December

As policing becomes increasingly more strict in regards to the Palestine protests, the march today as it was blocked off from all angles when we had barely got started. Is a protest even a protest if you need to seek permission from the authorities before undertaking it? A quick detour to Central Station allowed protesters to take sit-in action which has also been prevented in previous weeks, despite similar action taking place around the world. No more business as usual as genocide happens. Marching on the roads and occupying transport hubs should make us think about the concept of freedom of movement, something Palestinians have been denied for decades. It should make us think of the father who went looking around his neighbourhood for food to feed his family and came back to his home destroyed and his family martyred. It should make us think of the young girls who were shot as they were collecting water from a well. It should make us think of the woman older than the state of Israel being assassinated by a sniper outside her home. It shouldn't make us think that having to step around protesters when on the way to do Christmas shopping is the bigger issue. On the back of the UK abstaining from the UN call for ceasefire, we say not in our name.