Rosie Smith, Black Country Socialist Party
Many speakers at the protest said how the war has impacted them personally, and some gave harrowing accounts from family and friends who have lived in Palestine or Lebanon. Dozens marched in solidarity with the people of Palestine in Walsall on 20 October, joined by Socialist Party members, following the Israeli state’s attacks against Gaza.
The march had an undeniable feeling of shared grief and anger at the long list of atrocities committed in Gaza over the past year. And unsurprisingly, many speakers and marchers felt frustrated and disillusioned with the new Labour government, and called for revolutionary change in order to being about peace.
This was reflected in the speeches from two of the six independent councillors in Walsall, who resigned from Labour over its support for the war on Gaza, with Aftab Nawaz coming second behind his former party in the general election, with over 7,600 votes.
