Love conquered hate in London on Saturday

A quarter of a million people marched in London on Saturday in solidarity with the Palestinian people on Nakba day and to counter the racist and Islamophobic 'Unite the Kingdom' march organised by Tommy Robinson which took place on the same day and which only drew 35,000 participants.

The Arabic word 'nakba' means 'catastrophe' and is used to describe the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist paramilitaries and later by the IDF after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

Addressing the crowds gathered in Pall Mall at the end of the first march, Jeremy Corbyn MP and leader of Your Party, said: "This is a march of unity, a march of love, a march of all faiths, a march of all religions, a march of people from all over the country [and indeed from all over the world]."

He spoke in front of a sea of flags and banners with their usual mix of wit, pain, artistry and profundity.

Turning to the plight of Palestine today, Mr Corbyn denounced the "Greater Israel Plan" to drive Palestinians into the Sinai, and condemned the increasing of illegal settlements all over the West Bank, along with the theft of water and farms. He said: "Brutal settlers turn up armed by the IDF and start killing villagers in the Palestinian areas in an attempt to drive them out into Jordan.

"And the rest of the World? Some speak up. The Hague Group speaks up, some countries speak up, but some don't - including this one. The complicity will be remembered in history."

Referring to the unpopularity of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mr Corbyn said he didn't know whether there would be a change of leader but there had to be a change of foreign policy towards one of "peace and solidarity" and of "supporting the Palestinian people."

He warned of the real threat of a new Nakba but "the solidarity around the world, the flotilla, the dock workers, the popular movements all around the world are with the people of Palestine and when the history of this period of the twenty-first century is written it will be one of movements of solidarity all over the world, in order to make sure the Palestinian people and their culture are not silenced, not killed and never forgotten. We will never give up, we will never go away."

Addressing the "billionaire-backed" march of "Robinson and his mates" going down Whitehall, Mr Corbyn said, to cheers, "Your message of hate, your message of abuse to refugees, to asylum seekers, to human beings who are suffering the most grotesque injustice in the world, those people tomorrow will be our neighbours, they'll be our friends, they'll be our doctors, they'll be our teachers, they'll be our train drivers. They will be part of our community.

"To those in Reform and the far right that do so much to attack us all and attack our communities, your hatred can succeed in dividing people, but your hatred will not build one council house, will not improve one hospital, will not teach one child, will not end somebody's homeless life on the streets of London.

"The only thing that can change that is a change of economic, social, and international policy - that's what brings us together."

Hossam Madhoun, a Gazan theatre-maker, spoke passionately of the "shame" in allowing the European legacy of international human rights, humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions to be "destroyed under Israeli bombs and crushed by Israeli criminals now in Gaza."

He said: "Allowing a genocide in any place on Earth is a disgraceful scar on the face of humanity. The silence and complicity of so many in Europe with the genocide is a shame and a disgrace."

He concluded by paraphrasing the famous Meditation "No man is an island" by John Donne: "The pain of one human is the pain of every human. So I end with not only free Palestine, but free humanity."

Gazan journalist Hala Hanina was wearing a beautiful dress which she said, "contained the story of the Nakba." It had been hand-stitched by five sisters in the Strip who were all killed in an Israeli bombardment in December 2024. The sisters were displaced refugees and the daughters of refugees.

Ms Hanina said that there was no ceasefire but that the genocide continued with an average of four Gazans being killed every day, including her relatives. "We are here for Palestine, for every refugee, for the 9,100 Palestinian hostages kidnapped and tortured by the Israelis. A colonial state committing genocide, torture, war crimes and mass imprisonment must not be allowed."

Speaking on behalf of the Jewish bloc, Talia Woodin said: "I am proud to be part of a Jewish tradition that stands with the oppressed. I'm following in the footsteps of my great-grandparents who more than a hundred years ago resisted Zionism through the Jewish Labour Bund.

"My Judaism is the Judaism of truth and justice, rooted in the anti-fascist tradition which knows that no-one is free until all are free. Our place has always been and will always be with you in solidarity, fighting for collective liberation.

"As we march together to commemorate the tragedy of the Nakba and stand against the far right, our politicians and media claim that our movement is motivated by hate but we know that our resistance is rooted in so much love they couldn't even comprehend it.

"If any of our so-called leaders truly cared about fighting anti-semitism, they would see that it is impossible to do so without also fighting racism, fascism and Zionism."

