Last Saturday, 5 October, a national demonstration of more than 300,000 people marched through central London in solidarity with Palestine and Lebanon, marking a year since the start of Netanyahu’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Around 150 comrades and supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party joined the communist bloc on the demo, forming a sea of red flags amidst the massive crowd.
Not only was this one of our biggest blocs to date, but it was also visibly the most lively, dynamic, and youthful organised presence on this protest.
RCP activists not only shouted anti-imperialist slogans – “Hands off Lebanon! Hands off Gaza! What we need is intifada!” – but also denounced the warmongers in Westminster and Washington.
In particular, comrades highlighted the complicity of Keir Starmer and his government in the carnage being carried out by the Israeli state, which threatens to set the whole Middle East alight.
“Keir Starmer, you’re a terrorist! David Lammy, you’re a terrorist!” declared comrade Fiona Lali from the megaphone, leading the chants and pointing the finger at the real menace, as our bloc approached Downing Street.
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Radicalisation and revolution
The mood at recent Palestine demos has been increasingly radical. And this was even more the case on Saturday, with a palpable sense of frustration in the audience towards the same-old slogans and meek speeches coming from the official organisers and platform speakers.
By contrast, the slogans, demands, and analysis put forward by the RCP – attacking British imperialism and the war criminals in the capitalist establishment; and calling for an intifada and revolution, all the way from London to the Middle East – enjoyed a fantastic reception.
At the peak, we had an extra 100 people joining our bloc, chanting along with us.
Notably, our longstanding chant of “there is only one solution: intifada; revolution” was being echoed by other groups on Saturday’s demo.
It is evident that consciousness is being sharply radicalised by the hammer blow of events, with the unfolding of the crisis. Seeing the limits of pacifist demands for ‘ceasefire’, large swathes of the Palestine movement are drawing explicitly revolutionary conclusions, particularly amongst the youth.
“A revolution is calling,” reported one new RCP member. “You could smell it in the air on Saturday. The revolutionary communists came armed with new slogans and chants, and a renewed resolve to end this capitalist nightmare that is becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate.”
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Shut it down!
Comrades gave fiery speeches throughout the demo. These drew in large crowds, with Fiona’s speeches in particular – explaining the root cause of the problem: capitalism and imperialism – pulling in listeners.
One supporter from Portugal, who has only just arrived in the country, said that he already knew who Fiona was, and that he had been following the RCP since our election campaign earlier this year, in the constituency of Stratford and Bow.
“It was amazing how she spoke about all these things I agree with, in a way that was very accessible to everyone,” said another, visibly inspired by Fiona’s speech outside Downing Street, which emphasised the blood on Keir Starmer’s hands.
Another comrade reported a conversation with a worker, who said, in response to our call for a movement to kick out the war criminals, shut down the system, and topple imperialism: “Of course we need to kick them all out! The protests aren’t working. We need to shut down everything! Yes – the workplaces, the universities!”
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Join the communists
All this highlights the huge vacuum that exists; the gap between what is objectively needed in order to genuinely free Palestine and bring meaningful peace to the Middle East – that is, a world revolution to overthrow capitalism and imperialism – and what is on offer from the leaders of the movement.
This, in turn, shows the enormous potential for a revolutionary communist programme to gain support amongst workers and youth; and thereby the opportunities for building a powerful communist force, both in Britain and internationally.
Realising this potential started on Saturday, with the energetic RCP bloc clearly making an impact on those who joined it, as evidenced by the enthusiastic conversations that continued between comrades after the demo.
With a new ‘nakba’ – catastrophe – unfolding in Palestine, and Netanyahu spreading his slaughterous spree into Lebanon, there is no time to waste.
If you want to fight imperialist war, you need to get organised as a communist, and join the RCP.
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