“For the first time people in 100s of workplaces, universities & colleges will walk out, protest or rally [&] 3 national unions – the NEU, PCS & UCU – have backed workplace action for Palestine.”
Chris Nineham
By Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook
Workers and students up and down the country will walk from workplaces and places of study in solidarity with the people of Palestine on Wednesday (7 February).
The Stand With Gaza workplace day of action, called by the Stop the War Coalition and CND – and supported by a range of groups including three national trade unions and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign – will involve 30 minute stoppages, early morning and lunchtime protests, student protests, rallies and other actions to put pressure on the British government to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Commenting on the widespread support for the action, Chris Nineham, StWC Vice-Chair said, “It’s shaping up to be the biggest day of action yet,” adding that “for the first-time people in hundreds of workplaces, universities and colleges around the country will walk out, protest or rally [and] three national unions, the NEU, PCS and UCU have backed workplace action for Palestine.”
Supporting the day of action, lecturer and UCU member Christian said, “At a time when universities in Gaza are being bombed, with almost 100 Palestinian academics killed so far, alongside the wider horrors of this act of barbaric state terror by the Israeli government backed by the US and UK, the very least university workers in the UK can do is stand in solidarity with Gaza and refuse to be silent.”
Part of the day of action will also see Media Workers for Palestine protest outside BBC Broadcasting House in Central London, to “demand the media starts telling the truth, that Israel stops killing journalists,” as well as an end to the war.
Speaking to Labour Outlook, a Media Workers For Palestine spokesperson, said “The BBC and much of the Western mainstream media has been silent on Israel’s systematic targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists. Our incredible platform of media workers at tomorrow’s rally outside Broadcasting House certainly won’t be.
We’ve seen CNN journalists this week calling out management editorial policies as systematic and institutional bias within the network towards Israel.
A number of the BBC’s own journalists have accused the corporation of investing greater effort in humanising Israeli victims of the war compared with Palestinians and failing to provide key historical context in its coverage. But their fear of reprisals meant they did so anonymously.
By organising this protest outside the BBC as part of the Stop the War/CND #StandWithGaza workplace day of action, Media Workers for Palestine intends to give them, and all media workers with a conscience, a voice.”
Additionally, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will hold the first of a series of trade union solidarity seminars on Gaza which will hear from Palestinian workers, trade unionists and specialists in key areas, to hear about the current situation and the impact of Israel’s assault against the Palestinian people. The first session will focus on ‘Trade Unions Against the Arms Trade with Israel,’ and emphasising that Palestinian civil society, including dozens of trade unions, has called on the solidarity movement to work for a full military embargo through campaigns to stop arming Israel.
Meanwhile, school and university students will also walkout on Wednesday, with the School Strike for Palestine (SSP.)
Events include a gathering at Victoria Tower Gardens outside Parliament organised by Parents for Palestine, which will feature children’s activities, a picnic, a children’s press conference and speeches.
Those taking part will particularly highlight the many thousands of children being killed by Israel’s bombs, as well as dying from starvation and lack of medical care due.
Students will also be delivering letters to their city and town halls demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for the human rights of Palestinian people to be upheld.
Shabbir Lakha, Stop the War Coalition Officer and one of the organisers of the SSP, said: “Over a week since the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent acts of genocide and to take immediate and effective steps to ensure the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, the mass killing of Palestinians, many thousands of them children, continues.
“Schools and universities have been clamping down on students for supporting the people of Gaza, including referring them to the government’s counter-terrorism programme Prevent, which is an outrageous attack on their democratic rights and civil liberties. It is little wonder that young people up and down the country are determined to make their voices heard.
“We encourage children and adults from all communities to attend Wednesday’s events, and to use their voices to speak for safety, freedom and peace for all.”
- More information on the day of action can be found on the Stop the War Coalition website here.
- Register for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s series of trade union online seminars here.
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