Europe marks International Day of Solidarity with Palestine
This article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
On November 29, hundreds of thousands marched across Europe in support of Palestine and against government complicity in Israel’s genocide.
The Palestine solidarity movement in Europe again brought record numbers to the streets on the UN’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, November 29, reaffirming demands for an end to government complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine. Hundreds of thousands marched across the region, with demonstrations in London and Rome each reaching an estimated 100,000 participants.
“On this day, people around the world express their support for the inalienable rights that are currently denied to Palestinians: the right to live free from discrimination, the right to self-determination, and the right to return to their lands,” the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) wrote on social media. “Despite this Britain continues to arm Israel and refuses to implement meaningful sanctions or end its diplomatic support. It still provides parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, used to bomb Palestinians in Gaza and maintains contracts with Israeli weapons manufacturers like Elbit Systems.”
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Saturday’s demonstration was the 33rd national march for Palestine in Britain. In addition to local activists, it also welcomed international guests who have stood with Palestinians since the beginning of the genocide, including Belgian MEP Marc Botenga of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA), French parliamentarian Nadège Abomangoli of France Unbowed (LFI), and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. While addressing the crowd in London, they emphasized the internationalist character of the mobilization and echoed demands that could be heard in their home countries around the same time.
As thousands marched in Paris and Dublin, they insisted on the need to continue organizing despite political obstruction and attacks. Irish actor Liam Cunningham, a vocal supporter of Palestine, helped lead Dublin’s demonstration. Responding to artists being de-platformed for speaking out against genocide, he said: “If anyone doesn’t want to employ me because I’ve taken a stand against injustice, against the refusal to give self-determination to a group of people who are politically, culturally on the same track that my country was on for 800 years […] they’re not going to be very good at their job, because they’ve no soul.”
Another recurring message across Europe refused the mainstream media allegation of a “ceasefire” in Gaza. “There’s no ceasefire just because it’s written on a Western media banner,” Cunningham added. “Let’s come up with another word, ‘ceasefire’ is not working.”
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In Italy, the central mobilization followed a successful day of general strike organized by the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB). The march welcomed UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and Freedom Flotilla activists Greta Thunberg and Thiago Ávila. Dockworkers and firefighters affiliated with USB, who have played key roles in earlier protests and faced reprisals for this, also formed notable protest blocs. The response of Italy’s political establishment to growing support for Palestine mirrors that of other European governments: attempting to suppress dissent and insisting that further militarization is the only path forward.
“Today we see what this path has created: a genocide, broadcast live, carried out with the complicity of Western governments; massacres in the Mediterranean; NATO wars; bombs across the world,” said Marta Collot, spokesperson for the left party Potere al Popolo, during the Rome demonstration. “But something has changed too. The September mobilizations, the three general strikes called by USB that brought everything to a halt, and our march today show that they were wrong […] Our demonstration is the message coming from Palestine, from socialist Cuba resisting, from Venezuela. It shows that an alternative path is not only necessary, but that it’s possible.”
“Today there are two Europes,” Marc Botenga emphasized in London. “There is the Europe of the establishment, the Europe of the governments that have funded this genocide, that have supported this genocide, and that are continuing to do so. And then, there’s the other Europe, there’s the Europe that we incarnate here today. That is the Europe of liberation, the Europe that says no to occupation.”
This article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
