Keep up solidarity with Palestine (Pic: Socialist Worker)
Palestine solidarity activists were set to lobby Labour MP Ian Austin’s surgery in Dudley on Friday of this week.
It comes after Dudley council worker Paul Jonson was reportedly suspended from work for describing Israel as a “racist endeavour”.
Paul posted the statement, “Israel is a racist endeavour” on Facebook while promoting a previous lobby at Austin’s surgery.
Under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism calling Israel a racist endeavour could be considered antisemitic.
This makes it harder for activists to highlight the racist nature of the Israeli state, or to describe its expulsion of Palestinians as ethnic cleansing.
Student action blocked on campuses
Students at universities across Britain had a day of campaigning in support of Palestinians and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign last Thursday.
Yet at some campuses students found it difficult to organise, or action was subdued.
Student activists have come under a sustained campaign by supporters of Israel on campus to make it harder to organise in solidarity with Palestinians. In many cases Israel supporters have used the IHRA definition to pressure universities and student unions into cancelling activities.
In Wolverhampton the student union told activists from the Labour, Palestine and Socialist Worker Student societies that they could not hold campaign stalls in the union building.
They were not given a clear reason. Socialist Worker students held a stall anyway.
Follow us
Become a fan
RSS Feed