Jewish protesters | >Re-PHOTO

Lebanon: Ceasefire Now! – 2006

Downing St, Westminster

Lebanon: Ceasefire Now!: In July 2006 there were protests in London over Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. There had been a large march on 22nd July and the pictures here are from a second protest on the following Friday, July 28th.

I posted about the first of these events here last week and you can read further details about what was happening around the world including in Lebanon and Palestine on July 28th on Wikipedia. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was on that day in Washington holding talks with President George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East.

I didn’t write much about this protest at Downing St: “Several hundred demonstrators lined up on the pavement in Whitehall opposite Downing Street. They included a number of Jewish protesters who also felt that the Israeli bombing and invasion was an entirely disproportionate action, as well as supporters of Hezbollah.”

The presence of many Jewish protesters has been a continuing feature of all the protests against the Israeli attacks on Palestine and Gaza, something which is seldom mentioned or given any prominence in media coverage or the comments by politicians on these events.

*Jew and Arab in solidarity opposing the Israeli action*

Accurate reporting on these events and an end to government ministers and leading politicians describing them as hate marches and respecting those Jews who feel compelled to protest against the Israeli government actions – rather than promoting the views of pro-Zionists would I am sure have lessened both the rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia we now see.

More pictures on My London Diary

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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Kings Cross, Israel and Anti-Zionists – 2002

Kings Cross, Israel and Anti-Zionists: Like the rest of the country I was appalled by the stabbing in Golders Green a week ago, clearly by a very disturbed individual, who had earlier in the day carried out another attempted murder in Great Dover Street in Southwark. But I was also shocked at the reactions of some politicians; clearly Wes Streeting’s interview that day on Radio 4 can only be described as ‘hate speech‘.

At least in part the increase in tension has been caused by political tirades against supporters of the Palestinian cause and the many peaceful protests they have carried out, with the repeated condemnation of them as ‘hate marches’ for calling for a just peace in Palestine.

Something politicians and the media should reflect on is that all of these marches have been attended by large number of Jewish protesters, present in a much greater proportion than their overall presence in the country.

Some of them have marched in a Jewish bloc to make their presence obvious on the marches – though the media generally and the BBC in particular have apparently decided to fail to notice this. But many others are there with other groups or as individuals – always an important part of the British left. And of course there always is a small group of highly visible ultra-orthodox anti-Zionists.

We need to defend free speech and the right to protest – including those by those whose views we find abhorrent, although there are limits which most of us support against clear incitement to violence and illegal acts. But our government seems bent on moving the goalposts on these limits – for example in its proscription of Palestine Action.

Back on the Early May Bank Holiday Monday in 2002 I came to London to cover a large pro-Israel rally, taking the opportunity also for a short walk before the protest, as well as covering an anti-Zionist counter-demonstration. I was working mainly with film cameras – black and white and colour – and there are still quite a few pictures I have yet to digitise.

I hadn’t by May 2002 made the plunge to buy a professional digital camera. The colour pictures here were taken on a small consumer digital camera, a 2.2Mp Fuji MX-2700. The quality wasn’t bad, certainly fine for web images, and I had some pictures to post immediately. I think I also took some pictures on colour negative film that I’ve yet to digitise 24 years later.

“6 May was Bank Holiday Monday and I started with a walk round Kings Cross to see how the redevelopment there is going. The site which used to have the famous gas holders was just an empty hole in the ground.

“Then to Trafalgar Square for a large pro-israel rally on . It was quite crowded and I was pleased to see evidence that some of those attending were trying to take a balanced view.

“There were a few arguments and scuffles, but the largest surprise for me was the almost total lack of black coated Orthodox Jews in the crowds.

“Then I went to photograph the counter demonstration at the south-west corner of the square, only to find a group of Orthodox Jews arm in arm with the Palestinians and others demonstrating against Zionism.”

More pictures from both protests on My London Diary for May 2002.

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Darfur and the Mayor’s Thames Festival – 2007

Darfur and the Mayor’s Thames Festival: On Sunday 16th September 2007 I went to London to photograph a march on an International Day of Action over the genocide which had been taking place on a large scale in Darfur since 2003, with around 300,000 civilians killed. My comments at the time are in italics below. After the end of the march I went to walk along the riverside wher the Mayor’s Thames Festival was taking place, though I found little actually happening.

