Photography Without Borders

Unison workers in support of Phoenix creche and nursery, under risk of closure. Photo © Josh Jones / Photography Without Borders 2010

Workers, students and young people of Brighton gathered today to March for Jobs. The aptly named protest opposed public sector cuts and job losses. The demonstration marched Brighton city centre for one hour, with chants such as ‘Students, and workers, unite and fight.’

The protest comes in the wake of two student occupations at Sussex University, proposed public sector job cuts in Brighton, and promises by both the major political parties to make nationwide cut-backs in public services.

Workers, students and children marching by the Clock Tower in Brighton centre. Photo © Josh Jones / Photography Without Borders 2010

'Organise, occupy, fight for the right to work': chants on the day supported militant action against opposed public sector cutbacks. Photo © Josh Jones / Photography Without Borders 2010

Photo © Josh Jones / Photography Without Borders 2010

1417: London remembers the dead. Photo © Josh Jones 2010

People from all over the United Kingdom came to London today to remember the 1417 Palestinians who died in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip one year ago.

‘This is not only to remember the dead’, one speaker announced, ‘but also to protest at Israel’s ongoing policy of occupation.’

The planned ‘die-in’ protest at Trafalgar Square was instead held as a minute’s silence, due to wet weather. Each attendee held up the name of one person who died in the assault, to emphasise that the victims were individuals and not just part of a statistic. Of the 1417 Palestinians killed, up to 1181 are thought to have been civillians.

Photo © Josh Jones 2010

Photo © Josh Jones

Photo © Josh Jones

Photo © Josh Jones

Photo © Josh Jones

Students at the University of Sussex have received messages of support from Palestinian grassroots organisations and Israeli and Jewish academics, following a decision by ballot to boycott Israeli goods.

The boycott referendum was in one of the best attended and closest contested in Sussex Student Union’s history, and the final result mandates the Union to remove all Israeli food produce from its stores.

The decision has received support from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, the grassroots Palestinian committee formed out of the campaign to boycott Israel in 2007. Speaking on behalf of its 23 member organisations, a spokesperson said that Sussex’s decision was significant as part of the international movement:

‘The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) salutes Sussex University students for their decision to boycott Israeli goods.

‘Student movements played a key role in ending Apartheid in South Africa. Today, we call on students across the globe to boycott Israeli products and divest from Israel until it complies with fundamental human rights principles and international law.’

Sussex students campaigning on campus. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

Elsewhere, the boycott at Sussex has come under fire, with the Jewish Chronicle lamenting it as an assault on ‘the Jewish state’. The result has also sparked an online backlash on Facebook from some pro-Israel and non-affiliated students at Sussex.

Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli academics critical of the occupation of Palestine have shown their support. The scholar Norman G. Finkelstein commented,

It is heartening that Sussex students are actively engaged in ending the inhuman and illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. I consider this a victory not for Palestinians but for truth and justice.

Let us hope it transmits the message to Israel that it should end the occupation so that Palestinians can lead a decent life and amicable relations can be restored between Israelis and other peoples.

Dr Ronit Lentin, Senior Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, also sent her support to Sussex students:

As a citizen of the State of Israel, and as an oppositionist Jew, I believe that boycotting is the most efficient non-violent strategy to motivate the Israeli state and Israeli citizens to re-think the occupation policy.

Non-governmental organisations campaigning for Human Rights have shown a similar response to the Sussex boycott. The UK charity War on Want sent its congratulations, with Yasmin Khan, Senior Campaigns Officer (Economic Justice), stating:

Palestinians have suffered under the Israeli repression for 61 years, during which time governments all over the world have allowed Israel to act with impunity. It is time for this to change.

The Boycott movement could be just the thing to finally bring justice to Palestine.

Messages of support were also received from the Palestinian grassroots organisation Stop the Wall, and the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, in Bethlehem.

Following a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision follows the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, which calls upon the Israeli state to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine.

Students of Sussex Palestine Society and Stop The War Coalition. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

The referendum result mandates the Students’ Union to remove all Israeli produce from its stores, and review its sources for food outlets. This makes Sussex Students’ Union the first in the UK to implement a full boycott of Israeli goods through referendum. The vote was one of the largest and closest contested in the Union’s history, with 562 votes for and 450 against the boycott.

The referendum received messages of support and thanks from Jewish and Israeli academics and non-governmental organisations that oppose Israel’s policy of occupation in Palestine. Author and scholar Norman G. Finkelstein described the referendum result as ‘a victory, not for Palestinians but for truth and justice’.

He continued by saying, ‘Let us hope the boycott transmits the message to Israel that it should end the occupation, so that Palestinians can lead a decent life and amicable relations can be restored between Israelis and other peoples.‘

UK charity War On Want and the Palestinian grassroots campaign Stop The Wall also sent messages of support.

