“Let’s be clear: standing with Palestine is not a fringe position. It is a moral imperative. It is a demand for international law, for human rights, for liberation and dignity.”
At the recent ‘Socialism or Barbarism’ Arise Festival Dayschool, BFAWU General Secretary Sarah Woolley stressed the importance of the Palestine movement in keeping the pressure up at a critical time for the Palestinian people. You can read an edited version of her speech published below.
From the Nakba in 1948 to the present-day horror unfolding in Gaza, the Palestinian people have been subjected to a relentless campaign of displacement, oppression, and violence.
The Nakba — the catastrophe — was not a one-off event. It marked the beginning of a systematic effort to erase Palestinian life, identity and land. Over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled, over 500 villages destroyed. That was ethnic cleansing — and it has continued every decade since, by bullets, bulldozers, and brutal policies of apartheid.
Fast forward to Trump’s so-called “peace plan” — a plan that proposed not peace but permanent subjugation. It legitimised illegal settlements, offered no right of return, and tried to reduce Gaza to little more than a fenced-in prison. Palestinians were not even consulted. That wasn’t a peace deal — it was an ultimatum.
Now, we are witnessing a genocide in real time. Tens of thousands of Palestinians killed. Entire neighbourhoods levelled. Children pulled from the rubble. Starvation used as a weapon of war. And while the bombs fall, Trump openly proposes to finish the job — to ethnically cleanse Gaza once and for all. The language of extermination is not being whispered; it’s being shouted.
And what is our government’s response? Shamefully, it is to green-light arms sales. To ship weapons to Israel while its leaders stand accused of war crimes. To parrot lines about Israel’s “right to self-defence” — while a whole population is denied even the right to exist.
So, let’s be clear. Standing with Palestine is not a fringe position. It is a moral imperative. It is a demand for international law, for human rights, for liberation and dignity.
And it’s not just about solidarity — it’s about accountability. We must call for an immediate arms embargo. We must demand justice for war crimes. We must support the grassroots movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Because real peace will only come when there is freedom — and there is no freedom without justice.
As the world watches, we must raise our voices. Not tomorrow. Not when it’s safe. Now. Because to be silent in the face of genocide is to be complicit.
Free Palestine.
- Sarah Woolley is General Secretary of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU): you can follow her on Twitter/X, and the BFAWU on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.
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