If not now, when? The demonstrations matter. It is enough that they are seen by our brothers and sisters in Gaza to give them justification and to call us all to take part. But they are not enough. We all know that. Even the youngest and least footsore of us. We want to hit the enemy directly. Some of us will, soon we hope, be able to deliver our solidarity directly to the Palestinian people and have a direct effect on the struggle within Palestine and on its borders. Not all of us can do that. And none of us can do that right now - I mean immediately, today, now. We can deepen the BDS movement. This we can all do. We must. Our action is immediate. Our effect is longer term, but it is immensely important. There is something else. Behind Israel stand the historic imperial criminals and the current powers which are the hidden force for which Israel stands merely as watchdog, facade and sometime pantomime villain, the better to deflect attention from the global crooks. When we talk of the imposition of a Zionist implantation in Palestine, we are talking of London not Tel Aviv as its birth place. Its capital, in essence. When we take aim at the F16s - metaphorically for most of us, but with heroic literalness for some - we are pointing to their source in Washington. Whatever the tactical sights say, the strategic compass points west. When we bitterly contest the political defence of Israel, our battleground is in Washington, London, New York, Paris and Brussels. The manikins from Tel Abib are an unlovely distraction. The Palestinians and the wider Arab resistance cannot strike those targets. Neither by missiles, nor by civil action. And they have enough themselves to do already. Our civil movement can. We can strike those essential props of the Israeli abomination. It is our responsibility to do so. We march on Saturday in London from the embassy of the Zionist entity towards parliament and Downing Street. We march towards one of the greatest pillars of the apartheid apparatus bearing down on the Palestinians: the British prime minister and his government. And, to boot, his is a government that is already at war with the majority of the British people - the young, the old, the unemployed, those fearful for their jobs and impoverished by their wage, those unable to work and those who have worked all their lives to build anything that is good in our country. So - friends - a question. The mothers and children of Gaza cannot strike at 10 Downing Street on Saturday. But the children, women and men who march in London that day can. Should we not? Should we not, after galvanising our forces through marching in the heat, after rallying our collective spirit with fortifying speeches outside parliament… should we not take a few more steps and sit down, together, in dignity and with determination, along the length of Whitehall, outside the gates of Downing Street? And stay there? And stay, and organise - not secretly as the tyrants do, but openly. Because the truth does not hide. Shall we occupy there? As they occupied the public spaces in Spain and Greece. As they turned over the bankers ideological tables in Wall Street. As they occupied Tahrir square until Mubarak fell. To stay - to celebrate the big Eid together on that street, which we and our ancestors paved with sweat and blood. It is a question. I know my own answer. But the answer must be one from us not from one of us. Should we not do this? If not now, when? (If you think the question worth asking, please share.)
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:56:36 +0000
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