Ms Woodin said: "The violence which saw my grandmother's entire family murdered in the Holocaust is the same violence of the far right who are currently marching through our streets. Shame on the Met Police for oppressing this march and privileging the vile cronies of Robinson and Farage.

"Shame on our government for its denial of 78 years of ongoing Nakba, for the thousands of Palestinian homes depopulated and destroyed, the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians ethnically cleansed, and for every single life brutally stolen over the past two and a half years of genocide.

"The fight against Zionism is the fight against fascism. We will resist in our streets, in our synagogues, through our universities to the picket lines, from our home to the factories. As British Jews, we will not surrender our identity, history and culture to the Zionist state or yield to the interests of power-hungry politicians, defence companies or any arm of corporate capitalism. We will not allow our neighbours to be scapegoated and sacrificed on the altar of imperialism in our name. We have nothing to lose but our chains. Shabbat Shalom and free Palestine!"

Stephen Kapos who survived the Holocaust in Hungary declared that the Israeli state and imperialist-enabling regimes, the UK among them, "are not only humiliating the Palestinian people but also us, the entire world. The entire world is condemned to watch virtually paralysed this ongoing genocide. It is destructive and painful to a nearly unbearable extent, and we must not tolerate it any more."

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and the UK's first black female MP, applauded everyone present for coming out in such large numbers to oppose the far right racists who were "viciously anti-black, anti-Muslim and anti-semitic."

Three France Unbowed deputies hailed the London crowd. Flanked by her colleagues Jérôme Legavre and Thomas Portes, and speaking in excellent English, Claire Lejeune denounced the 'constant trampling of international law and human rights' in Palestine where now a 'genocide is being witnessed by the whole world.' She lamented, "The people who hold the power to stop it are turning a blind eye." But she warned that justice would come after all the war criminals.

She and her fellow deputies pledged solidarity "because on both sides of the Channel the Palestinian movement is being oppressed. The same shameful accusations are being made to delegitimise us. On both sides of the Channel, we have governments complicit in the genocide. And on both sides of the Channel, we have the same racist clowns. But on both sides of the Channel, people are fighting fascism and laying the foundations for a whole new world."

Just as he had done two years earlier, John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, recited once more the hugely poignant poem 'If I must die' by the Gazan poet Dr Refaat Alareer who was killed in an airstrike on 9th December, 2023. The poem describes how a bereaved child sees a kite flying on high and 'thinks for a moment an angel is there/bringing back love'.

Mr McDonnell said: "For all of you marching for nearly three years now, you bring people hope. Keep coming, keep marching, until we secure justice and peace for Palestine and the Palestinian people."

As ever, the march was conducted peacefully and with a strong presence from several Jewish groups. There was general consternation at the cynical and defamatory accusations of 'hate marches' levelled by pro-Zionist politicians and their media outlets with even the BBC generally not calling out this inaccuracy. Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has also come in for strong criticism.

On 1st May, he claimed in an interview with The Times that organisers of pro-Palestine marches had repeatedly proposed routes intending to pass synagogues, which he said, 'feels like antisemitism.' The Palestine Coalition called on Sir Mark Rowley to retract his remarks, saying that none of the 36 pro-Palestine marches held since October 2023 had intended to pass synagogues as an objective. On 6th May, they reported Sir Mark to the Mayor's Office and the police watchdog, saying that he had acted in a racially discriminatory way in inferring that protests against fundamental violations of international law by Israel and by Britain were antisemitic.

Two very small counter-demonstrations by pro-Zionists took place along the route march which started in South Kensington's Museum quarter and progressed through Knightsbridge and along Piccadilly. At one of these near Hyde Park, the anti-Zionist Haredi from north London staged their own counter-counter-demonstration while an Arab gentleman of a certain age danced with panache and elegance to the exuberant and energetic anthem Dammi Falastini to the delight of those marching.

The Christian bloc held a liturgy prior to the march which included these prayers by Palestinian Christians:

"God of Justice, embolden those who love peace in Jerusalem and beyond to stand firm against all ideologies of violence and racism.

We pray for the day that all may have the right to worship and live freely without dehumanization.

We are reminded of the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit whenever we gather in unity to organise and act in solidarity.

Lord, we look for your presence underneath the rubble and destruction in Lebanon and Gaza. We pray for the healing of the millions displaced and thousands injured.

As we continue to cry for justice, help the world act to stop the violence and bloodshed and make peace a reality in our region."