Between photographing the Uzbek Embassy protest against the Andijan/Pakhtabad massacres, and attending a public forum celebrating the 1905 revolution in Russia, I just had time to record the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's relatively small but vocal and enthusiastic 'Free Palestine – End Israeli Occupation' demonstration; details:  http://www.palestinecampaign.org/events.asp?d=y&id=1430

With the insurgency against the brutal US/UK occupation of Iraq making most of the running in the mainstream media's middle-eastern coverage, perhaps the relative side-lining of Israeli state barbarism (not that it ever gets the breadth or depth of condemnatory stories it deserves) has had a knock-on effect on the size of this annual demonstration. However, as a friend who was on the whole demonstration and at the concluding Trafalgar Square rally pointed out, size isn't everything – the quality of the people protesting put her in mind of folks who don't just show up for another A to B march once a year, but spend plenty of time in between on the nitty-gritty of solidarity campaign work. And indeed, the recent controversy over UK lecturers' unions' backing an academic boycott of Israeli universities may well have something to do with the sizeable contingents of teachers, lecturers and even schoolchildren on the demo.

If you're moved to demonstrate practical international solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers, I recommend checking out the direct action stylings of the International Solidarity Movement:  http://www.ism-london.org.uk and  http://www.palsolidarity.org

For the most politically astute coverage and analysis of the ever-deepening middle-eastern crisis, I recommend the International Communist Current's 'Israel/Palestine' portal page:  http://en.internationalism.org/taxonomy/term/145

This event was organised by the UK's Palestine Solidarity Campaign:  http://www.palestinecampaign.org
Supported by: Muslim Association of Britain, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al Aqsa, War on Want, National Union of Teachers, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Palestinian Forum in Britain

In International Solidarity,

Tim D Jones

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Copyright ©2005 Tim D Jones
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