Debates over the boycott were often tense, with the Friends of Palestine Society leading the ‘Yes’ campaign, and the ‘No’ campaign running under the slogan ‘Build Bridges Not Boycotts’. Martha Baker, a member of Palestine Society and speaker at one of the events, said that the biggest challenge for the pro-Boycott team was not, however, the pro-Israeli campaigners.

‘Our biggest challenge was ignorance: most students are not aware of the situation facing Palestinians living under occupation. Much of our work involved actually telling people what was happening in Palestine. The more we spoke to people, the more they understood the reasons for boycotting Israel.’

The 30-strong ‘Yes’ campaign team aimed to talk to as many students as possible in person. Syed Bokhari, one of the campaigners, pointed out that door-knocking on campus and talking to people face-to-face proved invaluable to the final outcome. In addition, a benefit club night featuring Lowkey helped raise awareness about the occupation of Palestine.

Pro-Boycott students also made extensive use of social networking sites to raise awareness about the campaign. Messages of support from NGOs and academics were shared almost instantly across Facebook, and pro-Boycott talks were recorded and published on the Palestine Society’s YouTube channel.

Senior Palestine Society member Bushra Khalidi says that the society will now focus its efforts on gaining scholarships for Palestinian students, and lobbying the Union to sell Palestinian West Bank produce.

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'Stop the War - Troops Out of Afghanistan'. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

‘Bring the Troops Home’ was the demand of tens of thousands of anti-war protesters in London today. The demonstration was called by Stop the War, CND and the British Muslim Institute. Trafalgar Square heard speeches against against the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with speakers as diverse as refusing soldier Lance Cpl Joe Glenton and Guantanamo survivor Omar Deghayes.

The protest was led by war vetarans and the families of solidiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pictured: Pat Arrowsmith, veteran CND campaigner. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

Speakers accused Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of playing to American imperialist desires. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

Students and young people from accross the country came to join in the protest against the war. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

Student protesters charge down Regent Street, London. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

Speakers and protesters aired their anger at US President Obama for sending more troops into Afghanistan. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

'Jobs, Education, Peace' - the demands set by the protest. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

While Labour began its Party conference, Brighton seafront hosted thousands of people calling for ‘Jobs, Education and Peace’. The national protest, supported by major trade unions and left-wing parties, also ran under the banner ‘Rage Against New Labour’. The protest passed without interference from police, and caused minimal disruption to the city.

In solidarity with Visteon, Vestas, and other workers' occupations this year. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

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Tax the rich and give welfare to all, speakers demanded. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

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Police outside the Labour Party Conference, at the Brighton Centre. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

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Speakers from Unite Against Fascism drew the link between Labours' public spending cuts and the rise of the BNP. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

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Two photographers run from the charging protest. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

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Protestors charge across Brighton seafront. Photo © Josh Jones 2009

'The BNP is a Nazi Party!' Anti-fascist protesters stand up. Photo @ Josh Jones 2009

Thousands of British citizens came together today to disrupt the BNP’s annual ‘Red, White and Blue’ festival. The opening day of the British National Party’s propaganda event in Derbyshire was widely disrupted as protesters blocked roads, physically stopping BNP members and potential recruits from reaching the festival. The day passed with minimal violence, and nine reported arrests.

A human barricade stops BNP members from getting through. Photo @ Josh Jones 2009

Coaches left from all over Britain early this morning, to reach Codnor in time to blockade roads leading into the site of the BNP’s festival. Word spread fast that protesters had surrounded the car of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, preventing him from speaking at the event.

While the largest anti-BNP protest took place in the centre of Codnor, smaller groups of two to three hundred protesters occupied roads leading to the festival, making travel there impossible. The festival is reported to have been seriously disrupted, with BNP leader Nick Griffin having made a complaint to the police that his followers could not make it there.

Many potential attacks were averted by the sheer number of anti-fascist protesters present, with BNP supporters vastly outnumbered and being forced to retreat from confrontation. Protesters were well-disciplined, and linked arms when confronted with the risk of attack by fascists or the police.

Residents appaud protesters. Photo @ Josh Jones 2009

Reception from townsfolk was mixed. Many local residents cheered and clapped the passing protesters, with one woman thanking the group for ‘keeping that scum off our streets’. Others were unsympathetic to the protest, and frustrated by the disruption caused. One resident summarizsd the scenario to me by saying: ‘Having the BNP over there is like having a paedophile that lives across the road.

‘You know they’re going to cause trouble if you bother them, so you keep you kids away and leave em alone. That’s what we do. But every year, the protest comes here and causes us all a nuisance.’

Protesters described the day as an unmitigated success. ‘It was the best we could have hoped for’, said Mark, a social worker from London. ‘We ruined a big day for Britain’s openly racist and fascist party.

‘It was truly empowering to see these racists running scared from black, white and Asian British people, who were linking arms and making their voices heard peacefully.’

Standing together, in Codnor town centre. Photo @ Josh Jones 2009