London Socialist Historians Group
8th November
Historians say the right to protest has been hard won & must be protected
The London Socialist Historians Group, the long established group of research historians, has said it is supporting the march for Palestine and for a ceasefire in Gaza in London on Saturday.
The historians say that the issue itself is an important one in the context of British imperial history. Britain had the mandate for Palestine after World War One, yet as elsewhere around the world, this was discharged in the most unsatisfactory way possible. The existing population of the area was in large part forced off the land rather than their political rights being respected.
There is also an urgent need to protect the right to protest from an ever more authoritarian Government. As the Metropolitan Police have reminded us in recent days there is no actual right to march. The ability to do so can only be protected in practice.
After Peterloo in Manchester on 16th August 1819 where a demonstration for the vote was broken up by soldiers with many protesters left dead and injured Governments have tended to the view that allowing democratic protest is better than provoking confrontation. However that has never been a settled view and from time to time demonstrations have been banned.
On 6th May 1867 a mass protest for the vote in Hyde Park was banned and the Government called in troops. However the demonstration was so large that they were overwhelmed. The Home Secretary Walpole resigned and a Second Reform Act extending the Suffrage was passed.
Socialist Historians Convenor Dr Keith Flett, there is a lot of very recently invented history being spouted by Tory Ministers about the Palestinian protest this weekend. They need to know that protest has always been part of Our Island Story and will continue to be so long after they have left Office,
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