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Bad Week for M&S - Good Night for Demo

Sid Arthur | 16.07.2004 15:41 | Anti-racism | London

Another decent evening and another good demo outside the countrys biggest corporate Zionist sponsor.

Not the best of weeks for Marks and Spencer. First there were leaks from Greenpeace about the corporations use of wood in their furniture from endangered rainforests in Indonesia. Then there were further reports of corruption amongst the board and major shareholders in realtion to the takeover speculation. Then there was the companies AGM on Wednesday which was protested against by various groups, including animal rights campaigners because of M&S's finacing (Marks and Sparks have a whole finance division - they don't just sell crap undies) of Huntingdon Life Sciences.

All in all M&S is quite a retarded company. We were at the AGM at The Royal Festival Hall protesting against the companys support of Israel and spoke to the media and shareholders as they went in. The police weren't too keen on us though, 3 of us went off afterwards and were followed all around the South Bank by some coppers, to be watched even when we sat down to have coffee. The state certainly likes to think it's stronger than it is, the high amount of security at the AGM is a sign of their weakness not their strength. The power of mere suggestion can cause them to shit themselves over what we might do.

Anyway, the picket, again, was relatively free from harrassment - with the police being reasonable and allowing us to have what was a very successful demo. Things started quite slow but when we began the theatre (people dressed as Zionist soldiers, gun-totting Bush and Blairs etc) the shoppers stopped and a lively and fibrant picket was created. Many foreign visitors spoke to us and joined in, along with a lot of British people coming back from work. Last night we had our apartheid wall out again to expose the real land grabbing apartheid nature of Israel - something that struck a chord with many in light of the wall being declared illegal by the ICJ. It is now clear that the Zionists have long lost the propaganda battle with people all around the world, including here in Britain despite the media bias. I'm not Palestinian, Arab or Muslim and when talking to people on the street and most my friends, who aren't the most political or active bunch, it has become clear that the vast majority of sympathy lies with the Palestinians. The Zionsist have not just lost the propaganda war but have also lost the plot - with the butcher Sharon himself now being given death threats by extremist settlers. When extremists threaten the extremist Zionism loses all control and any sense of respectability that it hopes to portray.

The time is ripe to build on the sympathy of the Palestinians and convert that energy into action.

Boycott M&S! Boycott Israel! Victory to the Intifada!

Picket M&S next and every Thursday, 6 till 8pm.

Sid Arthur
- e-mail: victoryintifada@hotmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.revolutionarycommunist.com

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  1. slight correction — FtP