Category Archives: Protest

Campaign, Protest, Uncategorized

Three Days of action this weekend 5th to 7th April

As Israel pleads the ‘most moral army in the world’ has made a terrible mistake when it has killed some white people, let us make sure the voice for Palestine is heard clearly in Sheffield.

When the complicit and racist governments of the West try to unglue themselves from being seen holding the bloody hands of the Israeli government, let us make sure the voice for Palestine is heard clearly in Sheffield.

When Suella Braverman, the arch backer of genocide, declares with no understanding of the deep irony ‘this is the time to stand with Israel if we believe in democracy and human rights’ let us make sure the voice for Palestine is heard clearly in Sheffield.

Join us on

  • Friday at the train station, for a protest and then the weekly moving tribute to the most targeted group of workers, Gazan health workers;
  • on Saturday in front of the Town Hall for a rally at midday
  • on Sunday to cheer on Sheffield Half Marathon runners who are running for Gaza look out for their signs and wave flags: we are suggesting a couple of places 1/ bottom of Knowle Lane as they turn right off Ecclesall Rd South on the way out. Runners will be coming past there from about 9.50 onwards. 2/ Charter Row, near the junction with Fitzwilliam St from about 10.30 onwards.
Protest

ACTIONS IN SHEFFIELD FOR EASTER WEEKEND

Israel’s six months of continuous bombardment of Gaza has caused the deathbof over 32,000 people, a third of them children. And 74,400, mostly civilians, have been injured. The survivors live in tents and face famine.

On 26th January, the International Court of Justice, on finding plausible South Africa’s argument that Israel was carrying out genocide, ordered Israel to take a series of measures to prevent further harm to civilians. Since the Court’s preliminary ruling, Israeli bombing has killed thousands more. This is not a war against Hamas but against the Palestinian people.

In the West Bank, and particularly in East Jerusalem, where Israel can’t claim the pretext that Hamas is a major threat, Israel has stepped up the
demolitions of Palestinians homes and, in rural areas, with its army’s active support, Israeli settlers have been attacking and forcibly evicting Palestinian farmers to seize their land and livestock.

Rally with us on Saturday 30th March to protest against this continuing injustice of killing, displacement, and land grab that has been happening for over 75 years.

Protest

Council Update

“our clear intention is to issue a cross party statement of solidarity in line with the petition.” (Tom Hunt council leader)

The presentation of the petition to the council on March 8th was met with a decision by the Full Council not to vote on the petition itself.

So , on Tuesday 12th March, we returned, this time to the Strategy and Resources Committee, to pursue this vital matter on behalf of the 7,500 and more people who signed the petition.

 We asked key questions and here is a very brief summary of the replies:

Q1. When and how will the petition be discussed by Strategy and Resources?

Not on April 12th meeting which falls within the purdah period (too close to local elections) and the issue is deemed “politically sensitive” but as soon as possible after the elections.

It will be considered in its separate component parts and the Committee with reach a decision on each part. Officers will need to give the Committee advice on matters such as legality.

Q2. When will the Cross-Party Group meet to draft the statement of “unity and solidarity” with Palestine, (as Sheffield Council did for Ukraine) and who will be on that Group?

This group will meet as soon as is possible, aiming to do so before the local elections.The group will be the party leaders: Tom Hunt (Labour), Shaffaq Mohammed (Lib Dem), Douglas Johnson (Green) and Diane Hurst (Sheffield Community Councillors group).

Tom Hunt assured us the group would not be partisan in any way.

the flag being flown by protesters on the town hall shortly after the assault on Gaza in 2023

Q3. Why is the flying of the Palestinian flag not included in the new Flag Policy being introduced by the Council, in particular, why is it not being flown on the United Nations Day of Solidarity with Palestine on November 29th, as has been done in the past?

The Palestinian flag will not be flown, in line with the new policy.

NOTE:  We are keeping up the pressure on our Council and will continue to do so. A good number of people came inside the meeting in support and a group outside kept up their chants, all of which could be heard inside as the meeting progressed.

The encouraging comment made by Tom Hunt, cited at the top of this short report is important and we trust this will be the case – never was a statement of solidarity needed more than in the midst of this genocide. We look forward to reading it!

Protest

STAND WITH PALESTINE! 23rd March rally

Join us at the amphitheatre behind Sheffield station on 23rd for a massive displays of flags to show solidarity with Palestine.

