My speech at Together Against Trump rally, for Liverpool Friends of Palestine and Jewish Voice for Labour
"My name is Jo Bird. Thank you to the organisers of this creative and excellent protest.
I’m here to say, 4 things:
Firstly. Refugees are welcome here but President Trump is not! Not until every single kidnapped child is re-united with their parents. Leaders who give fascist orders are not welcome here.
Secondly. To connect the dots on the axis of colonialism from Trump to Netanyahu to far-right supremacists in this country.
Last year, President Trump retweeted videos from Britain First – a violent, fascist, Islamophobic organisation. They are also linked to explicitly anti-Semitic, holocaust denying, political parties in Poland. The name of Britain First was invoked by the murderer of Jo Cox MP.
Trump’s ally, alt-right leader, Richard Spencer, calls himself a “white Zionist”. Because the State of Israel and its para-military racism, has become a model for white supremacists.
President Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, delighted Netanyahu in Israel, because it legitimises the occupation and erasure of Palestinian Jerusalem or Al Quds. The embassy move sparked huge protests by Palestinian people. And led to hundreds of deaths of people - unarmed protestors killed with impunity by Israel. People like Razan Najjar, a 21 year old medic from Gaza.
We condemn the Israeli government for these massacres. The people killed were mostly refugees who were just trying to exercise their basic human right to walk home.
We call on the UK to immediately stop its arms trade with Israel.
Thirdly: I’d like to invite you to join Liverpool Friends of Palestine in our protest against detention of child prisoners. We will be on Church Street this afternoon.
Every year Israel imprisons around 700 Palestinian children. Children are removed by force from their family home, shackled, hooded and taken to prison. They are usually accused of throwing stones. They are threatened and questioned without lawyers present.
By the time they eventually appear for trial, they have signed confessions in a language they don’t understand - because this is the best way to get an earlier release. 97% are convicted.
You notice the lack of natural justice in that process? There is no, what I call, Jew process, no due process.
Finally, I’m here to say that Love Trumps Hate. I lived in Northern Ireland for 3 years recently. The death-toll there and trauma of 30 years of sectarian violence is writ large. 3,600 people were killed in The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
20 years after a political agreement that produced some relative peace, things are quite different. There is a long way to go yet and its not perfect. But different identities are celebrated, its OK for people to have different passports, and even support different football teams. This is normal in many parts of the world.
Because we know that Love Trumps Hate. We know we are rich in our diversity. We need to keep building bridges not walls. Because privileging one group over another is divisive. It’s bad for the many as well as bad for the Jews. We need to keep winning hearts and minds. It makes a difference to speak up and have difficult conversations.
For example, immigration. Its part of being English. My great-parents fled ethnic cleansing in Europe. We who live in England now, we all have relatives working or living abroad. Even the Royal Family has immigration in its family.
As Liverpool’s Jim Royal would say, Ricky Tomlinson, he would say, “White supremacy, my arse!”
Liverpool! Keep up the good work! Love Trumps Hate! Thank you. Go raibh maith agat. Shukran. Toda roba."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVhya98TBeM&fbclid=IwAR3Yiqo_SENKV8GgbayNqp4h4hHSIzj9Ssu7IJL0gnEAEZnY4mklJZKSmcQ