It’s still windy out and about today but at least I didn’t get rained on as I ran round the village first thing this morning. It has rained since but then the sun has also been out from time to time. If it wasn’t so cold I might think it was April. Come to that, I’ve also known very cold times around the April showers!
I wonder if it rained in London yesterday. It doesn’t look like it in this photo of a protester being carried away by police at the demonstration in support of Palestine Action.
Almost 500 people were arrested. I don’t remember so many arrests at demonstrations in the past, even at demonstrations that were much more violent!
And today I read this:
“Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.”
Such powers could ban demonstrations from certain places - such as Westminster, I suppose - and the home secretary is looking into the possibility of banning some demonstrations outright.
Forget about Storm Amy causing havoc around the country, the wind of change is causing longer-lasting damage.
On Saturday’s Facebook, David Rosenberg posted a statement by the Jewish Bloc for Palestine about the Manchester synagogue attack. I’m not going to quote it all, but here a a few extracts:
“We were shocked when, less than 24 hours after the attack, a relatively new Home Secretary went onto the airwaves to weaponise the fear and grief of our community by resurrecting a slur: that those protesting for Palestine represent a danger to Jews. She is cynically exploiting this tragic event to fulfil a long-standing ambition of successive British Governments: to justify a ban on the mass protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “
“We are a diverse group of British Jews. Some are secular and some were in synagogues yesterday. Many have links to families and friends who will have attended Heaton Park synagogue yesterday. We will be marching again next Saturday, and will continue to take to the streets until we see an end to this genocide and until Palestine is free. We will continue to strengthen our links of solidarity and mutual support with Muslims and other communities targeted by racism. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
Today Michael Rosen wrote about having posted an article by Winston Churchill from 1920 and reposted the following paragraph from that article:
'Of course, Palestine is far too small to accommodate more than a fraction of the Jewish race, nor do the majority of national Jews wish to go there. But if, as may well happen, there should be created in our own lifetime by the banks of the Jordan a Jewish State under the protection of the British Crown, which might comprise three or four millions of Jews, an event would have occurred in the history of the world which would, from every point of view, be beneficial, and would be especially in harmony with the truest interests of the British Empire.'
Michael Rosen points out that back in 1920 Winston Churchill recognised Palestine, a place that some people say never existed! He also points out that Churchill said a Jewish State on the banks of the Jordan would suit ‘British Interests’. We mustn’t forget our complicity in the events of history.
I have recently been reading novels by Ahdaf Soueif, set mostly in Egypt at various points in the 20th century, incidentally relating events that led to or that echo what is still going on in the Middle East today. These too show our country’s part in that bit of history.
And now there is further talk of negotiations for peace and a ceasefire. Will it come about? We shall see!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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