South Shields Gaza Demo confronts Hutton & Miliband
Media Report | 26.01.2009 13:46 | Palestine
DEFENCE Secretary John Hutton was met by angry anti-war campaigners when he visited South Tyneside last night.
Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, a demonstration about the conflict was organised by the South Tyneside Stop the War Coalition and the Tyneside Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
Campaigners chanted, screamed and blew horns as South Shields MP David Miliband and Mr Hutton arrrived in a ministerial Jaguar at South Tyneside College just after 7pm last night.
They were attending a £15-a-head Labour Party function at the college, with the proceeds going to party funds.
Protesters, made up of members of the Socialist Worker party, the TUC union and Stop the War, among others, are calling on Mr Hutton to ensure that Britain doesn't supply or back the Israeli army.
Many guests, including councillors, were heckled as they went in, with Whiteleas and Parkway councillor Ernest Gibson taunted with sarcastic catcalls of "eat well".
Several members of the public also gathered to watch the protest.
Minutes before Mr Miliband arrived at the college from his constituency home nearby, extra police appeared at the scene, taking the number to around 20.
A handful of Special Branch officers stood behind those at the entrance to the college.
Phil Wilson, 23, from Newcastle said: "We're all here today to protest at the Government's policy on Palestine.
"Being able to protest at both David Miliband and John Hutton is great, it's killing two birds with one stone."
Anna Snowdon, from Boldon, said: "They should be condeming the Israeli Government, not supporting it.
"We are just as angry at Mr Miliband as we are towards John Hutton."
The majority of protesters left before 8pm. One said: "We're very cold and some of us have Metros and buses to catch."
In a joint statement, the campaign groups said: "The British Government should play its part in ensuring the continued existence of Palestinian Gaza, with a programme of sanctions against Israel in order to pursue a just and secure future for all Palestinians."
The protest is the second to be held in South Shields, after a gathering on the steps of South Shields Town Hall on Monday, January 12, for a peace rally.
Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, a demonstration about the conflict was organised by the South Tyneside Stop the War Coalition and the Tyneside Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
Campaigners chanted, screamed and blew horns as South Shields MP David Miliband and Mr Hutton arrrived in a ministerial Jaguar at South Tyneside College just after 7pm last night.
They were attending a £15-a-head Labour Party function at the college, with the proceeds going to party funds.
Protesters, made up of members of the Socialist Worker party, the TUC union and Stop the War, among others, are calling on Mr Hutton to ensure that Britain doesn't supply or back the Israeli army.
Many guests, including councillors, were heckled as they went in, with Whiteleas and Parkway councillor Ernest Gibson taunted with sarcastic catcalls of "eat well".
Several members of the public also gathered to watch the protest.
Minutes before Mr Miliband arrived at the college from his constituency home nearby, extra police appeared at the scene, taking the number to around 20.
A handful of Special Branch officers stood behind those at the entrance to the college.
Phil Wilson, 23, from Newcastle said: "We're all here today to protest at the Government's policy on Palestine.
"Being able to protest at both David Miliband and John Hutton is great, it's killing two birds with one stone."
Anna Snowdon, from Boldon, said: "They should be condeming the Israeli Government, not supporting it.
"We are just as angry at Mr Miliband as we are towards John Hutton."
The majority of protesters left before 8pm. One said: "We're very cold and some of us have Metros and buses to catch."
In a joint statement, the campaign groups said: "The British Government should play its part in ensuring the continued existence of Palestinian Gaza, with a programme of sanctions against Israel in order to pursue a just and secure future for all Palestinians."
The protest is the second to be held in South Shields, after a gathering on the steps of South Shields Town Hall on Monday, January 12, for a peace rally.
Media Report
Comments
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Good, now about...
26.01.2009 14:31
than again, opportunists like the SWP are only interested in selling more papers and recruiting for their rapidly dwindling sect,
since when was Socialism a single issue campaign and IUK, the Daily Palestine?
damn angry
We won't pay for their crisis!
26.01.2009 15:08
The North East Shop Stewards Network said:
"Today's Corus announcement of mass redundancies indicates that the economic crisis is not going to let up, and it's clear that most union bureaucrats aren't going to organise a fightback, any more than they did over Nissan. It's being claimed that most steel jobs are 'safe' on Teesside, but nobody knows when this recession will end, and the management acknowledge that 'the new owners could not give cast iron guarantees about future staffing levels', so we need to get organised now.
"We're going for a large public meeting in Newcastle in March on the theme of the recession, and entitled 'Why Won't the Unions Fight Back?' The aim is to bring the over 150 NESSN comrades together, and also to provide a focus for others who are sick of union bureaucrats who don't organise a fight back so as to protect the New Labour government's relentless drive towards shoring up the creaking capitalist system at the expense of workers' jobs, standards of living and taxes."
Anarchist
Homepage:
http://https://bristol.indymedia.org.uk/article/689174
Maybe right cause -- but wrong reason
26.01.2009 15:53
While not having anything to with whether you should confront Zionism for other reasons being anti-fascist wouldn't be a valid reason. This conflict has nothing to do with left vs right and that's true even if a right wing coalition government is in power in Israel. Even the left wing Israelis are "Zionist". If you think otherwise you are deluding yourself.
If what you mean is along the lines of an arguement "the "Zionists" will not give up their tribal existence and instead submerge themselves into the class struggle -- and whoever isn't with us in our fight is against us" ............ well in that case you'll be believed (really your honest position) when I hear you argue against ALL tribalism (even the tribalism of those still dispossesed and struggling to regain their own). When I hear you attack women for not ignoring their fight on their own particualr issues or gays or any other groups who consider their OWN INTERESTS to be what they will put their efforts inot fighting for.
MDN