On Saturday 27 April, there will be another national march for Palestine in London. However, this one comes against a backdrop of increasing propaganda against the protests and their supporters. So, some of those involved – including Jeremy Corbyn – have a message for these ‘bad faith actors’.
Israel: its killing in Gaza continues
On 27 April, the latest march from Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Friends of Al Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, and others, will take place in central London:
🚨National Demonstration for Palestine
⏲️Saturday 27 April, 12PM
📌Parliament Square, marching to Hyde Park, LondonJoin us in London as we march to demand the government #StopArmingIsrael and call for a #CeaseFireNow
Let's make this the biggest demonstration for Palestine yet. pic.twitter.com/G7Y6m1kdau
— PSC (@PSCupdates) April 24, 2024
As of Thursday 25 April, Israel had killed at least 34,305 people in Gaza. The tally includes at least 43 deaths in the past 24 hours. 77,293 people have been wounded, and the majority of people Israel has killed have been women and children.
Yet arms from the UK to Israel are still flowing. On Wednesday 24 April, PSC was in parliament lobbying MPs to try and stop weapons exports:
Today we’re in Parliament lobbying our MPs to demand they put pressure on the govt to call for an immediate #CeasefireNOW in Gaza, to restore funding to UNRWA and to #StopArmingIsrael
We must keep the pressure up on our government to #StopGazaGenocide. pic.twitter.com/joukbK1Y0g
— PSC (@PSCupdates) April 24, 2024
As the Canary previously reported, the UK government is facing a legal challenge over this – with a judicial review happening in October. However, that is too late for the countless people Israel has already killed – and will continue to kill.
So, 27 April’s march is as important as ever.
Corbyn: we must keep going for Palestine
Jeremy Corbyn said:
This Saturday we will once again march in London to demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – and for the UK government to stop selling arms to Israel.
Please join me and thousands of others marching from Parliament Square to Hyde Park this Saturday…
We must keep doing all we can in our communities, on our streets and at our workplaces.
On 1 May – May Day – we celebrate the achievement of workers and their unions. We must heed the calls of Palestinian trade unionists issued earlier this month under the umbrella of Workers in Palestine and organise in our own workplaces for a free Palestine. Our friends at Stop the War are organising a workplace day of action…
All over the world, people are coming together in support of Palestine. In the US, over 150 students have been arrested for peacefully protesting their universities’ complicity in the Israeli war machine. Demonstrators here have continued to shut down Elbit Systems, with Somerset Council yesterday voting to explore ways to evict the company from its factory in the area.
It has been inspiring to see so many people join the demonstrations – many for the first time. We must keep protesting and keep remembering why we are doing this: for an end to the occupation, for the right of return for refugees and for a free Palestine.
‘Bad faith actors’
Of course, the state, Zionists, and the far-right have been painting the pro-Palestine marches as antisemitic – something which is demonstrably false. As the Canary previously reported, right-wing agitator and co-founder of Zionist lobby group Campaign Against Antisemitism Gideon Falter recently tried (and failed) to paint the marches as antisemitic and a threat to Jewish people – despite Jewish people attending them every week.
So, Stop the War Coalition addressed the issue of people smearing the marches directly. It said:
While bad faith actors try to defame the movement, our answer to them is to redouble our efforts to mobilise. As an attack on Rafah looms, we urge all our supporters to organise transport from every corner of the country, to share the details on social media as regularly and as widely as you can and to organise leafleting sessions in as many places as possible.
The attacks on us are a product of the fact that we are winning the argument. 58% are now calling for an end to arms sales to Israel with only 18% opposing. We must make sure Saturday is another massive display of support for ending the genocide.
If you can, get to the march on 27 April. More details are here. Details of 1 May’s workplace action are here.
Featured image via the Peace and Justice Project