This is a South Yorkshire wide rally and march to the City Hall where we will have speakers from Sheffield PSC and other SY and Derbyshire groups.

Large flags (bring your own poles to raise them high) & medium flags available on the day: special event price £3/donation. Small flags free for children.

Campaign, Protest

Solidarity events 15th and 16th March

Join us please for two solidarity events this weekend. with people forced to starvation in the North of Gaza and the constant threat of a land force invasion of Rafah we must continue to stand with Palestinian people.

In particular the boycott action at Waitrose is essential. They have taken a commercialist position without morals. They seem to be happy to be complicit with a genocide we are witnessing today.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Campaign, Protest

Questions to Strategy and Resources Committee March 12th

As we have reported elsewhere the council has tried to duck any action and responsibility for setting a moral climate in this city by referring the petition signed by 7500 people to the Strategy and Resources Committee.

We are sending three questions to Strategy and Resources Committee March 12th 2024:

Question One

As we understand it, Strategy and Resources is the committee charged with debating matters of “significant strategic importance” and for considering “any policy matter not otherwise allocated to a committee.”

In the light of this, we note that the drafting of a statement of unity and solidarity, agreed in full Council on March 6th, has not been referred to a committee per se, but to a “cross-party group”. Our questions relate to that group.

  • When will this group meet?
  • What is the composition of that group to be?

Matters pertaining to the composition of the group:

In a previous cross-party group of three, a decision was taken by two of the three members to fly the Israeli flag on October 10th 2023. Other West Yorkshire Councils chose to fly the peace flag, so discretion was an option.

  • Would it be appropriate to reconvene only this group of three, given a past decision by two of them to adopt a partisan position?
  • Would it be appropriate to include a member who said on March 6th (inter alia)” …Passing a resolution at Sheffield City Council in November didn’t bring about a ceasefire… If you really think that passing a resolution is going to change the situation on the ground, I have to disagree with you.” ?

Does this committee agree that those utterances suggest a lack of understanding of:

  • the central importance of statements of moral leadership to the role of elected representatives?
  • the way that this builds confidence in the electorate that those elected to serve have high moral integrity?

Can we assure petitioners that the composition of the cross-party group will be made up of members who:

  • inspire confidence that they are equal to the task and understand the clear brief of producing a “statement of unity and solidarity with the Palestinian people”
  • Reflect the supportive tone of Councillors’ contributions in the chamber on March 6th?

Question Two

At the full Council meeting on March 6th , the petition signed by some 7,500 people was discussed. After some intense and revealing debate, it was decided to refer the petition to this committee. Petitioners expressed strong concerns about further delays to the Council’s response to this important petition. They had no option but to
contrast the numerous supportive measures, offered without let or hindrance by the Council, to the Ukrainian people, clearly demonstrated on the city Council’s website.

Unnecessary delays will exacerbate concerns about what is seen as the Council’s selective morality when it comes to some sorely oppressed people, in contrast to others, like Ukrainians.

Community cohesion, often referred to as a priority by Council leadership, cannot be achieved by failure to oppose genocide, apartheid or by flagrant double standards on whose lives we value.

This committee now has the weighty responsibility of discussing further the petition. Our questions today require urgent answers which must then be communicated to the large number of petitioners.

  • What is the time frame for this discussion?
  • Will the matter be tabled for the April 17 th meeting, the agenda of which has not yet been set?
  • How will that discussion be structured? E.g. Will the Strategy and Resources committee consider each element of the petition separately and also reach a determination on them separately (as we understood from comments in Full Council ) ?
  • Will the Strategy and Resources Committee undertake to reach a full decision on all the petition’s elements within that meeting

Question Three

I note that this committee is today considering a report recommending a new flag protocol, and that the report contains a number of days which will be marked by specific flags being flown each year. I note the absence from that list of the United Nations Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, marked on November 29th each year.

General Assembly resolution 32/40B, passed in December 1977, introduced the day of solidarity, and the UN has marked the day ever since. The UN resolution also encourages Member states to continue to give the widest support and publicity to the observance of the day of solidarity.

Some of you may not be aware that Sheffield City council flew the Palestinian flag on 29th November each year between 1995 and 2000 but has failed to do so since then.

Recently the leader of the Council has reaffirmed that the Council recognises the State of Palestine. If this is to mean anything at all, it is surely time for the Council to commit to fly the Palestinian flag each November 29th. Will this committee agree to do so?

