I’ld like to start this blog with an apology. I was unable to complete the blog I was writing in time for sharing last #SocialistSunday so I posted an old one instead – and still failed to send a shoutout to all comrades on Bluesky. I’ve decided to start afresh without abandoning the old one completely, it could still be a useful resource.

I’ve long felt the need to reduce the number of petitions I promote and I’ve just been given a reason for discontinuing promotion of petitions by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, namely their failure to show solidarity with other campaigners.

While @Pal_action is fighting for its life against proscription, @PSCupdates threatens its branches with consequences if they support them.

I’ve obtained an internal PSC email which shows @BenJamalpsc has ordered his branches:

“We will not allow any branch to jeopardise the…

— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) June 29, 2025

I asked Asa where PSC were when met police raided his home and he replied that he had support from individual members while the organisation remained silent. Ben Jamal’s instructions to branches may be good legal advice but shows an absence of solidarity with anyone prepared to defy the law. You can read the full conversation by clicking on the link 👆I’ve decided I’ll find another way of showing solidarity with Palestine while staying within the law if I can.

I have to be careful what I say as I don’t want police knocking my door down (it’s not locked if I’m at home) or, even worse, breaking down my neighbours door by mistake. I’ve known of cases where this has happened in the past. I served one month in prison on remand when I was a young man in Australia, I doubt if I could survive long enough in custody to stand trial much less serve a 14 year sentence – in the best of circumstances I don’t expect to live until I’m 90! That being said, I have a keffiyeh and a wheelchair handy if someone can accompany to a demonstration in Leeds or York.

Activists have been advised to leave their mobile phones at home if attending a protest but I don’t see how that would be helpful to me. I have very few contacts on my phone and use a different email address. If I were able to attend a rally I would need my phone to call someone in an emergency.

I may be over cautious but I live alone without party, union or family connections. Someone said we need an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment, they can’t jail us all if we all speak at once, but someone has to speak first! Someone else said they would come for ‘low hanging fruit’ but I’m not that’s correct either. It would provoke a furore if Jeremy Corbyn or Zarah Sultana were arrested for supporting Palestine Action, whereas I’m not sufficiently important to be used as an example to deter others. Nevertheless, I’m taking such precautions as I can in case the worst should happen. I won’t do what I told Boris Johnson to do 🤐.

I find it hilarious to see right wing politicians and media hacks getting their knickers in a twist over chants of “Kill the IDF” at Glastonbury as if it was calling for the death of an individual rather than that of organisation. Soldiers accept the possibility of death when they enlist, even if they’re conscripted as most Israelis are. Soldiers die, but the IDF will die when a sufficient number of young Israelis refuse to enlist. Lowkey explains better than I can what happened at Glastonbury https://youtu.be/IOk4kP8bxXM?si=h0dFMEeAvEX5Kcjn I prefer to focus on the growing numbers of young Israelis who face imprisonment and ostracism for refusal to enlist in a terrorist organisation actively engaged in genocide.

Israel’s War Is Spreading. Our Movement Must Too. https://mailchi.mp/refuser/resisting-war-and-apartheid-from-within-the-green-line-to-the-west-bank-gaza-18119921?e=2cd8c36a06

Dunno if anyone else has noticed that TV presenters mumble the name of Bob Vylan to make it sound like Bob Dylan, as he probably intended, but he may also be referencing the French poet François Villon who real villain! I don’t know, like most of you I’d never heard of him.

I’ve donated £50 from my pension to support this cause! Comrades will know that I always put my money where my mouth is and this is the largest single donation I’ve ever made.

Fight the Proscription of Palestine Action
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/palestine-action/?utm_source=backer_social&utm_campaign=palestine-action&utm_reference=aa83affdb23710afe8e08e39163fc43e&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_content=post_pledge_page

Here’s a list of comrades who followed me on X and are now following me on Bluesky. I apologise to those who have followed me since I created the list and extend a warm welcome to those who do so in future https://go.bsky.app/CS6DZB