Protect Darfur – International Day of Action

“Several hundred marched from the Sudanese Embassy in St James
to Westminster where a protest rally was held opposite Downing Street over the continuing failure of the international community to take effective action over Darfur.”

“Among the mainly African demonstrators were groups of Jews, concerned that, as in the 1930s, too many are happy to turn a blind eye to what is going on.”

The Sudanese government had earlier co-opted and armed the Arab Janjaweed militias against those opposed to it in Darfur and they created what the UN described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

In July 2007 the UN and the African Union approved a the largest joint peacekeeping mission in the world UNAMID to the area, and over the years there were various peace agreements, but despite this conflicts continued and in 2023 a civil war broke out in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (which developed from the Janjaweed) and the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – and genocide returned to Sudan.

The BBC has an article, ‘Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening’ about the renewed genocide and famine in Darfur and across the country which again the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

At the rally opposite Downing Street, demonstrators were asked to put on their blindfolds as a reminder that leaders around the world are refusing to see the problem in Darfur.

“I didn’t stay to hear all the speakers. The position of the rostrum made it hard to photograph, working directly into the sun behind the speakers’ heads from any available close positions, and photographs were not going to be of great interest.

The message on Darfur is clear, and the international community needs to take action.”

Many more pictures (too many) on My London Diary at protect darfur.

River Thames and the Mayor’s Thames Festival

“We were promised that Sunday was the end of our short, late summer, and I took a walk along the south bank of the River Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge, among the crowds who had turned up for the Mayor’s Thames Festival.“

Nothing much exciting seemed to be happening while I was there (it seemed mainly a commercial opportunity for the very large number of stalls along the riverbank), but I then didn’t hang around for the procession and fireworks promised later.

I did take quite a few pictures which you can see at river thames and the mayor’s festival – and it looks as if I found it a little more interesting than my account suggested.

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Starving Palestine and a Mad Emitters Tea Party

Starving Palestine and a Mad Emitters Tea Party: London Saturday 20th May 2006

Stop Starving Palestine! – March for Palestine

After Hamas, a Sunni-Islamic militant nationalist political movement won a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, Israel had imposed an economic blockade and both the US and EU withdrew their support.

This led to more than two-thirds of the people in the country being below the poverty line, lacking basic necessities such as sugar, oil, milk, and even bread is rationed. A ban on the import of vital medicines threatened many lives.

Around 20,000 people came to the Stop Starving Palestine! march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by many other organisations including peace groups, the Muslim Association Of Britain and leading trade unions.

Among the speakers were Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Baroness Jenny Tonge of the Lib Dems and Manuel Hassassian, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative to the UK (appointed by the Palestinian President as Ambassador but not recognised by the UK.)

As usual there were many Jewish protesters among the marchers, most noticeable of whom were Neturei Karta orthodox Jews who had walked from Stamford Hill on the Sabbath to attest to their support for Palestinians and their opposition to Zionism.

I left the event as the rally in Trafalgar Square began to go to Grosvenor Square.

More somewhere down the page at My London Diary – May 2006.

Bush in Wonderland, a Mad Emitters Tea Party – US Embassy

Campaign Against Climate Change had organised “bush in wonderland, a mad emitters tea party” held outside the heavily barricaded front of the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. The party was a part of an ongoing series of protests including a weekly climate vigil outside the embassy taking place since the breakdown of The Hague Climate Talks in November 2000.

“There was a picnic table with sandwiches, cakes and tea, music from the eco warriors and guests with some appropriate lyrics, as well as samba from rhythms of resistance, and fancy dress. balloons, banners and a short speech by a White Rabbit called Phil reminded us of the need for protests like these. “

“The USA continues not only to pollute on a massive scale, but increasingly acts to sabotage international efforts to take any effective action on climate change.”

Protests such as this, publications by groups of leading scientists and COP talks after COP talks have done a little to move things on, but the climate situation has worsened and actions taken by governments so far are woefully inadequate.

The USA improved its rhetoric under Obama but didn’t do much and it went backwards under Trump. Biden has also failed to make the real changes needed – and like most politicians is still living in Wonderland rather than the real world.

Politicans are still pursuinging economic polices based on infinite growth under capitalism and we need to move to a new economics which recognises that we live on a planet with finite resources both physical and in the natural world and we need to move to living within sustainable limits.

More somewhere down the page at My London Diary – May 2006.