Yemen stands in solidarity with Palestine
The following speech was provided by SPSC Aberdeen branch member, Cathal, at our Barclays demo of February 10th.
Good Morning, for those that don’t know me I’m Cathal and here today as a member of the communist party and staunchly against this country’s on going aggressions.
For over a week now, this country and America have launched five rounds of aerial aggression across Yemen. Yemen is the poorest state in the Arab world and is only starting to emerge from a decade of civil war and famine, brought about by Saudi aggression and blockade. This latest British crime lengthens her already long and shameful history of transgressions against the Yemeni people. From the arming of the aforementioned Saudi terror campaign, the brutal repression of independence movements in the sixties and the long exploitation of ‘Aden Crown Colony’.
In our all too compliant media, we hear how the Anglo alliance smears Yemens actions with baseless accusations of Pirate, Terrorist and the supposedly ominous sounding ‘Iranian backed Houiti proxies’. This aggression of word and deed is in direct response to the blockade imposed on the red sea by AnsarAllah, as the Yemeni movement calls itself. This is a blockade is of any Israeli owned or bound ships passing through the red sea .Vessels of all other nations can, and do, pass by undisturbed. Yemen will lift this blockade when but one simple demand is satisfied – Israel will stop the Genocide. Until this most basic of demands is met , they will continue. In America and Britain they have seen how this has made the stock prices of their shipping and oil companies tumble, companies like Shell who this bank majorly backs. This has driven them to intervene. Not on the side of history, or of law, or of morals but instead on the side of profits and destruction . When faced with an action to stop a genocide, this country has intervened on the side of Genocide.
The Yemeni’s remain steadfast and unbowed however. They stand in Solidarity with their oppressed brothers and sisters in Palestine. They understand the power of actions taken in solidarity and how solidarity across nations can defeat imperialism and it’s injustices. Just as Cuba beat back the forces of Apartheid from Angola and Namibia, Yemen does it’s part to aid those resisting oppression and genocide in Palestine. This right to resistance is enshrined in U.N resolution 37/43, which affirms the legitimacy of resistance to ‘colonial and foreign domination and occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.’ The methods of protest, hunger strike and intifada have all been brutally repressed by the Zionist regime. This is why the resistance in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon act in solidarity with the righteous factions of the Palestinian resistance. They too understand that merely speaking to a coloniser is , to paraphrase Kanafani, a conversation between the sword and the neck.
The solidarity can and must extend beyond the Arab world however, the Palestinians themselves have stood side by side with my own people. Here in Britain we must stand in Solidarity also. Stand in Solidarity against apartheid profiteers like Barclays. Stand in Solidarity against the reactionary Murdoch press and the libelous BBC and stand in Solidarity against this government and say simply, No more pounds for genocidal, imperialist wars ! Long Live Palestine