Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Fascists and Zionists out in Force

Andrew Alexander | 27.11.2003 22:15 | Anti-racism | London

Demonstration of Marks and Spencer on 27/11/03 encounters attack from fascists and Zionists, but the struggle continues.

REPORT OF M&S PICKET (27/11/03)

I’m going to be honest with you all - tonight’s picket of Marks and Spencer (Oxford St, Marble Arch end) was not as fruitful as we had hoped for. Numbers were down slightly on previous weeks, partly because of the cold weather and partly because of an event marking Tom Hurndall’s Birthday (Tom of course was brutally shot by the Israeli army while helping children who were being shot at) which many people went to.

However, it was disappointing not to have more people - even when these factors were taken into account, especially so considering a camera crew
came along to do a documentary for Channel 4. Still, maybe I am being too self-critical, for even a bad picket of Marks and Spencer was still pretty good compared to a lot of lifeless ‘pickets’ which are taking place (or not!) nowadays. Speeches on the open megaphone were good, as were the chants. For the first time in a long period too there was music and singing being played which kept everyone warm and light-hearted in the cold and dark, as well as a good bit of theatre involving Bush and Blair.

The Christmas lights of Oxford St were now up, along with the hideous huge Christmas lights scaling up the side of Marks and Spencer. These were good in establishing the whole Christmas theme and relating that to what is exactly going on in Christ’s birthplace - Bethlehem - curfew and brutal occupation.

The Zionists were at it again with their usual racist vitriol and they had mobilised their youth wing so now there were teenage mindless voices about suicide bombings and ‘terrorists’…and err suicide bombings and ‘terrorists’ for that is there level and all they can bark about. Yet there was an even darker side to the picket this Thursday than the usual mindless taunts. One of our younger supporters (still in school) was stopped and threatened down a side ally to Oxford St by two middle-aged Zionist demonstrators. They stated - ‘you’re with them Arabs aren’t you? We’re going to fuck you up and cut you up. We know where you live,’ and other similar stuff. Senseless threats most likely this time, but we know that Betar, the main extreme Zionist group on the demonstration, was responsible for attacks on Palestinian supporters in Paris last year. So we take such incidents seriously.

Join Us!

Maybe this is too serious for some of you, the reader to handle. Real politics in the street, confronting British fascists and Zionists. Revolution, intifada, struggle - these are not just in our heads - but are being made.
Not really the cup of tea that people joining the nice respectable left/solidarity groups really want to get involved in. Too confrontational…
almost too…well…real. A nice speech in a warm room by Mr Galloway is unfortunately the ongoing reality of ‘struggle’ in this country at present, not actual…you know…stuff on the street. Action.

But this is the reality of building a movement in support of Palestine. What side of the fence are you on? Some sectarians would say that these pickets of M&S only exist because FRFI want to recruit a load of people. The truth is, whether you haven’t even the slightest intention of joining FRFI/RCG we still want people to come. Communists, socialists, anarchists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, all humanitarians and democrats - whatever label (or not) you’d give yourselves - come! Bring your own papers, your own leaflets and if you have none of these then just bring your own voices. Why?

This time there was as many fascists as there were us. On our street. The brutality in Palestine is continuing and the Zionists are mobilising here. Our we going to mobilise to? Are we all going to come out for the next picket? There’s lots of words of support going around but little action. These demonstrations are the only continuous events in support of Palestine, focused on the biggest British sponsor of Israel, nationwide and week after week for 3 long years without a break.

Your help is essential. Are we going to let the fascists win? Or will we? The power is in our hands. M&S, the Zionists, the state, they want us to be afraid - that is why they threaten us. But there is no need to be afraid, they are out on the streets because THEY are scared, there was hardly any such thing as a Palestinian solidarity movement in this country before the intifada, that is why Zionists are on our street.

Besides, what we have to go through is not much - 2 hours a week. The Palestinians and Iraqis and all those fighting around the world against oppression are the real heroes facing the real heat. The strength of Simon Chapman and the Thessaloniki 7 (see www.wombles.org for more info) who have just been victorious with real risks to their lives against the brutality of the Greek police is an example to all of us that when we do stand up and fight we can win, despite the threats that are held against us by cowards. United we are strong. Divided we are weak. Next picket of Marks and Spencer is next Thursday 6 till 8pm. Let’s make ourselves heard. Victory to the Intifada!

