by New Worker correspondent
Camden Friends of Palestine successfully organised 'Camden Gaza Week' to maintain and increase knowledge of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and to continue calls for UK politicians to put pressure on the Israeli government to stop the killings.
Kentish Town was chosen as the venue for the seven day programme of protests, solidarity and educational events, as it is the home of Labour leader Keir Starmer, the local MP who notoriously said that Israel has "the right" to block water, food and electricity to Gaza. This is in addition to his purge of left wing Labour party members, and of Palestine supporters, including Jewish members. More Jewish Labour Party members have been expelled under Starmer's watch than under any other leader. Starmer has welcomed defections from Tory MPs with open arms, while withdrawing the Labour Party whip from Jeremy Corbyn causing Corbyn to stand as an independent at this election.
An information stall ran from 8:00 to 20:00 each day and each evening at 18:00 an event took place, with a range of speakers over the week from former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, who is running as an independent candidate against Starmer at this election, to journalists and musicians in Gaza, to UK based support groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour, students from the University student encampments and even Queer Solidarity with Palestine. There was also a separate 'Irish 4 Palestine' event on the final Sunday afternoon.
There is a petition asking the local Camden Council to divest any pension or any other investment funds from Israel, which gained hundreds of signatures over the week. Overall the general response from members of the public was overwhelmingly supportive of the group's actions and events, in line with opinion polls showing up to 80 per cent in favour of a ceasefire. The few negative responses either came from strong supporters of Israel or right wingers.
Sadly the events were increasingly targeted over the week by organised supporters of the Zionist regime, and between Monday and Thursday, the evening events were subject to major attempts at disruption by large groups of well known Israel supporters combined with members of the far-right. In the daytimes, supporters had regular visits from local fascists, usually behaving in threatening and aggressive ways until moved on by the police. The police, who were also present during the week in increasing numbers failed ,despite promises and repeated requests, to maintain a secure area between the Palestine supporters and the Zionists and racists.This led to repeated and unnecessary confrontations.
The police also maintained a practice of applying different standards to the two sides, as has been seen on many demonstrations, allowing provocateurs more or less free rein, and punishing anyone who responds to them.
Despite this imbalanced policing, the number of arrests on both sides each night was small. One Zionist was arrested for chanting 'Kapo' repeatedly at Jewish speakers talking about the Holocaust, including Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos who lives locally and is a very strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. Palestine supporters who were arrested were all released within 12 hours and without charge. Itai Galmudy, the leader of pro-Israel organisation Enough is Enough was present and arrested one evening, and also released without charge.
There is a flower stall next to the area the Gaza Week took place, and this flower stall was the subject of an article and interview in the Jewish Chronicle alleging vandalism and intimidation that simply never happened. The organisers were happy to view this as another successful sign for what all involved considered a very successful event.
