I believe the crisis in our politics has reached a stage now where there's a real danger of good people going to jail for their efforts to stop bad politicians breaking the law.
People from Hastings gathered at the Magistrates Court this morning in support of three of our local Palestine Solidarity Group who were arrested whilst raising awareness of an arms factory in town (now known locally as Genocide Dynamics) which continues to provide weapons parts for Israel, despite the International Court of justice ruling that suggests such actions may be contributing to war crimes – in particular, to the unspeakable toll of women and children being killed in Gaza.
Outside the court this morning, the Chair of Hastings Palestine Solidarity said "General Dynamics is guilty of complicity in the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands – all of it, from the West Bank to East Jerusalem and Gaza. The ICJ ruled last month that the entire occupation is illegal, and ordered Israel to withdraw immediately, to dismantle settlements make reparations and it bestowed on all other countries an obligation not to aid or assist in Israel's presence in that territory.
"That was the order of the world court – no more assistance to the unlawful occupation. No more aid, no arms sales, no complicity, no money, no trade, no nothing. NOTHING. The highest court in the world has ordered boycott, divestment and sanctions. And this is exactly what is required of all of us."
The recorded death toll is now above 40,000 but, according to the calculations of a range of respectable organisations (such as the Lancet) and many independent news outlets, the real figure is likely to be approaching 200,000, bearing in mind all the things we don't know about the grizly rubble-heap that Gaza is becoming.
The Hastings Three thought that Hastings ought to know a local company is complicit in all this, and so they took action (peacefully) that is what they are on trial for.
Also at the gathering this morning, the local TUC Chair talked about the systemic destruction of infrastructure Israel is carrying out in Palestine, about how that leads to famine, disease, and so many other ways of dying horribly. I remember finding out how the USA did that to Iraq but, back then, although the information was distressing, we didn't see it happening. It's hard to imagine how any honourable person can stay silent in the face of knowledge like that, backed up by the images and videos we've all seen.
We were informed that our nation's lawyers have now got themselves stuck on what the definitions of 'offensive' as opposed to 'defensive' weapons might be, which seemed to us a sure-fire way of delaying an official call for a halt to UK arms sales to Israel ad infinitum.
In the meantime, local people in Hastings have a 'Friends of Al Mawasi' scheme in the pipeline, and have been talking to folks there and in Khan Younis via zoom. As Grace Lal, co-ordinator of 'Friends of Al Mawasi' said this morning, contacts like that are useful in so many ways, such as giving nurses an opportunity to practice their English, as it's the most likely language they will need to work with the volunteer doctors who come from so many parts of the world to try and help.
Grace is in one of those heart-breaking spells at the moment, where the lines of communication with the nurse she had been talking to have gone silent and in Gaza, whenever that happens, you find yourself thinking 'is she dead?'
Just imagine the vast numbers of refugees from Palestine who have been experiencing that particular pain over their relatives in Gaza and the West Bank for decades, whilst Israel has been pursuing its relentless, murderous, illegal campaign of destruction against the indigenous population.
So – we gathered to support the Hastings Three. Their case, concerning an action outside Genocide Dynamics back in February, has now been adjourned to next year. Thus far, they have been arrested and held for 14 hours, called back for a day in court today for nothing, and now they have to wait another five months to get a hearing. I can't help thinking the establishment strategy is just to waste as much activists' time and energy as they can.
Justice too long delayed is justice denied - Martin Luther King
How many more people are going to die in Palestine before the forces of the establishment stop trying to sabotage us, and turn their attention instead to trying to stop the genocide?
Solidarity to the Hastings Three, and to all the people up and down the land who, each in their own way, are trying to resist the illegal occupation and mass murder that is on-going in Palestine.
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