From The River To The Sea

November 11, 2014

Palestine Solidarity in London

London Palestine Action (LPA) is a non-hierarchical group – created a year ago to solve an issue of sustainability – which is engaged in creative and participatory Palestine solidarity actions and campaigns. In London, Palestinian solidarity groups have spontaneously coalesced in times of urgency (e.g. Operation Cast Lead in 2008) or around specific projects (e.g. Palestine Place). However, in recent years neither of these forms had been successful in transferring the energy and links built up by these outbursts into longer-term action. Even where they did provide some longer-term plans, even a simple action planned with these informal networks would take a disproportionate amount of time and energy. LPA was formed to pick up and carry those bursts of energy, to convert them into constant and sustained action.

In its structure, LPA also tried to address another issue – which doesn’t just plague Palestine solidarity groups! – that of hierarchy and group structure. Existing Palestine solidarity organisations in the UK use tactics that align with a few theories of change (parliamentary lobbying, big marches to ‘put pressure’ on governments) but in recent history there’s been a definite gap at the radical social change / direct action end of the spectrum. More than a few people wanted a more participatory alternative after getting disillusioned by other organisations, feeling like their ideas weren’t respected or their priorities weren’t the same as those around them.

When it comes to issues around Palestine, enough people in the UK understand how abhorrent the actions of the Israeli state are. What’s really important is for people to then take local action to resist it. Media coverage of Israel’s occupation and the Palestinian struggle is problematic for many reasons, most notably because it absolves our responsibility in the UK and creates an impression that there’s nothing that can be done to change things. Both of these are flawed ideas.

The UK profits from Israel’s ongoing colonialism, from the selling of Israeli fruit and veg, to multi-million pound arms deals, to pension funds investing in settlement building. This “conflict” isn’t eternal and unavoidable. It’s not an abstract clash of races or religions or cultures. On one level, it’s a colonial fight over land and power, fuelled by racism and zealotry, but on another more material level, it is fuelled by international support for an apartheid state. It had a clear start date, and it will definitely have an end date. This support creates a massive power imbalance, and a just solution can only be achieved once those support lines are cut.

Even in the face of overwhelming international state support for Israel, Palestinians do not simply continue to survive, ekeing out a living, despite the occupation and dispossession. Impressively, there’s a broad, multi-faceted spirit of resistance, and a constant steadfastness in the face of ongoing Israeli abuses. Given this, the least we can do is offer our solidarity. As with all support given as allies to liberation struggles, we need to be permanently vigilant to not fall into demeaning patterns of ‘white saviourhood’.

We need to make sure we never misrepresent the Palestinian struggle as being over religion, or over a ‘clash of civilisations’, or over anything other than colonialism, occupation and apartheid. We need to be careful not to fall into lazy orientalist tropes in our materials, ideas or attitudes (e.g. noble Palestinian warriors, disembodied woman’s eyes, Palestinians as sad and desperate). We also need to be careful to not be infected by societal antisemitism (e.g. comparing Israeli policy to Nazi policy, equating Jews with Israel). Most importantly, we need to always take the lead from Palestinians, both those living directly under Israel’s occupation and those in the diaspora.

If we do our work well, our solidarity should strengthen and support the ongoing Palestinian resistance. If it doesn’t, then we need to stop and seriously re-evaluate if we are devoting our energy effectively. As non-Palestinians, our responsibility is to seek guidance from those under the boot of oppression about how we can help cut those support lines. The message from Palestinian civil society about how to give solidarity is pretty clear: boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. When our money is funding apartheid, and when companies in our areas are profiting from ethnic cleansing, we have to act.

The tactics we pick to achieve BDS have to be selected critically and consciously, looking at what’s been effective recently, and what has a chance of winning based on the situation we’re in right now. It can be super useful to differentiate between symbolic tactics (e.g. photo stunts, most marches) and more direct tactics (e.g. those that cause economic damage to apartheid profiteers). To be clear: this doesn’t mean that direct action that intervenes in the process of production or consumption is a more valid tactic than indirect action. Both have their uses, and both can form part of a wider strategy or campaign. But, on balance, it’s important that direct action should form a greater part of the toolkit than it currently does in the UK. It’s pretty common here to see a lot more media stunts and awareness-raising than the movement needs.

Regarding consumer boycotts specifically, there are two main facets: making sure consumers are aware of it, and making shops stick to it. The former is well addressed by the work of a lot of local Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) groups and some Muslim communities. This is where awareness-raising (e.g. flyering) and media stunts really come to the fore. It’s not always that glamorous, but it’s really important work to do! The latter involves making shops aware of the boycott, and shutting them down if they don’t adhere to it. This is where more often than not LPA sits, largely because fewer other groups do (and it makes sense to attack on all fronts at all times if we can).

Boycott campaigns are often viewed with scepticism by the anti-authoritarian radical left in the UK. Even the word ‘boycott’ alone, regardless of the strategy around it, can draw derisive claims that “that’s not how capitalism functions”/“it’s ineffective”, or that “it’s just an individualist approach”. The reason for this boycott isn’t for abstract reasons of moral purity (though “you don’t want your money to go to this, right?” can help as a persuasion tactic).

This boycott has a clear aim (concrete financial damage) and a clear demand (stop profiting from occupation and apartheid). This demand forces an inclusion of tactics beyond solely working on individuals’ consumer choices, and using those to inform about Israeli policies. This campaign goes further, targeting shops that sell Israeli goods and wholesalers that shift produce. This boycott is also producing clear results: from sinking wholesalers like Agrexco, to recent industry lamentations about Israeli produce being hard to shift.

This boycott won’t bring about the end of Israeli settler colonialism on its own. It will be effective as a tactic if it isolates Israel, creating a better climate for divestment and sanctions.

Since the ceasefire, media coverage of the Israeli occupation and assaults on Palestinian life have virtually disappeared from the UK mainstream media. However, for us to be a truly effective movement, we can’t rely on media cycles. The rage built up in the UK can’t be allowed to dissipate. A big chunk of responsibility for that falls onto existing solidarity groups, to foster the massively growing consumer boycott movement and open up channels from that into other tactics and strategies. We have to organise training to give people space to think about what tactics are appropriate, and how to address any gaps in skills or technical knowledge.

The London solidarity scene is in a far better position than it was a year or two ago. There’s an awareness of complicit targets. There’s the energy to act, and the desire to escalate past marching. And, if you’ve read this and you agree with the points, then it’s on people like you (the one reading this sentence) to spare what energy you can. See you at the next meeting?

By Sami Çapulcu, London Palestine Action | @LondonPalestine