Monday 18 May 2009

Gaza Demo







Busy weekend again. On Saturday, together with other London Greens, I went on the march for Palestine and Gaza organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and others. At our stall we had a lot of people asking about our policy on Israel and Palestine. Many people - not all from London - said that they would be voting Green on June 4th in the Euro elections. Jean Lambert gave a very good speech but because of the blustery conditions and the bad acoustics, I was not able to hear too many of the other speeches, as I was mainly on the stall. I took a few photos there, including a large Palestinian flag being unfurled in front of the National Gallery and a picture of myself holding a somewhat smaller flag. I saw Bruce Kent and George Galloway on the stage but was unable to hear the speeches. Jean referred in her speech to the Israel-EU Trade Agreement and the need to block it until such time as issues such as Gaza are properly addressed.


The blustery winds were throwing sheets of water on to the stalls and there were lots of jokes about climate change from those receiving a soaking. A request to the authorities in the square to turn off the fountains met with the response that since the stalls had been set up unofficially, then they were not in a position to turn off the fountains. We were placed beside a socialist bookshop's stall. On the other side was a stall selling clothing from Palestine and I bought a small bracelet made in Hebron.


The siege of Gaza continues and it is important to keep it in the news. It should become apparent soon what the Obama administration's position on the peace process is going to be and he is due to make a major speech to the Muslim world on June 4th. I also met George Galloway's son in law there who gave me a copy of the 'Viva Palestina' CD but I have not yet had a chance to listen to it, although I have become a big fan of Lowkey's rap number 'Long Live Palestine'. I saw him also on stage but was unable to hear him perform. Many people took Green Party posters to display in their windows, including one or two who admitted that they were Labour Party members! The opinion polls over the weekend have certainly indicated that we may be in for an upswing but as someone once said: "A week is a long time in politics."

No comments:

Post a Comment