Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
31 December
MARCH TO GAZA KETTLED IN CAIRO
On this day in 2010, SPSC members joined the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo with 1,400 activists from 43 countries to march to Gaza. All were kettled in Cairo by the security apparatus, an opportunity for valuable networking and organising. We joined others planning and then carrying out an illegal demo in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Some of us got a bit roughed up this day by the police. A year later police unleashed bloody violence against vast numbers of Egyptian demonstrators in the same square.
المسيرة إلى غزة حوصرت في القاهرة
31 ديسمبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2010 ، انضم أعضاء حملة التضامن الاسكتلندية مع فلسطين في القاهرة إلى 1400 ناشط من 43 دولة للمشاركة في مسيرة الحرية لغزة . تم حصر الجميع في القاهرة من قبل الأجهزة الأمنية ، وكانت هذه فرصة قيمة للنشطاء للتواصل والتنظيم . انضممنا إلى آخرين يخططون وينفذون مظاهرة غير قانونية في ميدان التحرير بالقاهرة. تعرض البعض منا للعنف في هذا اليوم من قبل الشرطة. وبعد عام ، شنت الشرطة أعمال عنف دموية ضد أعداد كبيرة من المتظاهرين المصريين في نفس الميدان.
The international delegation of the Gaza Freedom March originally planned to arrive in Gaza on 29 December 2009 to join a march against the Israeli blockade together with residents of Gaza two days later. Instead, most of its delegates remained in Cairo, having been blocked from going to the Rafah border by the Egyptian government, and instead marched against the Egyptian blockade on Gaza.
The French ambassador to Egypt, Jean Felix-Paganon, told members of the French delegation of the Gaza Freedom March that the Egyptian government was preparing to grant permission for the march to proceed to Gaza until the deal was rejected by Israel. With 1,360 delegates from 43 countries converging on Cairo, Egypt revoked the permit to hold a large meeting in Cairo as well as the permits for buses to take them to the Rafah border.
On 29 December, the Syndicate of Journalists invited the Gaza Freedom March to join their members at their trade union headquarters for a rally for Gaza that lasted into the evening. The combined voices of Egyptians and internationals sent a powerful message of unity and solidarity on Palestine and opposition to the Egyptian government’s role in upholding the blockade on Gaza.
The Egyptian regime announced 100 could proceed to Gaza. Then, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit praised the 100 selected to go to Gaza as “good and sincere,” while denouncing those remaining in Cairo as “hooligans” “acting against Egyptian interests.”
On 31 December — the day of the actual Gaza Freedom March — delegates in Cairo became a “flash mob” demonstration in Tahrir Square. Hundreds of police attacked and in the ensuing melee, began grabbing delegates and throwing them onto the footpath. Some officers used fists to hit delegates, including several women. Seven delegates were reportedly injured. One American man had blood on his face that required treatment at the medical station set up by march organizers. He had been clubbed with a two-way radio by a plainclothes police officer.
There were weaknesses - anti-government Egyptian activists pointed out that Gaza Freedom March organizers failed to reach out to Egyptian labor unions, students and organizations of civil society that have a long history of struggle in the streets of Cairo and other towns for democratic rights in the face of the overwhelming force of the state apparatus.
Yet six full days of political demonstrations in Cairo under dictatorship by a large group of visiting internationals is without historical precedent.
"A high-stakes standoff today in Cairo" was reported from Washington
"On New Year's Eve, shortly after the Egyptian government had prevented buses from taking them to Gaza, hundreds of people, including scores from the U.S., who were attempting to march in Cairo were kicked, punched and dragged into a holding area by plainclothes Egyptian government forces.
"Beginning Dec. 27, 1,300 activists from over 40 countries had been in Cairo attempting to go to Gaza, which has been under siege. Israel has prevented free movement to or from Gaza on its border crossings and has prevented the Gaza port and airport from functioning.
"These 1,300 activists -- roughly equal to the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the Israeli bombing "Cast Lead" of this time last year (about 13 Israelis were also killed) -- have been prevented by the Egyptian government from going to Gaza through the Rafah crossing in the south of Gaza.
"Protests in Cairo have been ongoing; one took place Monday in front of the Prosecutor's Office, roughly the equivalent of the Justice Department. This protest included about 40 Egyptians and 40 internationals. On New Year's Day, several hundred people protested in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo; protests there are virtually unheard of -- prohibited by the Egyptian authorities. During protests, people have almost always been penned into areas to prevent their being seen by the general public.
"The following individuals still in Cairo can speak to the violence of the Egyptian authorities as well as the Egyptian policy of maintaining the siege of Gaza and the crisis situation in Gaza:
Ryan Fay
Fay, a law student, has done legal work on behalf of Palestinians on the West Bank, attempting to prevent the demolition of their homes by Israel. See a photo of Fay shortly after being hit with a police walkie talkie.
Mick Napier
Napier is chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of hundreds of organizations with delegations in Cairo. He said, "It is clearer than ever that the Egyptian dictatorship is fully complicit with Israel's crippling siege of Gaza."
Hedy Epstein
Epstein is a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and author of Remembering Is Not Enough. See the AFP piece "Awaiting Gaza March, Holocaust Survivor Stages Hunger Strike."
Sam Husseini
Communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Husseini has been blogging and posting videos.
Michael Brown
Brown is former executive director of Partners for Peace. He is accompanied by his 80-year-old father Edwin L. Brown, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the classics department. The elder Mr. Brown was thrown to the ground and shoved into a penned-in area. He later reported sustaining a bruise on his hand, which he still has, and being pulled on by a cord around his neck. Michael Brown was kicked in the ribs by plainclothes Egyptian forces; he and others witnessed Egyptian government forces pulling women by the hair. The Browns were also penned in on Dec. 29 for over four hours while attempting to visit the U.S. embassy.
Emily Ratner
Ratner was in Gaza in June, but she was turned away from entering Gaza this weekend by Egyptian officials. She recently wrote the piece "Freedom Marching in Circles While Winding Our Way to Gaza."
The Cairo Declaration to End Israeli Apartheid was initiated by members of the contingent from the Congress of South African Trade Unions. It is designed to provide a framework for internationally coordinated actions for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
4-minute video from 2010 Gaza Freedom March in Cairo