Guerrilla Nature

Thousands of Leicester residents took to the streets on Sunday 19^th November, despite the rain, in support of the Palestinian citizens affected by the Isreali Defence Force’s response to the action recently taken by Hamas.  Some onlookers seemed very surprised and not best pleased to see the banners and hear the chanting as the march made its noisy but equally peaceable way from Victoria Park to the Clock Tower in the city centre. However, plenty beeped horns in support and some joined the march spontaneously once they realised what it was about.

Although the perceived necessity for this particular march was inspired by recent events in Gaza, where the IDF have allegedly been carrying out retaliation attacks with horrendous results for innocent civilians, the march was separate from, but obviously closely related in solidarity to, the ongoing occupation referred to as The Siege at the UAV Tactical Systems manufacturing facility at Meridian Park (see previous articles here and here).

There were some notable points of progress at this demonstration, when compared with what was witnessed during the first few months of The Siege (which continues even now, see links above). Some of the chants have developed. For example, ‘In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians’ now has a second phase, which goes, ‘In our millions, in our billions, we are all Palestinians,’ which seems to reflect well the sense of burgeoning support for the people who, after the second world war, were displaced from the land where generations of their families had lived. Joining the word ‘apartheid’ is the word ‘genocide’ as supporters of Palestine suggest that all generations of entire families are being systematically wiped out under the guise of legitimate military retaliation to a terrorist incursion.

The terminology in the chants and the rhetoric has become more intense but more coordinated. At the same time, it appears that there have been developments in the political stance of the movement. The speeches reflected. Assia, who is a representative of The Green Party, was keen to insist that if her speech were to be mentioned, credit must go to Shireen Tawil, from whose speech she drew a lot of information and inspiration. However, it is only fair to credit Assia for her authentic, passionate and clear oration. Assia was not the only one who mentioned links to the Green Party. Appeals from speakers who had formerly been staunch Labour supporters, but had decided to redirect their support for a party who are genuinely alternative, encouraged others to do the same.

It seems like there might be some validity to the suggestion that solidarity is building in subtle ways across movements whose members may not have realised until quite recently that they share common objectives which relate to a much broader set of concerns than any of their respective communities of potential changemakers would hope to address alone. Are we witnessing the formation of potentially exciting and critical allegiances?

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Above: content related to Ceasefire Palestine Rally

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