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Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Newsletter 14 March 2025
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In this newsletter:
This Saturday 12 noon - National Demonstration for Palestine in London
This Saturday 12 noon - 2pm - Information stall
Thursday 17 April - Poetry for Palestine
Fundraiser - Give It Up For Gaza
Plus....Dates for your diary; Israel's use of torture and sexual violence; Children of Gaza memorial quilt; Palestine Book Club; books for sale; information sources....
NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION FOR PALESTINE IN LONDON
Saturday 15 March 12 noon. Piccadilly to Whitehall. National March for Palestine
 As Israel has reimposed its blockade of Gaza and increased its attacks on the West Bank, we must demand that our government push Israel to abide by the ceasefire and end its occupation of Palestine. More information: PSC website.
Catch the 10.31 Hastings train to London. If you would like to go but need help towards the cost of a ticket, contact us directly. We match donors with marchers.
SATURDAY'S INFORMATION STALL
Saturday 15 March 12.00 noon until 2pm Town Centre. For those who can't get to Saturday's London demonstration, please visit our information stall. All the usual information, petitions, plus keffiyehs, books, badges, boycott stickers and Palestine Cola.
POETRY FOR PALESTINE OPEN MIC NIGHT - AN AL-MAWASI FUNDRAISER
Thursday 17 April 7.30pm. The Downstairs Bar, White Rock Hotel TN34 1JU
Hastings' first ever Poetry for Palestine last November was a tremendous success with a host of local poets coming together to raise their voices for Palestine, raising over £600 for Al Mawasi at the same time.
Now our brilliant host Debra Watson is once again inviting poets to join together in solidarity with Palestinians. Share your poetry, listen to others, and support our friends in Gaza. Let's come together to celebrate the power of words and show solidarity with Palestine.
Online audience tickets are £15 (or £10 if finances are tight). Tickets can be bought at the door. For poets: £5 for 5 minute open mic slots (with some spaces reserved for low/no income poets). Please sign-up beforehand to ensure your slot. Pay it Forward option - if you would like to buy a ticket for another person/s to attend, you can Pay it Forward. This will allow us to offer these tickets to unwaged/low income poets and guests. Online tickets at Eventbrite. More information at our Facebook and Instagram pages.
This Spring we're asking everyone to Give It Up For Gaza....give up something you can afford to do without, in order to give kids in Gaza access to education again.
The local school in Al-Mawasi, like most of the other civil infrastructure of Gaza, such as electricity, water, hospitals and healthcare has been destroyed. The people in the local community plan to convert their community centre - called the 'safe space' - into a makeshift school. They want to pay teachers to provide lessons for the youngest children who find online learning difficult. This will give these children some chance of normality and stability after nearly a year and a half of displacement and bombings.
So whether it's a pint of beer, or a bar of chocolate, or even your BBC TV licence - if you can Give it up for Gaza then donate the money saved to Al-Mawasi today, and be part of the Palestinian struggle to resist and rebuild! Give It Up For Gaza. More information about Al-Mawasi.
International al-Quds Day Rally Sunday 23rd March 2.30pm Marble Arch, march to BBC Portland Place.The Al-Quds Day demonstration has taken place in London for over 40 years. Amongst the speakers in recent years have been Lowkey, Huda Ammori (Palestine Action), Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, Shahd Abusalama, Chris Williamson, Rabbi Beck (Neturei Karta) and Mick Napier (Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign). More information (Facebook).
ISRAEL'S USE OF TORTURE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE ARE WIDESPREAD AND STANDARD PROCEDURES TOWARDS PALESTINIANS
Following on from the recent report detailing torture and sexual abuse against detained Palestinian medical workers, the UN has just issued a report which shows that "forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault - comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces' standard operating procedures toward Palestinians." The report concluded that Israel has been committing genocidal acts through the systematic destruction of Palestinian sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities.The report, which makes harrowing reading, can be read here.
CHILDREN OF GAZA MEMORIAL QUILT
A project has been set up to create a memorial quilt, naming and remembering the children of Gaza killed in the genocide. This is a project that any individual or groups can contribute to. More information here.
We enjoyed our very first gathering of Palestine Book Club recently where we had a lively and invigorating discussion about the book Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa. Huge thanks to Vicki for hosting us at Bullet!
The next book on our reading list is Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad and we'll meet to discuss on Wednesday April 2nd at 6pm. If you wish to add your name to the book club email list please email us.
ONLINE WELLBEING SESSIONS
Clinical hypnotherapist Chris Dindar is running 30 min relaxation sessions to help decompress, process our emotions, and find a moment of peace and deep relaxation amidst the chaos. Chris is offering his services for free, as a token of his solidarity, to help nurture the well-being of our local group and maintain our collective resolve.
Please email Chris directly if interested in taking part. The sessions are the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month at 12 noon.
BOOKS AVAILABLE AT OUR STALLS AND MEETINGS
 
 
 
Now available at our stall, a number of great books to deepen our knowledge of the history of Palestine and Israel. We're grateful to Lee at Printed Matter in Hastings, for generously discounting the price for us in support of the work of PSC. Thanks to Kay Green for providing us with Marilyn Garson's Jewish not Zionist.
PALESTINE - ISRAEL: FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
Much of the 'information' in the corporate media is misleading. Here are some useful sources:
Middle East Eye. Electronic Intifada. Al Jazeera. Middle East Monitor.
Mondoweiss. Palestine Chronicle. Al Mayadeen. Mintpress. The Grayzone.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Jonathan Cook.
The Cradle. MediaLens. Declassified UK. The Hind Rajab Foundation.
Rania Khalek.
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Hastings and District PSC online membership and donations
Becoming a member of Hastings and District PSC is an important way of supporting our work.The annual subscription is £10 waged, £5 unwaged. We now have an online membership payment form. It can also be used to renew membership. If you would rather not use Paypal, you can pay directly to our bank: please contact us for the details. Or alternatively pay at one of our events.
The work of Hastings and District PSC could not continue without the donations from members of the public. If you would like to support our work without becoming a member please visit our shop page here and see the right hand column:
Donate to Hastings and District PSC.
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Recent Hastings and District PSC newsletters:
7 March 2025
21 February 2025
14 February 2025
Keep up to date with our website and social media:
Website Facebook X/Twitter Instagram YouTube Channel TikTok. Bluesky
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