Campaign, Protest

Press release: council refuses to vote on petition

Yesterday we presented the petition signed by at least 7500 people both online and on paper, but the council at the behest of leaders and advice of senior officers, hid behind procedural barriers to avoid having to face the strength of support on this issue and delegated the issue to the Strategy and Resources Committee.

Below is the press release issued by Sheffield  Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid as a result of this cowardly approach.

Here are questions being sent by the Coalition to the Strategy and Resources Committee.

PRESS RELEASE: Sheffield City Council sells itself short

Sheffield City Council was presented with a petition this afternoon calling on them to stand in unity and solidarity with Palestinians currently faced with a genocidal assault in Gaza following years of living under occupation by Israel which Amnesty International, among several international organisations, has designated an apartheid state.

“Supporting the International Court of Justice ruling on genocide, accepting Amnesty’s designation of Israel as practising apartheid, and issuing a statement of unity and solidarity with Palestinians is the next crucial moral step which recognises the reality of life in Palestine and the legally incontrovertible explanations for it.  That would be a major step.” Annie O’Gara summing up in support of the petition.

The petition was signed by over 7,500 people, collected in less than two weeks; it represents the overwhelming view of Sheffield citizens

Offered this opportunity, the Council neglected their duty to set a moral climate, hiding behind narrow legalistic “advice” which they couldn’t adequately explain. But even this advice would have allowed them to make a decision in “exceptional” circumstances. What more “exceptional circumstances” do they need than genocide in Gaza?

As Jonny Feldman said in presenting the petition “For these reasons the council must step up and not be silent. Do not betray your humanity, your basic decency by looking the other way or by kow-towing to external pressures and then pretending that what is happening is justifiable”.

That is precisely what the leadership of the Council then did. Every speech from the floor of the Council gave moving and powerful support to the petition and in favour of accepting it.  As Councillor Peter Price said, in his last meeting after 53 years as a Councillor, said: “if this was Russia we’d be screaming the room down…. I don’t accept that we don’t have influence. Our history is built on this Council taking leads, whether it’s on apartheid or Vietnam, always took a stance and made a statement. It doesn’t change the world but it helped to change minds”.

But the leaders, the Lord Mayor, and senior officers of the Council called an adjournment and then instructed all Councillors, except the Greens, to kick the discussion into the long grass by referring it to the Strategy and Resources Committee that next meets in June! How many more Palestinians have to die before they can decide that this is genocide?

“At the end of their joint statement on Ukraine, the 3 party leaders said the Town Hall would be lit in Ukrainian colours and promised Sheffield will do all it can to “be a light in the darkness.” How dark does life for Palestinians have to get before you do the same for Palestine? You can do it today” said Annie O’Gara speaking to the Council today.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sheffield-council-stand-with-palestine
Cultural event, Protest

International Women’s Day: Solidarity Camp, 8th March

Following on from our other justice now camps, there will be camp a further Peace and Justice Now Camp in order to celebrate International Women’s Day to stand in solidarity with Palestinian Women.

Please join us :

Sheffield Peace Gardens on Friday 8th March between 3pm and 8pm

  • 2.45 establish our ‘Peace & Justice Now’ Camp in Peace Gardens
  • From 3pm: Decorating the ‘Peace & Justice Now’ Camp….
  • Activities for children & adults with Sheffield Creative Action for Peace (including making Birds of Gaza)
  • 3.30pm Tadhamon Solidarity Choir
  • 4pm Students arrive, marching from campus with their Birds of Gaza
  • 4.15pm Sahar & Lena, with Janet & June: song for children killed in Gaza:
  • Yoma mweil el hawa.
  • 4.45 – 5pm: poetry and song from Seni Seneviratne, inc poems by Hiba Abu Nada – a poet who was killed with her son in October
  • 5 pm Reading by Sahar of ‘The Shawl of Grief’
  • 5.15-6pm Open session: Contributions from women & girls of song & poetry for Palestine welcomed, especially a poem from 11 year old Amna Khan.
  • 6pm Light up the Peace Gardens: Bring night lights/candles & flags
  • 6.30pm Special guest from Gaza: Dr Mona El Farrah
  • And Health Workers for Palestine Vigil
  • 7.30 – 8pm Singing and close of camp

Please circulate these flyers