Episode 38 -  What I’ve learnt by organising 20 months of anti-genocide protests| Ben Jamal | UNAPOLOGETIC

Episode 38 - What I’ve learnt by organising 20 months of anti-genocide protests| Ben Jamal | UNAPOLOGETIC

1:34:39 Jun 9, 2025
About this episode
Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, joins UNAPOLOGETIC for a wide-ranging conversation about who has been complicit for the genocide in Gaza, the global shift in rhetoric, and what it takes to organise 20 months of continous mass protest across the UK.He unpacks the gap between what Western governments say and what they do - from condemning Israeli actions as “indefensible” while continuing to arm them, to criminalising peaceful protesters demanding justice. Jamal also reflects on his arrest and upcoming trial, the police’s systematic efforts to repress the movement, and why those tactics have failed to break the solidarity movement.In deeply personal moments, Jamal shares the story of his Palestinian father, his own political awakening, and what it has meant to sustain this movement through exhaustion, grief and hope.We ask: What does the future look like for Gaza? For Palestinian liberation? And for a world that has tolerated so much horror in real time?Chapters:00:00 Intro03:12 Shifts in media and government10:01 Words mean nothing without action15:30 Divestment wins and public pressure21:12 The arrest: what happened27:03 How police target protests32:47 BBC march and police trap38:55 Criminalised for peaceful protest44:11 Holding a movement together49:35 Building a resistance community54:20 Ben’s Palestinian family story1:00:07 Organising through trauma and grief1:05:05 Family, kids and solidarity1:10:10 What happens to Gaza now1:14:58 Will Palestinians be erased?1:20:10 Movement grows through genocide1:26:30 What keeps Ben going1:32:10 Final reflections
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