Protesting and Picketing
ROD WEBB
Early on Wednesday morning, 16 October, peace activists picketed the entrance to the site of weapons manufacturer General Dynamics in Sidney Little Road to protest the latest Israeli atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon. In particular, it bore witness to the shocking killing of Sha’ban Al-Dalou, burnt to death in his hospital bed in the Israeli air strike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital early on the previous Monday morning. At least four people were killed, including his mother, and 70 were injured. Sha’ban, a software engineering student, had recently survived a strike on a mosque in which 20 Palestinians were killed and was recovering in hospital when he was killed.
This protest came only two weeks after a major protest – highlighting one year of genocide and bloodshed – outside the Castleham Road site of the company where a ‘die in’ was staged in the empty company car park. It was empty because the protesters normally give prior warning, and, as a result, company workers stay at home. This disruption has been claimed as a small but important victory.
General Dynamics has been under sustained pressure from peace activists since Israel began its assault on Gaza one year ago. They have been at the two factories in Hastings ten times in the past year, even camping there over one weekend, and say they will keep up the campaign while General Dynamics weapons and technology is being used against Palestinians and now Lebanese civilians.
So to the sound of Low Key, the British-Iraqi rapper, 17 protesters, including one mother and toddler, blocked the entrance to the company car park. This was a symbolic gesture as there were alternative ways in and places to park. But it was cheering to see cars turning round or swiftly altering course: cheering since any change of direction can help pierce the bubble of normality in the deadly business of manufacturing weapons of war.
Throughout the protest, demonstrators created a written record in chalk to commemorate Sha’ban which read: “Sha’ban Al-Dalou: 19 years old; burned alive on an IVF drip; displaced 5 times. It’s ironic that the shocking death of this 19-year-old civilian received no attention in the mainstream media, while the four 19-year-old Israeli IDF soldiers recently killed in the line of duty by a Hezbollah strike were given widespread and detailed coverage.
The protest was also an opportunity to remind those attending the protest of the upcoming court case for Chris Dindar on Wednesday 23 October at Hastings Magistrates Court. Chris was charged with criminal damage while attempting to expose the fact that Sabra Houmous – available in major supermarkets in Hastings – is partly-owned by the Israeli Strauss food company, and is a major donor to the Israeli Defence Force.
As HDPSC Chair Katy Colley pointed out, following the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice and a resolution passed in the UN General Assembly in September, all member states were now committed to ensuring the end of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands within 12 months, obligated not to ‘aid or assist’ in maintaining the occupation.
“That means it is not just our moral duty to boycott apartheid Israel, but a legal one too,” she said. “In highlighting that Strauss funds the occupation forces, Chris was doing his legal duty to uphold international law!”
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