Cardiff Anti-War Rally

Cardiff, 30th December 08- I attended an anti-war rally against Israel's on-going offensive in Gaza today. I wasn't sure what to expect, with myself never attended such events prior.

It was meant to begin at 12 noon, and indeed it did start on time despite the rally crews were just roughly 10 people at the time. And with just a little bit of hesitation all 4 of us joined in the 10 odd people, kickstarting the rally.

Admittedly it was a bit awkward, but in the name of solidarity for our Palestinian brothers we joined in. And the fact that it was in Cardiff actually helped,"Not our home turf, no one's actually going to know us :p"

BBC News coverage of the event

And the lead "rallyist" consumated the rally, reiterating the reason for our peaceful gathering. He was indeed a full-blooded Welsh with no ties whatsoever to the Palestinians, quite unlikely a Muslim. But the way he spoke was as if his own brothers were suffering; fiery but not angry, he was as impressive as he was clear.

After a short speech, some of the crew members started singing songs which were of foreign entity to us. But we hang around the circle which slowly started to bulge quite a bit. By then there were probably 40 people, mostly Muslims; true to the tradition, late as always. Better late than never I suppose.

The rally carried on, with songs and speeches intertwined. The crowd was expanding even further, it was probably around 100 people after 20 minutes. The number was definitely encouragement enough for us to stay on. Anti-war mantra was chanted, "FREE FREE PALESTINE" etc... The spirit within the crowd was definitely palpable; slogans were shouted, flags were waved, sign boards were numerous; men and women, Muslim and non-Muslim, joined hand-in-hand (not literally) in support of Palestine. Media crews were busy snapping pics, interviewing participants of multi-ethnic origins; ultimately making the rally achieving its main purpose for the day - anti-war publicity.

This single rally was never going to stop any war. 2 rallies are still not enough to stop any war. 10? unlikely. 50? maybe big enough a number to apply some sort of pressure. And this small one is a building block to the 'number', whatever it is.

100 people may not sound that many, but it did look fairly crowded - good enough to attain some media attention (the freaking TV was there!).

On a more personal note, apart from showing solidarity in as many ways as I could/should, I just have to see to reiterate to myself that there are people out there; strangers/ajnabis, not people in my close-circle; who also care - be it in the name of Islam, or even humanity.

I was not disappointed :)

At the end of the day, 'Deeds are only by intention...'


P/S,
- qunut nazilah
- pics coming, unfortunately I'm in between cameras and my old-school Nokia phone does not have a camera function ~ a very close relative to the infamous 3310