Picket of Marks and Spencer – 15/01/04, London
Victory to the Intifada!
It was very wet, very windy and very cold, but that did not deter lots of people from joining the regular Thursday picket on Oxford Street to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people who suffer oppression, humiliation and degradation every day at the hands of the Israeli state. Our banners were torn by the wind, our placards soggy, but information was distributed and our voices were clearly heard urging shoppers to boycott Marks and Spencer for the huge financial and ideological support they give to the violent, racist, expansionist State of Israel. Our fair-weathered fascist Zionist opposition (Betar) numbered just five, their pathetic vitriol drowned out by the passion and enthusiasm of sopping Palestinian supporters, some of whom joined the picket spontaneously from the street, defying the weather.
The picket was dedicated today to the memory of Tom Hurndall, the British international solidarity activist who was deliberately shot in the head by the Israeli army last April while he was trying to help Palestinian children in Rafah. Tom died two days ago at the age of 22. His body was unable to recover from the fatal bullet wound. Picketers held a one-minute silence to commemorate the young man who was mercilessly murdered for seeking justice and dignity for the brutally persecuted Palestinian people.
Tom’s fight continues in the struggle to build a movement in Britain denouncing Israel and its integral policy of ethnic cleansing, to which the British government remains an advocate. Marks and Spencer’s sales are reportedly down 4% on last year – let’s make sure they fall further this year. The boycott focussing on M&S as the biggest British corporate sponsor of Israel could send the clearest message to Israel and all its supporters that the Palestinians will not be forgotten, nor their oppression and murder tolerated.
Israel has now almost completely sealed off the Gaza Strip to foreign observers and humanitarian assistance organisations. Even employees of the World Bank have difficulty entering. Israel does not want the world to see the crimes it is committing. That is why it is so important to spread the information about what the Zionists and Israel have done, what Israel is perpetrating now and what it is capable of inflicting on an innocent but indigenous and not Jewish population.
End All Racism! Down with Israel! Free Palestine!
Join the movement: Every Thursday 6-8pm, M&S Marble Arch, Oxford Street, London
Contact us:
victoryintifada@hotmail.com
Victory to the Intifada!
It was very wet, very windy and very cold, but that did not deter lots of people from joining the regular Thursday picket on Oxford Street to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people who suffer oppression, humiliation and degradation every day at the hands of the Israeli state. Our banners were torn by the wind, our placards soggy, but information was distributed and our voices were clearly heard urging shoppers to boycott Marks and Spencer for the huge financial and ideological support they give to the violent, racist, expansionist State of Israel. Our fair-weathered fascist Zionist opposition (Betar) numbered just five, their pathetic vitriol drowned out by the passion and enthusiasm of sopping Palestinian supporters, some of whom joined the picket spontaneously from the street, defying the weather.
The picket was dedicated today to the memory of Tom Hurndall, the British international solidarity activist who was deliberately shot in the head by the Israeli army last April while he was trying to help Palestinian children in Rafah. Tom died two days ago at the age of 22. His body was unable to recover from the fatal bullet wound. Picketers held a one-minute silence to commemorate the young man who was mercilessly murdered for seeking justice and dignity for the brutally persecuted Palestinian people.
Tom’s fight continues in the struggle to build a movement in Britain denouncing Israel and its integral policy of ethnic cleansing, to which the British government remains an advocate. Marks and Spencer’s sales are reportedly down 4% on last year – let’s make sure they fall further this year. The boycott focussing on M&S as the biggest British corporate sponsor of Israel could send the clearest message to Israel and all its supporters that the Palestinians will not be forgotten, nor their oppression and murder tolerated.
Israel has now almost completely sealed off the Gaza Strip to foreign observers and humanitarian assistance organisations. Even employees of the World Bank have difficulty entering. Israel does not want the world to see the crimes it is committing. That is why it is so important to spread the information about what the Zionists and Israel have done, what Israel is perpetrating now and what it is capable of inflicting on an innocent but indigenous and not Jewish population.
End All Racism! Down with Israel! Free Palestine!
Join the movement: Every Thursday 6-8pm, M&S Marble Arch, Oxford Street, London
Contact us:
victoryintifada@hotmail.com 
e-mail:
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
Good Picket
16.01.2004 11:29
James
Racist attacks against Jews have increased 300 per cent since the Intifada
17.01.2004 15:30
Calling for the boycott of Jewish shops is the same tactic that the Nazis used in the 1930s. The anti-Israel pro Palestinian campaign is also supportted by the BNP and right wing historians such as David Irving. Anti-zionism and anti-semitism dont start with concentration camps thats where they end!
AUSHWITZ NEVER AGAIN!
BELSON NEVER AGAIN!
TREBLINKA NEVER AGAIN!
Israel Solidarity Campaign
Reply to 'Israel Solidarity'
17.01.2004 20:46
Two facts –
1. Victory to the Intifada does not call for a ‘boycott of Jewish shops’ – we target M&S because of its support for the state of Israel, not because of the ethnicity of one (not both) its founders
2. The BNP is both anti-Jewish and anti-Arab/Muslim. It does not support the right of Palestinians to self-determination
One question – where do you get your ‘facts’ from about racist attacks against Jews increasing (which I am prepared to believe as racist attacks have increased against all minorities in the wake of 11 September 2001 and the government/media hysteria about asylum seekers etc) and their being carried out mainly by ‘Arab Muslims who support the PLO’ (which I suspect you have no evidence for)?
And some small corrections – I am not pedantic but I completely share your respect for the memory of those who died a horrible death at the hands of vicious racists and your wish to make sure it never happens again, even though I disagree with nothing else you are saying, so for the record, the Nazi death-camps are spelt Belsen and Auschwitz.
N
Manifestations of anti-semitism in the European Union
18.01.2004 02:40
Censored EU commissioned report which found that Arabs and pro-Palestinians were behind the upsurge in violent Jew hatred across Europe.
EU bureaucrat
still unconvinced
24.01.2004 23:29
Tried to open your link. Took 5 minutes to download and then opened as incomprehensible gobbledygook file. Was prepared to be enlightened but now still unconvinced that majority of anti-semitic racist attackers are anything other than the usual fascists. Am nt making light of rise in racism of any description but think that this is deliberate distortion.
N