On 4 September, Glasgow Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) activists joined over a hundred supporters of Palestine who protested outside the Scottish national football stadium Hampden Park in Glasgow against the Scotland vs Israel nations league match. We were clear: Zionism is racism.
The match was being played only days after a three-week Israeli bombing assault campaign on Gaza came to an end, and as Gazans mobilise their scarce resources against new and rising COVID 19 infections, efforts which are severely hampered by the crippling siege imposed by Israel since 2007.
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The protest was co-hosted by the Zionism is Racism – Scotland Stand Up coalition, which Glasgow RCG helped to found, alongside several different groups. We built for the event through street stalls and leafleting across Glasgow in the weeks before.
At the protest we held an open mic which was taken up by many speakers to lead chants and to condemn the complicity of British imperialism in the ongoing occupation of Palestine. The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which deliberately conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, was condemned. We called out the hypocrisy of the Scottish Football Association which claims to oppose racism while giving tacit support to Israeli settler colonialism, ignoring the call from Palestinian footballers to boycott Israel in protest at their treatment. The protest also gave solidarity to Irish and Palestinian political prisoners and demanded the release of the Saoradh 9 and Dr Issam Hijjawi (see here) in Ireland.
The protest was supported by: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Victory to the Intifada, Football Against Apartheid, Glasgow FRFI / RCG, Saoradh Scotland, Friends Of IRPWA Scotland, Let Kashmiri’s Decide, Lasair Dhearg Scotland, Glasgow Anti-fascist Alliance, Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign, International solidarity movement Scotland, Green Anti-Capitalist Front Glasgow and Unite The Community Tayside.
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign did not respond to our invite to join the protest but four days before the match they called their own stadium protest, with a slightly different starting time and location. Such political sectarianism undermines our solidarity movement and does nothing to help the Palestinian struggle.
Zionism is Racism – Scotland Stand Up supporters are now mobilising for the next match between Scotland vs Israel at Hampden Park which takes place on Thursday 8 October, kicking off at 7.45pm. We will be protesting outside the stadium before and during the match and we urge all anti-racists to join us.
For more details Facebook Zionism is Racism – Scotland Stand Up or get in contact with Glasgow FRFI: [email protected] / phone 07826203476
Free Palestine!
End the siege of Gaza!
Boycott Israel!
Black Lives and Palestinian Lives Matter!
