Once again it has been a very active period for our members and supporters. As well as our major involvement in campaigning against police racism (see centre pages), our comrades have continued to be active on pickets of Marks and Spencer in support of the Palestinian people. Up and down the country we have joined members of Greenribbon in urging people to boycott Marks and Spencer and all Israeli goods: in Bristol, London, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester and Dundee.
Further information on links between British multinationals and the Israeli state is becoming available (see [email protected]).
On 14 October 1998, the then Israeli prime minister Netanyahu presented Jubilee Awards to a number of international business people as a tribute to their support of Israel on the 50th anniversary of its establishment. British companies and their executives thus honoured included Peter Young of the RMC building group, Sir Richard Greenbury of Marks and Spencer, Ronald Cohen of Apax Partners venture capital group, David Lewis of the Lewis Trust Group which also owns River Island, Richard Brown of Cable and Wireless which has a $120m stake in Bezek, the Israeli telecommunications company, and Nicholas Oppenheimer, chair of the Anglo-South African de Beers mining company.
Sainsbury’s have denied supporting the Israeli state although this has not prevented protestors from closing it down in Egypt. However, Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has in his official capacity visited Israel to promote Anglo-Israeli research and development. Meanwhile Lord Levy, who is Blair’s unofficial envoy to the Middle East, is also chief fundraiser for the Labour Party, particularly for the large donors. He first met Blair at a party given by a senior Israeli diplomat. As a millionaire he is used to living in high style: apart from a £1.3m house in north London, he also owns a villa in an exclusive Tel Aviv suburb. He has acted as a fundraiser for the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
These are all examples of the links between British imperialism and the Zionist state, and all reinforce the case for an active boycott campaign. Unfortunately, this still remains a distant concern for the left, since they do not regard it as a vote winner. Hence the national demonstration that took place on 17 March was a pitiful affair, with only a few hundred people turning out to protest. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! urges its readers once more to get involved in the M&S pickets; for information contact [email protected] or [email protected].
We are also continuing the Fight Poverty Pay Campaign; issue 12 of the bulletin is now available. Comrades in the north west have been distributing it outside jobcentres in Blackburn, Oldham and Ashton, as well as organising monthly stalls in Preston.
Events
London
Next public meeting 4pm Saturday 12 May. Phone 020 7837 1688 for further details or email [email protected] for details of anti-racist activities and events in support of the Palestinian revolution.
Midlands
For details of meetings and street events in Nottingham and elsewhere in the Midlands phone 0780 3939 713 or 0781 8807 846 or email [email protected]. We are continuing to organise Palestine solidarity pickets in Nottingham and Leicester and supporting the Greenribbon pickets in Birmingham.
Manchester
Two days of political action in Manchester are planned for Saturday 21 April and Saturday 26 May 12 noon-2pm. There will be a Palestine solidarity picket of M&S at the bottom of Market Street and/or a stall on Market Street itself. This will be followed at 2.30pm by an FRFI Readers Forum upstairs at ‘The Hare & Hounds’, Shudehill, Manchester. The topic for 21 April will be ‘Revolutionary Cuba’ as part of a week of international solidarity with Cuba called by the World Solidarity Movement when it met in Havana in October.
Contact [email protected] for activities on other Saturdays including further stalls in support of the Palestinian struggle and Fight Poverty Pay campaign activities in Manchester and Preston.
Preston
FRFI readers’ group meeting: Monday 4 December, starts 7.30pm upstairs in the Adelphi, by the university. Contact: northwestfrfi@revolutionary communist.com
Scotland
Palestine: We are organising pickets of M&S in Dundee. For further details, phone 07899 810 735.
Remember the Irish hunger-strikers!
A 20th Anniversary commemoration march is being organised in Glasgow on 27 May. For further details contact Glasgow RCG on 07899 810 735 or write to Unit 111, Connell Building, 36 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1DL
