People of Aberdeen gather to show solidarity and honour those killed in recent attacks
On Saturday, August 13th, 2022, people of Aberdeen and surrounding areas came together to engage with the wider public and to commemorate the loss of innocent Palestinian lives in recent weeks, particularly the 16 children killed by Israeli strikes. The mood was one of sadness, and anger that nothing has changed as a result of this or previous brutal bombings of a besieged Gazan population. A ceasefire has been agreed, but the status quo of apartheid and occupation continue unabated.
Speakers read poems and shared Scottish PSC’s statement on the recent attacks, which highlighted the hypocrisy of the Scottish and UK government’s response compared to the strong “boycott” stance following Russian’s recent invasion of Ukraine. There were calls on the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to take action against Israel, and for Councils across Scotland to divest from companies doing business with apartheid Israeli. Kate Ramsden, pro-Palestinian and trade union activist, gave the speech below, before lighting candles for the 16 children killed.
Speech - Kate Ramsden, SPSC Aberdeen
We are here once again to protest Israel’s bombing of Gaza. Ordinary people, compassionate people, doing what Western government’s have failed to do. Stand against Israel’s apartheid and oppression of the Palestinian people and demand an end to it.
Gaza is 25 miles long by 3.7 miles wide and is home to 756,000 people. It has been subject to Israeli blockade since 2007.
Last week Israel bombed Gaza for three days. 47 people were killed, including 16 children.
In such a small area with so many people there was never any doubt there would be civilian casualties. Israel called it a pre-emptive strike against Jihadi leaders, but how can that be justified under international law when it results in the murder of innocents?
And this is only the latest in a long line of atrocities, perpetrated by Israel against a Gazan population with nowhere to run. Since 2008 Israel has waged four wars on Gaza, killing 4000 civilians, one quarter of them children.
Yet the international community turns a blind eye – or worse, defends Israel’s right to defend itself. What, by the killing of children? By oppression, occupation and the blockade of Gaza. By subjugation and intimidation? Well, not in my name.
Compare the outrage at Russia’s attack on Ukraine with the silence, or mealy mouthed reporting in the West of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. The unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s killing of the children of Ukraine with the disregard of Israel’s crimes in Gaza.
There is no justification for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and their murder of children.
We are here today to call on the governments at Westminster and Holyrood to unequivocally condemn Israel for their oppression of the people of Palestine and their murder of Palestinian children.
Children who could be your children or mine. 16 children with their whole lives ahead of them, dead at the hands of Israel. Children from the same families wiped out. It’s heartbreaking.
And the children left behind who live in terror of the next attack by Israel. Who mourn the loss of friends, brothers and sisters and know that the next time it could be them.
We demand action from Western governments. We demand they end their complicity in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians and their killing, maiming and imprisonment of Palestinian children.
We call on all of you to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel and to support petitions demanding our governments end their arm trade with Israel and their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes.
We stand here to demand freedom and justice for Palestine. But also to mourn the death of these 16 innocent children and of all the other children killed, maimed and imprisoned by Israel.
Here are their names and we will light a candle for each one:
Jamil Najm al-Deen Naijm,4
Alaa Abdullah Riyad Qaddoum, 5
Momen al-Nairab, 5
Haneen Abu Qaida, 8
Hazem Salem, 9
Ahmed Yasser Nimr al-Nabaheen, 9
Ahmad al-Nairab, 11
Jamil Ihab Najim, 13
Muhammad Yasser Nimr al-Nabaheen, 13
Dalia Yasser Nimr al-Nabaheen, 13
Mohammed Hassouna, 14
Hamed Haider Najim, 16
Nazmi Fayez Abu Karsh, 16
Ahmed Walid al-Farram, 16
Mohammed Salah Naijm, 17
Khalil Abu Hamada, 18
Tommy Campbell, trade union and Palestine solidarity activist, ended the rally with two poems.
Breaking the silence, by Timothy McCord
There’s come a time
when it becomes a crime
to speak truth of another’s.
When false claims damage good names
and cause an outcry:
the baying for blood and broken bones
so others are shown, beyond doubt,
how fast the axe can fall.
And each claim that cynically aims
to wound and defame
helps secure the silence
surrounding the violence
suffered and sustained.
Yet if you care to listen,
you can still hear the calls,
behind barriers,
check-points and prison walls:
a demand for freedom that must echo
and echo across different shores,
for silence to be broken
so truth can be heard.
Perhaps then will the bells
for justice chime, and the blight
of apartheid, from river to sea,
be cut out like a cancer
and the deep wounds healed.
Comrades, by Eva Gore Booth
The peaceful night that round me flows,
Breaks through your iron prison doors,
Free through the world your spirit goes,
Forbidden hands are clasping yours.
The wind is our confederate,
The night has left her doors ajar,
We meet beyond earth’s barred gate,
Where all the world’s wild Rebels are.