Andrew Alexander
- e-mail: victoryintifada@hotmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

sectarianism

28.11.2003 09:47

"Some sectarians would say that these pickets of M&S only exist because FRFI want to recruit a load of people. "

Because we don't want to join their hierarchical sect, that make us "sectarians"?

Heh heh, and they say trots don't have a sense of humour! Of course they want to recruit. Pickets like this are the "Revolutionary Communist Group"'s prime means of recruiting, since they possess virtually zero working class support.

Don't bother turning up to this picket unless you're ready to fend off a sales pitch from this tiny but aggressive trot splinter group.

j


Capitalism is the real enemy not Israelis or Palestinians

28.11.2003 10:39

Perhaps one of the saddest and longest lasting examples of a working class divided against itself is the continuing factional struggle between Israeli and Palestinian workers.

In 1998 the Israel and Palestine government leaders met under the supervision of United States President Bill Clinton. An agreement was made to try and stabilize the violent cross-border disputes. Socialists say that this is for naught.

The creation of the state of Israel after World War II introduced a new dynamic into the Middle East. Rather than exert a blatant imperialist intervention for control of the area as in the past, a new state was formed to ensure a capitalist and state-capitalist foothold. This threatened the moribund quasi-feudal and growing capitalist elements of Arabic countries.

Enter into this dynamic a reactionary nationalism, racism and religious animosity, skilfully manipulated by political leaders, religious fanatics and vested capital interests on both sides. Zealots from Israel expounded Jewishness as a separate race and Islamic fundamentalists did the same. Both looked upon the other side with an irrational hatred. This reflected itself in continuous war, forced settlements by Israeli citizens, the evictions of Palestinian workers and the bulldozing of their homes, arrests and torture of those who fought back. Palestinians were swept up in terrorist activities, bombings and the reactionary Islamic fundamentalism of "Hamas". A sickening war ensued that shattered the lives of many.

With the establishment of recognized "self-rule" in Palestine many hoped that things would be for the better. The first thing that Palestinian leaders did was to implement a standing police force and army not only to defend their border interests, but as a force to preserve capitalism's new gains against potential class clashes. Yet the violence continues.

The political leaders of Israel and Arabic countries say that their choices are based on the vested interests of "the people". But Socialists take a more critical view. "The people" do not exist except as an ideological construct, an abstraction manipulated by defenders of a capitalist status quo (through government, media, schools) to cover up very real class divisions.

The land, the factories, the oil - none is owned by "the people", but by a small group of capitalists who profit very well, safe, many miles away from the violence.

Socialists have always argued that the workers of all countries have more in common with each other than with those representing the interests of capital. The poor worker from Palestine and other Arabic countries face the same condition as the Israeli worker. Both are faced with the fundamental problem of capitalism which forces worker against worker not for their own interests, but for the interest of profit.

We ask that workers set aside the reaction of nationalism, religious bigotry, ethnic hatred, racism and join together to root out the real problem itself - capitalism.

World Socialism


Fair comment

28.11.2003 10:53

Some fair comments in there. The Tom protest was important but we need to get more people to the picket.

Mark @ ISM London
- Homepage: http://www.ism-london.org


And whats wrong with that?

05.03.2004 23:02

And what is wrong with that? Surely the Revolutionary Communist Group would be a very strange political organisation if it didn't try and recruit people. What organisation whether left or right, political or not does not try and recruit people? There seems to be a very strange idea that it is somehow wrong and illegitimate to promote an idea or for an organisation to grow. The idea that organisations recruit people simply for the sake of it, and use an activity such as a demo in order to recruit is foolish. Rather it is the other way round: to carry out activities it is necessary to have members, and to have members you need to recruit. If the idea was simply to recruit, no organisation would set out with such a presently unpopular programme as violent revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat, support for the intifada etc.

PS to call the RCG Trotskyist is another peice of stupidity, as anyone who knows the least about them will know the RCG is against Trotskyism as a deviation from Marxism-Leninism!

Ed


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech