A meeting on Thursday 19 October called by FRFI, to urgently organise solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against genocide being committed in Gaza by the Israeli state, has been censored by the Anglican Church which owns the meeting venue. The Archdeacon of Hackney Peter Farley-Moore instructed the venue, St John on Bethnal Green church, to cancel the booking. The Anglican Church also runs the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City which was bombed yesterday, killing at least 500 Palestinian people. Yet Britain’s state church shamefully sides with racist politicians in attacking free speech and Palestine solidarity.
The democratic right to support the Palestinian people and their resistance to genocide is under systematic attack in Britain. Racist Home Secretary Suella Braverman has described those supporting Palestine as ‘a mob’ and encouraged criminalisation of those who fly the Palestinian flag. The equally racist Labour Party warned members against supporting protests for Palestine. Censorship of Palestinian solidarity has increased over recent years, escalating in 2017 with the Corbyn-led Labour Party’s enforcement of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, used to attempt to sabotage Palestine solidarity events.
As the Zionist state undertakes its campaign to obliterate the Palestinians in Gaza with the support of British imperialism, now more than ever we must defend free speech on Palestine and oppose all attempts to censor solidarity. We must refuse to be silenced by racist politicians, police or the Church. Come to the alternative meeting venue at the Chadswell Healthy Living Centre (Harrison Street, WC1H 8JF) at 7pm tomorrow, Thursday 19 October, to show that we stand with the Palestinian resistance and will not be silenced into submission.
