Saturday 15th June 2024 supporters of Stop the War took to the streets of Glasgow, supported by Trade Unions, Faith Groups, and Student bodies from universities across the country to name a few.

The meeting point was Glasgow Green at 1030am with people arriving and gathering under the arches at the bottom of the Salt Market, across from the old High Court.

Inevitably when you attend these events with a camera you get drawn into the cliché images of banners etc. I spoke with a number of people and wanted to capture more of the diversity of people supporting the call to stop the mass genocide taking place.

All eyes on Rafah are the call on social media, the march in Glasgow felt like it was designed to keep all eyes away from the demonstration. Leaving the Green, it turned to head along the Clydeside past the Cathedral, before turning left across the Jamaica Bridge before being diverted to the side streets of the Gorbals. Eventually we emerged onto Victoria Road and through the diverse community of Govanhill. There was a sit-down protest at the top of Victoria Road and the route through Govanhill was the only real disruption seen on the route before entering a far corner of Victoria Park. Great to see what has been estimated in Socialist Worker of 5000 people taking part and a line-up of provocative and hard-hitting speakers, but talking to others it felt a bit like preaching to the converted.  

Demonstrations need to disrupt daily life, they need to inconvenience people, they need to have the ability of capturing the ears and hearts of people who otherwise might not be exposed to alternative viewpoints. The people in my images are not the minority in these demonstrations, there are many like them although the mainstream right-wing media would have you believe they are all radicalised individuals that threaten our safety and way of life.

Trade Unions have been told by their leaders that Gaza is not a trade union issue, the people attending these marches disagree! Stating that human rights, equality, and solidarity are at the heart of any good trade union. The Labour Party are complicit and no better than the Tories in the bombardment of Gaza and the slaughter of men, women and children, not radicalised people but innocent people without safe passage or the means to flee the barbarism raining down on them.

One speaker yesterday did a roll call of 30 children’s names murdered by Israeli arms, however a roll call of all the children’s names who have lost their lives would take days to read out.

There are potential repercussions for people attending these demonstrations from employers, educators, communities and the state. This includes myself I guess, who knows what individuals in a powerful position would make of it. I was asked yesterday about my activism in Social Work, I have chosen to try and be an activist via my photography, we might have been diverted to back streets by design on the pretence of roadworks being an issue etc. but hopefully my photographs and this article along with the other cameras and social media presence will mitigate some of this. The issue is people can avoid it on social media, you march into a city and bring it to standstill that maybe makes people question and appreciate that it is a temporary interruption in a comfortable life compared to that of children in Gaza brought to a standstill, permanently!    

Thanks for reading.

Take care.

Scott