Anti*Capitalist Resistance members attended demonstrations throughout the week commemorating Nakba (the catastrophe), the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land in 1948. This annual act of rememberance takes on renewed significance in 2024, with the ongoing genocide of Palestinians focussed on Gaza, but with escalating violence in the West Bank, too.
The demonstration in London on Saturday (18/5/24) was unusually heavily policed, and we found ourselves, alongside other peaceful attendees, harrassed and threatened with arrest by so-called liaison officers. The atmosphere was charged, both with the strength of feeling of those marking the occassion in solidarity and, more troublingly, those attempting to disrupt the march.
One of our members was even assaulted while stood at a stall by someone who behaved as if they were an agent provocatuer. The police were insisting everyone congregated in a very narrow street which became very conjested as the start time drew nearer meaning that people were inevitably accidentally bumping into each other. The member felt a sharp blow in the small of her back and gently put her hand on the shoulder of the person who had collided with her and quietly asked them to be careful as that had really hurt. The assailant shouted ‘Get your hands off me’ and rushed to complain to the nearest police officer. Other people who the member didnt know came over to check if she was alright and indicated that from what they had witnessed this was not an accident….
It has never been so important to be present at these events. To show that in the face of the slaughter of innocents we will not cease to raise alarm and speak out against the Israeli state, but also their government sponsors in Britain, the United States and elsewhere.
These photographs were all taken by our members.
London
Manchester
Birmingham
Sheffield
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Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?