Some stuff about Palestine protests, in memory of a protesting friend.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of an old friend. Always a fighter for justice and equality, she was still standing regularly outside her MPs surgery protesting about the Palestine situation until only weeks before the cancer that killed her made her too weak to do anything much. So most of today’s post is a sort of tribute to her.

First of all, as I’ve not quoted him for a while, here’s a piece of Michael Rosen poetry: 

 

In Gaza

whatever happened before

is not as bad as 

what is happening now.

Wherever you start on the graph 

is not as horrific

as what is happening now.

Whenever you start with now

and work backwards

you can see that

what's happening now

is worse than

anything happening before.

Wherever you look now

is worse than

whatever was there before.

However you tell this story

what's happening now

is worse

than what's come before

And here’s some more poetry, dating back I think to 2013 and therefore not directly connected to the present conflict situation, but still relevant to the world situation:

Mimesis  by Fady Joudah

My daughter

                       Wouldn’t hurt a spider

That had nested

Between her bicycle handles

For two weeks

She waited

Until it left of its own accord

If you tear down the web I said

It will simply know

This isn’t a place to call home

And you’d get to go biking

She said that’s how others

Become refugees isn’t?

Here’s a picture of the Sumud Flotilla, the hundreds of ships which set to sail to Gaza with humanitarian aid. It’s not an actual photo but an AI picture but it gives an idea of the flotilla.

And here’s a painting by a Palestinian artist, Mohammed Frey..

Breaking news yesterday: A bomb was dropped by a drone on the lead boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla in Tunis. I’m not sure that the mainstream media made much of it.

Here’s a more peaceful piece of artwork by the Palestinian artist, Rawan Anani:

“Hills of Jerusalem”. (2025)

Banksy’s also been busy leaving art at the courts of justice. There was some outcry about his defacing a historic building and now I am told it is covered with a metal barrier and there’s a security guard. 

Someone suggested that next time Banksy needs to paint the actvist as old and disabled for a more accurate depiction. Indeed! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!