Today a small but militant coalition including Poverty Makes Us Sick, The Anti Torture Coalition and Anti Colonialist Working group held a picket outside Conservative and pro-Israel MP Peter Braid's office to demand justice for the Palestinians in Gaza. Before we began Braid came out to inform us that in his opinion supporting Israel is supporting international law.
The Picket began with a speech by Anti Colonialist Working Group speaker Darryl Richardson introducing the demo. A statement in Solidarity with Gaza from 32CSM in Northern Ireland was then read which underlined the solidarity between oppressed people and that the solution to the conflict is an end to occupation everywhere.
A statement explaining the violence of the occupation and who is responsible was read. This statement came from the Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus; Yarmouk, which has recently turned into a major battleground.
The next speaker from The Anti Torture Coalition focused on the violence that Palestinians face as a result of imperialist aggression from Israel.
Poverty Makes us Sick then spoke about the engineering of poverty as part of the colonialist project, the attack on Palestinian livelihood by targeting the olive harvest, as well as the poverty of refugee camps, as well as the imposed poverty of refugees in Canada through attacks on refugee rights, increased racist attacks and healthcare coverage such as the cut to the interim federal health program. Poverty Makes Us Sick also talked about the cuts Jason Kenney implemented during the surge of aid money which is why Poverty makes us sick called on all to promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
After speaking outside the action moved indoors to Mr. Braid’s office. His staff appeared rather uncomfortable as Darryl began reading the names of those killed in the recent Israeli military occupation. As the impromptu memorial went on a heavy police presence arrived and let us know that the workers at the office did not want us there. However, as they were conducting a memorial service the police were powerless to remove us. After we finished we stated that we will be back and rewiterated that we will not sit by peacefully while the state of Israel carries out genocide. As a sign of good faith we left our placards on top of the police cars.
