The demo today was both thrilling and heartening. I was so happy to see so many people from all over the UK marching, watching, screaming and shouting, all for our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
My mate Bilal and I started off at Embankment Station where the march began and made our way with the crowd towards Trafalgar Square where we saw thousands of people standing up for what they believed in.
I met a man who travelled all the way from Derby, holding a massive banner for all to see. I took photos of the mixture of people from all sorts of backgrounds: one woman from East Asia wearing her traditional clothing and banging an instrument; an Englishman and his daughter; a little brave kid standing waving a stick with two broken shoes laced at the top. What was so great about the protest was that it represented humanity at its best: people coming together – no matter what race or creed, Muslim or Jew, yellow or white – and standing up for other people who are becoming increasingly victimised as the seconds tick past.
What’s better is that the people who marched today are fighting for strangers. We will never meet most of those who are being invaded as we speak, but these tens of thousands have expressed their deepest concerns to those who have the power to actually do something about this atrocity.
It was discouraging to see the news once I returned home. The descriptions and headlines on BBC and Sky News were crushing, but were not so much unexpected. The fight continues, and no matter what happens in the closing parts of this chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we all know where the hearts of men lay and who are most sincere support was for.
P.S. The Muslim Public Affairs Committee were giving out copies of a flyer entitled, “5 Things You Can Do To Help Palestine.” Here are the 5 things:
- Political Action
Contact your local MP, (www.theyworkforyou.com) demand that they condemn Israel publicly, ask them to raise the issue in Parliament and to put pressure on the Foreign Minister David Miliband to call for an immediate stop to all military activity. - Media Action
Call/E-mail your regular media outlet about bias. Remember this includes newspapers, TV stations and radio stations. Ten calls can change the media angle! - Online Action
Raise the issue online as much as you can. Use social networking sites like Facebook where you can reach 1000s of people. Tell people what is really going on. - Muslim Group Activity
Get your local mosque to announce these action points to its congregation. Get them to hold a meeting with your MP and run a letter writing campaign. - Funding Action
Groups that work to help Palestine can’t carry on without adequate funding.
6 responses so far ↓
We are all Palestinians! // January 4, 2009 at 11:31 am |
There was also a picket of the Israeli Embassy later on in the day. But the police, in their usual manner, started intimidating people and so it got quite confrontational.
PS. Great pictures.
Clare Solomon // January 4, 2009 at 1:15 pm |
great pics alvin-keep it up comrade.
in solidarity
Thominah Talukdar // January 4, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
Really heartfelt Alvin – God Bless You and the Palestinian People!
Long Live Palestine
Samina Bahar // January 5, 2009 at 10:55 pm |
Wow!!was not expecting that!!great pictures!!..this is when u realise…that we are all EQUAL..despite of our GENDER,CLASS and ETHNICITY!!!Great work, keep it up!!
Joel Cook // January 6, 2009 at 2:33 am |
As an American I feel the need to speak out on this issue for a number of reasons. The most obvious is Americas public, undying and unquestioning support for the Zionist regime. The other big reason is the support the mainstream media gives Israel, not only by journalists, editors and opinion talking heads but in subtler ways with language and photos. Contrary to these aforementioned issues many Americans do not support the Zionist movement and see the mess Israel has created with the urging of western powers. Many assume this is because Israel has so much influence in the American political system but I think that’s only a small part of us support for the Zionists. I think the larger issue is that Israel is a proxy for the US, it serves as a watchdog in a vast sea of sand filled with “hostile” Muslim nations. It acts as a proxy when dealing with countries like Iran and Syria by bombing suspected nuclear sites.
Just today I was listening to Meet The Press, its a news program that airs on Sundays here in the states. One of the guests was Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. When pressed on the issue of civilian casualties Reid promptly changed the subject, using the old tactic of answering the question he wished had been asked instead of the one put forth. Reid said that Israel was only defending itself and if the US were taking rocket fire from Toronto Canada we would act in kind. He then went on to say that Israel “gave” Gaza back to the Palestinians as a measure of good will and a display of peace. Well, if Gaza were never stolen and the other land not settled by the Jews there would be no rocket fire. Its easy to pick a point on a time line of this conflict and say such and such started here and caused this or that invasion. But the simple truth of the matter is that Israel should never have settled where and how it did in the first place. Why must the Palestinians bare the burden of a group hated and persecuted across Europe only to commit those same offenses against those whom they displaced?
In an effort to be completely honest I am an atheist and I hate Abrahamic religions. I think they are tools of intolerance and oppression so this is not about religion for me. It is about an oppressed race of people having the crime of apartheid committed against them.
Simran Maini // January 25, 2009 at 1:49 am |
Hey Alvin, good work! I wasn’t in London for the protest, but expect to see me at the next one