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Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Newsletter 28 March 2025
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In this newsletter:
Saturday 11am - 1pm - Goat Ledge Fundraising stall
Saturday 12noon - 2pm - Hastings Information stall in the town centre
Letter to Helena Dollimore: We Want Welfare Not Warfare
Report: Petition to East Sussex Council: Divest from Israeli War Crimes
Plus....,Petition on Anti-Palestinian Racism; Future activities in Hastings; Poetry for Palestine evening; Local fundraisers; Palestine Book Club; books for sale; information sources....
GOAT LEDGE FUNDRAISING STALL
Saturday 29 March 11am - 1pm. Goat Ledge TN37 6FA.
With Israel's renewed bombing and its total siege of Gaza there has never been a more important time to support the community in Al-Mawasi. Our Spring fundraiser has got off to a good start, but we're still only just over half-way to our target.
We will be selling keffiyehs from Nablus, books about Palestine, bric a brac and plants. And we're inviting our members and supporters to bring any bric a brac or any suitable products to sell. At 11.30 will have a bucket shaking walk to our information stall in the town centre. More information: Instagram and Facebook. If you're not able to make it to our stall, please contribute to our online fundraiser Give It Up For Gaza.
SATURDAY'S INFORMATION STALL
Saturday 29 March 12.00 noon until 2pm Hastings Town Centre. Please visit our information stall. All the usual information, BDS literature including the Don't Buy Apartheid campaign material, the East Sussex Pension Fund petition, plus keffiyehs, books, badges, boycott and General Dynamics 'Guilty of Genocide' stickers.
TO HELENA DOLLIMORE MP: WE WANT WELFARE NOT WARFARE
In recent weeks the Hastings and Rye MP has signed 2 letters - one supporting cuts to welfare benefits and another calling for investments in arms companies to be reclassified as 'ethical.' We don't want this MP promoting more government spending on weapons and war, or lobbying on behalf of arms dealers - we want her to stand up to companies like General 'genocide' Dynamics in Hastings which is arming Israel to carry out war crimes.
We want our MP to stand up for sick and disabled people, not demonise them and cut their benefits.
Sign and share the letter here.We will be handing in the letter at an open coffee morning being hosted by the MP on 10 April to let her know that many, many of us care about people who are sick and disabled, and we care about promoting peace.
REPORT: 'SICKENED:' EAST SUSSEX RESIDENTS DEMAND DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAELI WAR CRIMES
Just two days after Israel massacred more than 200 children in Gaza, more than at on any one day since the genocide started seventeen months ago, members of the PSC handed in a petition of 813 residents calling on the East Sussex County Council to divest its pension funds from companies enabling Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.
The council has increased its pension fund investments in companies complicit in Israeli war crimes to £170 million. This includes investments in companies profiting from illegal settlement activity and companies that directly supply the Israeli military, such as BAE Systems (£4.5m), Rolls Royce (£1.2m), Thales, Airbus and Ultra Electronics.
There is a full account of the event in the Hastings Online Times.
We hope to reach the 5,000 threshold of signatures to guarantee a full debate is held on the issue at a future council meeting. East Sussex residents who wish to sign can do so here.
PARLIAMENTARY PETITION ON ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM
This petition seeks to draw attention to the significant problem of anti-Palestinian racism in the UK and to force the British Government to acknowledge and discuss the wider impacts of dehumanisation of Palestinians. Petition here.
WALK THE SEAFRONT FOR GAZA
Monday 7 April 10.45am Rock a Nore Car Park. This sponsored walk is to raise money for the family known to one of our members. They live in the north of Gaza just east of Jabalia. They currently live in the bombed out remains of their home (a total of 21 family members!) The head of the family is a volunteer at his local hospital. For more information email here.
Sunday 13 April 7pm at the Pig, 37 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JP
More information and tickets.
Wednesday 16 April 6pm. Stade Hall, Hastings, TN34 3FJ.
Hastings Jews for Justice will be marking Passover this year with a community Seder meal and everyone is invited.
"Today, as Israel continues its violence and destruction across all of Palestine, we reject the idea that this is done in the name of Jewish safety. True freedom is never dependent on the oppression and occupation of another people and every generation must join the struggle 'to move from slavery to freedom'.
All over the world Jewish movements are mobilising our communities to fight for collective liberation for all." More information and tickets.
POETRY FOR PALESTINE OPEN MIC NIGHT - AN AL-MAWASI FUNDRAISER
Thursday 17 April 7.30pm. The Downstairs Bar, White Rock Hotel TN34 1JU
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.
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:
21 March 2025
19 March 2025
18 March 2025
Keep up to date with our website and social media:
Website Facebook X/Twitter Instagram YouTube Channel TikTok. Bluesky
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