Tuesday 30 October 2012

"Birmingham Is A Pro-Palestinian City"

An outdoor mural in Birmingham by an award-winning Muslim artist
So declared controversial Respect Party former leader Salma Yaqoob, one of the panellists at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting in Birmingham earlier this month. 

Cosmopolitan Birmingham, Britain's second city, and the largest local authority in Europe, has launched a major campaign against Veolia.  There are four videos on YouTube (uploaded by Sabiha Mahmoud) showing that meeting of Palestine Solidarity Campaign stalwarts at which this latest initiative in the BDS armoury ("Bin Veolia") was launched.

A cosmopolitan panel included controversial leftwing former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister Clare Short, who chaired proceedings, and at one stage commented that although American Jews tend to be liberals, the USA is the hardest country for the BDS movement to penetrate owing to the power of the (well-funded) Israel Lobby.

Needless to say, talk of "apartheid" and "persecution of Palestinians" with the inevitable obscene comparisons with South Africa escaped the lips of the BDS faithful (who included a female panellist representing Pax Christi).

During the discussion of the glories of the BDS movement at the end, one of the speakers from the floor, a Labour councillor called, I believe, Stewart Stacey, declared:
"... And most of all, brothers and sisters, I haven't bought any Jewi - er -  Israeli produce knowingly since Sabra and Shatila"
Whoops!  Tut, tut.

5 comments:

  1. Is Bin Veolia any relation to Bin Laden?

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  2. Colin Stephenson31 October 2012 at 23:24

    Any chance of getting Stewart Stacey's comment confirmed by another source? I do not doubt you but "It was up on Daphne Anson's blog" isn't going to pursued so very many - it might go the way of the original Daphne on Clydeside

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    Replies
    1. It's on one of the four videos, CS - the third or fourth one, probably the fourth. I hyperlink to the first in the text.

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  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjbFznke3J4

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  4. Yes, indeed, Colin - his remarks were followed by applause.
    I too noted the irony re Sabra and Shatila.

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