Sunday 29 March – Victory to the Intifada Glasgow
On Sunday 29 March, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign and members and supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Group came together to picket the Trongate branch of Tesco’s in Glasgow in solidarity with the people of Palestine. The joint action was a response to the call for a Global Day of Action in Solidarity with the Palestinian people and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel on March 30, emanating from the World Social Forum in Belém.
Over 30 activists came together from the different organisations with placards, banners and stickers demanding a boycott of Zionist goods and an end to apartheid, distributing hundreds of leaflets calling on shoppers to boycott the Israeli products stocked by Tesco’s. On the narrow pavement, with Palestine flags flying and matching t-shirts calling for a boycott, the protestors were a highly visible presence.
Inspired by the actions of Palestine solidarity campaigners in France recently (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkz9DVz5yw), some activists went into the Tesco’s to sticker Israeli products with ‘boycott apartheid’ stickers and to leaflet people inside. They were promptly escorted out by security and one GPHRC member banned from the store. The police, who maintained a constant presence at the protest, forced one activist to delete any photographs from his camera which had captured security guards and prevented groups from setting up stalls on the street.
The militant and lively protest kept up for two hours on the cold afternoon, drawing much support from passers-by. The protest ended with the head of the Scottish PSC addressing the demonstrators, congratulating everyone on a successful event. Everyone agreed that the time to intensify Palestine solidarity work on the streets was now, and agreed to jointly organise bigger and more militant pickets in support of the BDS campaign in the coming weeks.
The spirit of solidarity and non-sectarianism was well in evidence and positive to see. A line in the sand is being drawn between those who are truly committed to building an anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist movement through the BDS campaign, and those forces, such as Stop the War and others in the leadership of the recent Gaza solidarity movement, who seem merely to pay lip-service to the heroic, and continual, resistance in Palestine.
Victory to the Intifada!
Boycott Israeli goods!
