Andrew Draper, an activist with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who lives in Rhondda Cynon Taf, looks at the spread of grassroots vigils for Palestine being held by small communities in Wales.
By Andrew Draper. Cover image: A vigil for Palestine in Tonyrefail.l, by Andrew Draper.
The Palestine solidarity movement in Wales is growing as people become increasingly angry at the death and destruction in Gaza they see and hear in the news and their social media feeds. Organised groups are growing in number and unaffiliated groups are springing up too. The numbers of actions, including vigils, are flourishing in towns and villages. Every Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) group in Wales is reporting an influx of new members and new groups are being formed.
A look through the listings of the Facebook group Palestine Events In Wales shows numerous vigils taking place throughout Wales, as well as a lot of other solidarity events, from demonstrations outside MPs’ offices to boxing matches, football tournaments, kite flying and poetry for Palestine.
On Monday, I attended a candle-lit vigil in Tonyrefail in Rhondda Cynon Taf, along with family members and some 20 people in total. The week before, I and my PSC branch organised a vigil in Gilfach Goch. Again, we had around 20 people in attendance. A week or so before that, my wife and I attended a vigil in Beddau, again in Rhondda Cynon Taf, and with a similar number of people. In Aberdare, the pouring rain did not stop a sizeable turnout last month that expressed deep anguish, called for love and an end to Israel’s brutal military action.
The format has been similar each time: words of welcome and explaining why we must gather. Reflections, readings and poetry are shared with intense hurt and passion, from the heart. Names of dead babies aged one or under were read out in Gilfach Goch. A longer list we shared contained over 2,600 names of children who had been killed. That number is now wildly out of date. Updated statistics on the number of civilians killed – over 15,000 Palestinians -are always immediately too low and do not include the thousands of men, women and children that lay buried and rotting beneath the rubble of their homes.
Nobody is failed to be moved. In the fast-moving pace of social media, it is a welcome opportunity to stand alongside other people, some of them strangers or people we don’t know very well. The moments of spoken reflection are interspersed with silence where people pray or just take time for their own thoughts. Tears are shed and saying what needs to be said is often difficult and emotional. Reading out names of dead infants is a tough task.
But how can it be otherwise when what we are witnessing amounts to genocide by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people? How can it not be heart-breaking when many of our elected representatives are backing Israel’s “right to self-defence” that goes way beyond any sense of proportion? And these politicians are telling us this in scripted emails that barely vary in their wording from one MP to the next. We are thankful to those politicians who have stood up for justice and have called for a permanent ceasefire. But far too many are sitting on the fence as the killing goes on and on.
Names of dead children on the lists include entire families. One family I know of in Cardiff lost 17 family members – killed in a single night’s bombing in Gaza. When an entire family is killed and the blood line wiped out, this can only be described as extermination.
Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention states: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.” I look forward to the day when Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his henchmen are put on trial for the war crimes they are so openly committing.
Vigils are often educational as well as shocking. They represent an opportunity, maybe in a new way, to understand what is happening. One man at the Gilfach Goch vigil said he had been stirred into action and could no longer remain an armchair activist. He asked questions and received answers, in a way that might not have happened at a larger event in Cardiff or London. At another vigil, I saw someone in her dressing gown and slippers. She had clearly just stepped outside her home to join the vigil on her doorstep.
Because vigils are being held in the heart of local communities – on the village square or outside the health centre, they are reaching people who are not always touched by demonstrations or protests.
We experience how vigils are being organised ‘bottom up’ by ordinary people. That gives me hope that Palestine solidarity is here to stay. The more people learn about what is happening there, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, the more our anger will rise at the injustice.
We do not sob into the darkness alone
And never forget, when we share what we’re doing on social media, those suffering in Gaza or the West Bank witness our solidarity with them. We do not sob into the darkness alone with no-one but those next to us noticing. When we tell Palestinians we are on their side and calling for justice, it shines like a light in the darkness. We know that because Palestinians have told us so. That is why we will not give up our solidarity.
We are shedding tears now and grieving in our hearts, and vigils provide an outlet for us to do so with others. But the time has come for us to dry our tears and rise up in anger. Israeli politicians and military, despite your internet blackouts, we see what you are doing. We will isolate you. If our leaders won’t do it, we the people must do what we can through boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS). That will be the next, growing chapter in our struggle for justice for Palestine.
Here’s a not-exhaustive list of where vigils and events have taken place in Wales
Llandudno, Haverfordwest, Cardiff, Newtown, Cardigan, Poppit Sands, Siloh, Newport, Swansea, Barry, Caernarfon, Gilfach Goch, Maesteg, Holyhead, Bangor, Caerphilly, Carmarthen, Treorchy, Llechryd, Borth, Port Talbot, Aberystwyth, Llanberis, Lamphey (Pembrokeshire), Aberaeron, Tonyrefail, Abergavenny, Machynlleth, Glynarthen, Lampeter, Llanfyllin, Llechryd, Pontypridd, Beddau, Welshpool.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is the biggest organisation in the UK dedicated to securing Palestinian human rights. We work for peace, equality and justice, and against racism, occupation and colonisation. We are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
For further information see
PSC groups in Wales: Abergavenny, Cardiff, Montgomeryshire, Newport, RCT.
For RCT PSC contact: [email protected]
