This week marks one year since the 7th October massacre and the start of Israel’s brutal and ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza. Both as a worker-owned co-operative and as a group of people, we continue to be appalled and disgusted by these actions supported by our government, in the name of us here in the UK.
At least 41,909 Palestinians have been murdered in the first year of this war. 902 entire families have been wiped out. Thousands of infants have been maimed, made homeless or killed. This is a crime against humanity and against the climate on a scale unprecedented this century, and it is being aided and abetted by countries and companies in the Global North, including the UK.
Here in the UK, by and large we carry on with ‘business as usual’. Western power and influence enables and encourages us to close our eyes to the horrors. We act as if these atrocities do not affect us directly – but they do. This war is the bloody representation of a systemic collapse that has allowed genocide to continue unchecked. These conflicts are ingrained in systems that actively undermine human wellbeing. Not fixing them will continue to have repercussions for all of us.
As we pass this grim milestone, we would like to recognise and celebrate the dedication of people in Sheffield who are protesting, organising and resisting. This includes the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who have coordinated a range of actions across the city, Sheffield Jews Against Israeli Apartheid, who have spoken at dozens of events, and the Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine, who have been protesting the University of Sheffield’s research ties to companies that manufacture weapons used in the genocide.
As a company we will continue to work with and stand alongside these groups, and use our platforms and our projects to draw attention to the genocide, as well as ways in which citizens can get involved in resistance.
As Sheffielders, we do not consent to what is being done on our behalf– whether that is by the UK government or by the university which bears the city’s name.