On 15 April comrades from Nottingham Revolutionary Communist Group attended two protests, the first opposing the policing bill and the second in solidarity with Palestine.
15 April also marks the Nakba or “Catastrophe”, a day of solidarity in remembrance of the violent eviction of Palestinians by Israeli settlers in 1947 – this year, as people rise across Palestine in a wave of resistance sparks by the evictions in East Jerusalem, a new movement is also rising in Britain.
At the Kill the Bill protest an RCG supporter addressed the crowd, making the case for an internationalist response to state violence, connecting resistance to repressive laws in Britain to the liberation movement in Palestine.
This was followed by a demonstration of thousands for Palestine, called by Nottingham Palestine Solidarity campaign. The mood of the crowd was defiant and determined – people became increasingly frustrated with the PSC’s tightly controlled list of speakers, and when local Labour MP Nadia Whittome was given the platform she was booed and heckled by large parts of the crowd. An attempt to read out a message from an absentee Labour councillor was similarly drowned out with shouts of “Where is he then?”. An RCG supporter addressed the crowd, denouncing the Labour Party’s support for Zionism and calling for unconditional support for the Palestinian resistance.
Soon after, the crowd took up the call by young women to march to the BBC in protest over their misleading coverage. More speeches were heard at the BBC, with an open mic provided by the RCG, before the demonstration marched back into the city heading for Marks and Spencer, a British company which has a long history of support for Israel.
Further protests were called for the following day, attended by hundreds while others travelled to London for a caravan to the Israeli embassy, and more for the day after. Nottingham RCG are supporting a call for an open air organising meeting on Wednesday 19 May, at 4pm in the Old Market Square, to democratically decide on the next steps for the movement in Nottingham.
