Diane Abbott MP sent the following statement to our Defend the Right to Protest – Palestine, Islamophobia and Civil Liberties meeting on Tuesday 12 March. At the meeting a unanimous vote of confidence was passed in favour of Diane. Stop the War sends our full solidarity to her.
Thank you all for coming this evening.
I am sorry I cannot be with you this evening. But, as you may have gathered this was, as they say, entirely due to circumstances beyond my control.
It would be unfair on you all, and all those campaigning for a full and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, to bring a media circus, or worse with me into this meeting.
I may have been the subject of vile racist abuse, but that would not be the first time in my life. And rather than being threatened with being shot, 30,000 people have been murdered in Gaza. Many, many more are now threatened with imminent starvation.
So, there is no equivalence between the abuse I continue to experience and the slaughter of the people of Gaza. None at all.
But I do want to suggest they are linked. And they are linked in ways which none of the abusers or perpetrators ever seem to understand. We should.
Why does racism exist? Why are their currently concerted efforts to shot down protests of all kinds and to demonise the protestors? Why are Palestinians cast as the villains when they are clearly the victims?
In the history of the British Empire and indeed in all the modern-day empires, it was first necessary to demonise peoples before invading them, conquering them or even before committing genocide against them. The demonisation was the necessary first step.
Thankfully, there are very few people in the world who can simply kill in cold blood. But unfortunately, human beings are susceptible to irrational fears and can be bribed with important rewards in order to kill. Sometimes the reward can be as little as the King’s Shilling and the promise of regular warm food.
But this is how the empires were built. By brute force, plus bribery and corruption. These were the main foundations of Empire.
What happened when anyone objected? Or the colonised people rebelled? Or the Empire was dealt blows?
The objectors, the pacifists, or the conscientious objectors, or more recently the socialists were demonised. They were turncoats, traitors, enemies within, a rabble who should be shut down, shut up and locked up. That happened repeatedly as the Empire was built. It is still happening now long after Empire has gone into decline.
So, all of us who have gone on all the Gaza demos calling for peace, should wear the attacks on us as a badge of honour. We are standing in a long line of brave campaigners who stood up for what is right.
Of course, the retribution on those who rebel against the Empire was much more ferocious. And we can see it again now on our TV screens where babies in incubators are bombed in their hospital beds.
This ferocity is not new. Through history, tens of millions have been deliberately starved, many others slaughtered, others forcibly removed from their homes, their schools’ medical centres and places of worship all destroyed. What is completely new is that it is on TVs and phones daily.
And the world is horrified. Forget the ‘international community’ of the US government and its subordinate powers like Britain. The global majority opposes this slaughter, as we can see from every UN vote. That is the real ‘international opinion’.
And we represent the majority here too. Two-thirds of the population calls for an immediate ceasefire. That is why they demonise us, try to repress us, manufacture false claims against us.
We are the majority. We are in the right. We have history on our side.
Thank you.
