SPSC Aberdeen speech for Aberdeen May Day rally 2022
Kate Ramsden spoke at Aberdeen’s May Day rally on May 7th, on behalf of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Aberdeen.
Thank you so much for inviting us to speak here today.
The theme of International Workers’ Day this year is peace
and prosperity for all and that is all that the people of
Palestine want.
Since the Nakba – the catastrophe in 1948 – when many
were driven from their homes and their lands, to become
refugees in their own country or across the world, the
Palestinian people have had neither peace nor prosperity.
Oppression and occupation at the hands of the Israeli
government has blighted the lives of generations of
Palestinians.
Poverty is rampant across Palestine, and in the Gaza Strip
after years of an Israeli blockade and bombardments, it has
risen to 59 percent.
An Amnesty International report published this year has
confirmed what has been obvious to many of us for many
years.
That Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination
against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over
their rights, amounting to apartheid under international law
The General Secretary of Amnesty International said:
“Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of
the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an
inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their
rights.
“We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation,
dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its
control clearly amount to apartheid. The international
community has an obligation to act”.
There has rightly been condemnation of Russia’s
bombardment of cities in Ukraine and the murder of civilians.
We stand with the people of Ukraine.
And we share the grief of the international community that
children are amongst the dead
Children with their whole lives in front of them – children
that could be yours or mine.
It may surprise you then to know that 86 Palestinian children
were killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory during 2021
making last year the deadliest year on record for Palestinian
children since 2014.
And don’t forget that during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in
2014 526 children were killed over 50 days of bombing.
Children playing on the beach, children sheltering in a UN
school, children sleeping in their beds in apartment buildings
Not terrorists, just ordinary children, terrified to sleep in case
they never woke up.
Add to that the 160 children currently imprisoned by Israel in
direct contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child and you have to wonder why the West is not up in
arms about it – calling out the government of Israel for war
crimes the way they have Putin.
Could it be the UK’s 387 million pounds arms trade with
Israel? It seems that this Tory government’s moral compass is
totally aligned with big business and cares little for human or
children’s rights.
We see that in this country with their demonisation of poor
people and the creation of a low wage economy.
Their foreign policy has even less care and compassion and
they are happy to pit poor people against each other whilst
the rich grow even richer.
They are happy to put profits from arms sales before human
and children’s rights.
But just as it was ordinary people and the trade unions that
ended apartheid in South Africa and created the basis for
peace in that country through a boycott of South African
goods, so we must embrace boycott, divestment and
sanctions against Israel.
Just as this government has implemented sanctions against
Russia to put pressure on them to end their invasion of
Ukraine and sue for peace, so we should be demanding they
do the same to Israel to protect and support the Palestinians
and end the oppression, occupation and apartheid that they
suffer.
We must keep the plight of the Palestinian people high on
the agenda and as trade unionists, citizens and individuals,
throw our weight behind BDS.
Please do not buy Israeli goods and do not use banks that
trade with companies that support Israel.
In Aberdeen we have a proud history of international
solidarity and of support for the people of Palestine.
Let’s keep that up and do our bit to make sure that the
Palestinian people are able to enjoy both peace and
prosperity.
Greetings on International Workers’ Day comrades.