-by.

Comrades sold 15 copies of Socialist Appeal and a range of pamphlets. We also received £85 in donations to our fighting fund.

After the rally, we held an impromptu meeting. At this, a new activist joined the IMT, and two others discussed with us about getting involved.

Another activist, a student from the University of Essex, said he was impressed by our mobilisation, and that wants to help set up a Marxist society at his university.

This was an incredibly successful mobilisation, showing the value of our revolutionary position. The demonstration even made the front page of the local newspaper!

Birmingham

On Sunday, more than one thousand workers and youth marched through Birmingham city centre, calling for solidarity with Palestine.

15 comrades from Socialist Appeal joined the demonstration, calling for ‘intifada until victory’.

This revolutionary cry was well received, with Birmingham comrades selling out of papers for the second week running.

People were enthusiastically supporting us and our bold slogans. On the other hand, the anger against the imperialists and the British establishment was palpable.

Lancaster

IMT members recently organised a student walkout at Lancaster University.

We held a rally on campus in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people, as well as to offer a show of force against the bullying tactics of university management.

We also aimed to put pressure on the student union, calling on them to end their deafening silence and release a statement condemning the Israeli state.

While the turnout was relatively small initially, with 40 to 50 students standing alongside us, our speeches were able to gather crowds of students walking by. Many were excited to see us there, applauding and joining in with our slogans.

Our comrades spoke about: the cynical hypocrisy of figures like Sunak and Starmer, and of the establishment media; the scathing attack on the IMT from the Telegraph, offering a defence of our slogan ‘intifada until victory’; and the need to mobilise both workers and students on campus to halt the imperialist war machine.

We are going to continue agitating around this issue among students and workers. We are increasingly being viewed as the most serious political force on campus.

We took the contact details of those in attendance. The aim is to immediately reach out to them to ask how they can help organise further discussions, walkouts, motions, etc. in support of the Palestinian struggle.

We are also working closely with the UCU (the lecturers’ union) on campus to pass a Palestine solidarity motion. Notably, like us, local UCU members have also been subject to baseless accusations of antisemitism for showing solidarity with Palestine.

Newcastle

Thousands gathered in Newcastle on Saturday to protest against the occupation of Palestine and the siege of Gaza.

The mood of the demonstration was full of fury and anger towards UK leaders and the media, who defend Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’.

Members of Socialist Appeal across the North East formed a bloc on the march. We were able to tap into the mood on the demo by putting forward bold slogans: “There is only one solution: intifada, revolution” and “The system’s broken, time to fight; workers of the world, unite!”

These revolutionary slogans were noticeably echoed by others along the march.

In one instance, someone who had experienced the Arab Spring approached us asking why we were calling for a revolution, which she saw as a horrible affair.

We confidently responded by explaining the actual meaning of a revolution, and how it is the reactionary ruling class that is responsible for violence. We emphasised that Palestine cannot truly be free as long as western imperialism props up the oppression of the Israeli state.

We saw this person’s attitude change. By the end of our conversation, she was saying that she may have been too cynical, and that she was glad about the work we are doing.

Demonstrators were furious to find out that, unbeknownst to them, there is an Israeli-owned arms factory sitting on Newcastle’s door step. The campaign against this arms factory is in its early days. We are calling for class-based methods, such as a workers’ boycott.

Unfortunately, the energy of the march seemed to fizzle out at the rally itself, which was tightly controlled by the organisers. The last speaker told everyone to leave, which didn’t seem to match the mood of the protestors.

Next time, we will make sure to bring a loud megaphone, so we can continue giving speeches after the main rally finishes.

Warwick

Last week, comrades attended the first demonstration for Palestine on Warwick campus. After helping to organise the rally, we mobilised our student contacts through the Marxist Society, putting forward our slogans and perspective.

One comrade gave a confident speech about the role of British imperialism in this crisis, outlining the practical steps that students can take to fight here in Britain. This struck a chord with the radical mood of the crowd, which was around 160 strong.

We were also interviewed by the press about our position. Next up, we are building support for a motion to the university, putting forward concrete demands such as the revoking of Warwick’s contracts with companies that export arms to Israel.

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