MANY OF US ASK OURSELVES, “WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WAS ALIVE DURING SLAVERY? OR THE JIM CROW SOUTH? OR APARTHEID? WHAT WOULD I DO IF MY COUNTRY WAS COMMITTING GENOCIDE?”
THE ANSWER IS, YOU’RE DOING IT. RIGHT NOW
Aaron Bushnell, February 25, 2024
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The Palestine Solidarity Campaign notification linked in my Friday email wrongly had it that in Sheffield and across the UK there’d be picketing of Barclays next day. Not just their fault; mine too. Had I been on the ball I’d have spotted the error when (a) banks aren’t open on a Saturday and (b) the venue, known to me since my teens when I courted a lass at top of Ellesmere Road, had no Barclays. That was at start of the 70s, with the area white working class plus a sizeable presence we used to call West Indian.
(They had clubs, for which they stole the Irish word, shebeen, in the cellars of the big crumbling villas lining Barnsley Road. Unlike the Leeds and Notting Hill shebeens, 1 well behaved whites were tolerated. Donkeyman’s on Rock Street played skull-crushing dub/reggae, and served up a mean goat curry you could wash down with Red Stripe while toking the best grass in town.)
Now the area is predominantly West Asian – no more likely than those previous communities to set pulses racing at Barclays plc.
I don’t feel too bad though. Anyone turning up at the allotted time will have found a river of red, black, green and white about to pour down Spital Hill, under the arches where Victoria Station used to live, then up the Wicker to city centre and town hall.
I dare say the other venues erroneously listed saw similar. In Sheffield the Barclays picket will gather at the Peace Gardens on Tuesday October 21 at noon.
Meanwhile, a few pictures of the Saturday event. Barclays is to be boycotted for the genocide enabling behemoth it is. Same goes for Coca Cola and LIDL …
… Marks and Spencer …
… MacDonalds, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys. 2
Co-op, Morrisons and Aldi aren’t on the roll of shame. Nor are Jerusalem Cafe on Spital Hill …
… nor neighbouring Kurdish eateries …
… nor yet the Afro-Caribbean barbers across the road.
Cyclists rode out front to ward off stray traffic and offer eye candy
Saleh Al-Jafarawi?
If you’re around Sheffield’s Peace Gardens, at noon this coming Tuesday, look me out. I’ve kind of appointed myself unofficial photographer for such events so you’ll see me draped in keffiyeh and flag – that’ll make me stand out, right? – while toting Canon kit with the distinctive grey of my pride and joy L-series 70:200 lens and looking a lot like this guy:
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- I’m spelling ‘shebeen’ phonetically. As with ‘Siobhan’ and ‘taoiseach’, the actual spelling is deeply counterintuitive.
- For more finely granulated BDS awareness, i.e. at product level, get the “No Thanks” app available on – capitalism’s ironies never cease – Apple Store and Google Play.