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Marks and Spencer - Terrorist Sponsor

Sid Barrett | 24.09.2004 13:32 | Anti-racism | London

Smaller demo last night against Marks and Spencer - Britain's biggest corporate sponsor of Israel. However, new people joined and good response from the public.

The atrocities against the Palestinian people are continuing, even if they are not being reported in our biased press. By atrocities it is not just the ongoing murder of innocent Palestinian men, women and children to which I refer but the lesser know injustices that continue to take place: House demolitions, theft of Palestinian land (particularly arable farm land), the continuing building of the apartheid wall, the forced isolation of the Palestinian economy and the forced removal (yes, ongoing ethnic cleansing) of the Palestinians. On top of which there is of course the every day form of racism and apartheid experienced and expressed in the form of curfews, road blocks and the racial abuse from IDF soldiers and settlers alike.

For all the reasons mentioned above, along with many overs, it is essential that we carry on maintaining and building the nationwide Marks and Spencer pickets. We've had a very successful Summer with a great deal of enthusiastic response and a lot of new people make the effort, each week, to come and show solidarity with the Palestinians on the streets. The demos have spread from just London Oxford St and Manchester to different areas in London - Camden, Holloway, Brixton and to other areas around the country such as Glasgow, Canterbury, Leicester and Durham. However the Summer is now over and the nights are going to start getting cold and dark. It is imperative that we keep the momentum which has been made and continue to build and make people aware of the atrocities which are being committed. There must remain a constant focus for Palestinian solidarity work each week, along with the numerous other activities which take place and which must be supported.

Last night we were privileged to be joined by a young Israeli who was sickened by what he saw there and became a refusnik, ready to accept legal prosecution, even jail than be a part of the brutal occupation (he still faces such prosecution through the work he's currently doing with ISM). He spoke on the megaphone in both English and Hebrew about the reality of what he has seen, as an Israeli, and urged others to join the demonstration. Such conscientious individuals seem at time a rarity but I do not think that this is the case. The human condition is not a natural one of selfishness and violence, it is the imperialist system in which we live which cultivates such a conscousness, as such it can be overcome and the more the truth gets out the more people will begin to see, in this world of terror, who the real terrorists are - Israel and it's supporters in the west like Marks and Spencer.
Victory to the Intifada!
Boycott M&S Oxford St (Marble Arch end) next and every Thursday between 6pm till 8pm.

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