Despite the cold and wet, anti-war activists successfully rallied in Glasgow to demand an end to the genocide, and to militarisation at home, reports Jason Noble

Although the day would start wet and the temperature wouldn’t manage to get too far above freezing, the national ‘Stop All Arms to Israel’ demonstration in Glasgow organised by Stop the War Scotland with Scottish CND and the Scottish TUC would end in the dry and on a high.

Arriving at the McLennan Arch at 9am on Saturday 23 November 2024, I was greeted by a picturesque view of Glasgow Green blanketed in snow. However, whilst the Inuit supposedly have fifty words for describing snow, only one was needed here and that was, wet. It was wet, overcast and sleet and snow were falling and turning to slush on the ground. Conditions were far from perfect. In fact, the conditions would play havoc with the plans.

Trains and buses were cancelled. Cars and volunteers would struggle in the treacherous conditions. The van transporting our rally stage would get caught up in traffic jams and be unable to arrive in time. The speaker list would be affected too. Unfortunately, Jeremy Corbyn MP had to withdraw due to train cancellations on the Euston to Glasgow lines. Union reps and other politicians would also be unable to make it in time. Replacements would have to be found at very short notice.  Fortunately, Stop the War’s Chris Nineham battled through the chaos out of London and arrived in time to deliver a rousing speech at the rally at the end of the march.

However, to have a rally at the end of the march would require ingenuity. Thankfully the dynamic team of organisers were up to the task. Whilst volunteers huddled under cover, calls were made and a last-minute indoor venue was secured, the route of the march which had been organised weeks ago, was promptly negotiated with the large police presence to march through the city centre northwest to the Renfield Centre on Bath St.

Despite the horrible conditions, hundreds of people began arriving ready to demonstrate that the UK government should end all arms sales to Israel, immediately and unequivocally. Chants would soon be heard, and the buoyant and defiant mood was lifted further upon learning about the change of plans. Conversations were had amongst the activists and demonstrators and a Soas student’s mother explained to me how pictures and reports of events like this were shared with the Palestinians in all of Palestine. This, she said, helped to keep their hope alive, a humbling thought. As I considered the context for why we were there, the wintery weather conditions paled into insignificance.

March and rally

The march set off on time, through the blistering snow, and wended its way to George Square and then towards St Vincent St. Despite the weather, the march was visibly representative of a broad social base including the Catholic social-justice organisation ‘Peace and Justice Scotland’, a Jewish bloc, a student bloc, and a strong trade-union presence with banners from UCU, EIS and Unite branches among others. The sight of waving Palestinian flags, banners, and placards and the ever-increasing numbers of marchers as we climbed the hill was more than encouraging.

When the thousand-strong march reached its destination, hundreds of soaking-wet demonstrators marched in to take part in an indoor rally. Unfortunately, the size of the march was too big to fit into the now packed-out conference hall, but once again the organisers stepped up to the plate and held an impromptu second rally outside for those who couldn’t get in.

The result was two fantastic rallies featuring impassioned speeches from a broad selection of trade unionists, Palestine, human-rights and peace activists including human-rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, Labour Left MSP Richard Leonard, and Scottish CND chair Lynn Jamieson. Each speaker, in no uncertain terms, laid bare the UK government’s involvement in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and called for the UK to end all arms sales to Israel.

A particular highlight was when national speakers from the FBU Scotland, PCS Scotland, UCU Scotland, RMT Scotland and the EIS shared the platform to deliver messages from across the trade-union movement united in their solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon.

We heard from speakers about many different elements of the British state’s active participation in Israel’s actions including the taxpayer-funded data-gathering missions carried out by the RAF for the Israeli military, diplomatic cover provided at the UN, and direct profiteering from arms sales to name just three. The Scottish Government’s own role did not escape scrutiny either, with Cat Boyd of PCS demanding proof that taxpayer money was not being directed to companies arming Israel, via the government agency Scottish Enterprise. In the context of the ICC ruling, speakers made clear that our position is not just the right one but unequivocally the legal one as dictated by international law.

The rally ended with speeches from Keir McKechnie of STW Scotland and Chris Nineham of STW UK who placed Britain’s support for Israel within the context of Western imperialism and a wider drive to war that is seeing British weapons bring us to the brink of nuclear confrontation with Russia and could take us to war with Iran and China. The need for a powerful anti-war movement like we saw on Saturday was clear. The rally ended on a high with an invigorated crowd called on to take their action to their workplaces for the day of action on 28 November.

Last Saturday, people turned out in their hundreds and shrugged off the truly awful weather in an incredible show of solidarity to demand that our government cease all arms sales to the genocidal state of Israel. We said no to escalation in the Middle East and demanded money was put into our public services and not military budgets. Despite the obstacles, the movement showed itself to be dynamic and determined.

To everyone there and well beyond, what’s been happening in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon at the hands of Netanyahu and his Western supporters is real and it’s visceral. It is the first live-streamed genocide, ever. Conservative estimates put the dead at a staggering 50,000+ in Gaza alone. The real figure will, of course, be many times higher. We should never cease to be shocked as this figure grows. If we do, then I’m afraid this will not be the last live-streamed genocide.

Our demands are simple: stop all arms sales to Israel; hands off Gaza and Lebanon; no war with Iran, welfare not warfare. Is that really too much to demand?