{"id":2688,"date":"2023-06-25T17:48:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T17:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gphrc.org\/?p=2688"},"modified":"2023-06-25T17:52:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T17:52:39","slug":"comment-on-daily-express-reporting-of-the-pro-palestine-counter-sutr-protest-and-cofis-gfi-presence-at-george-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/comment-on-daily-express-reporting-of-the-pro-palestine-counter-sutr-protest-and-cofis-gfi-presence-at-george-square\/","title":{"rendered":"A predictably pathetic attempt by CoFIS\/GFI, aided by what, lamentably, passes for Daily Express \u2018journalism\u2019,"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk\/news\/scottish-news\/cowardly-young-communists-who-confronted-29499368<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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A predictably pathetic attempt by CoFIS\/GFI, aided by what, lamentably, passes for Daily Express \u2018journalism\u2019, to portray an entirely peaceful, non-threatening protest as some kind of menacing, anarchic, intimidation of their group, requiring police protection. It\u2019s not even clear that the Express \u2018reporter\u2019 behind this \u2018story\u2019 was actually present, as it relies, seemingly, on the sole \u2018evidence\u2019 and facile claims of Mr Stein. Of course, as organisations precisely founded to whitewash and normalise the mass crimes committed by Israel\u2019s murderous regime, it\u2019s no surprise that CoFIS\/GFI should resort to such spurious distortions. Likewise for a gutter \u2018newspaper\u2019 that cannot even bring itself to observe an event and report the most basic information. As many participants and others will testify, every single group partaking in this protest complied with police arrangements, stood their agreed ground, and expressed their right to free speech and peaceful assembly. Many in attendance will also verify that CoFIS\/GFI members themselves could be seen \u2018patrolling\u2019 up and down the static protest line in a provocative manner. Consider also the hyperbolic language used by Stein, and adopted without question by the Express: \u201cCowardly young Communists\u201d; \u201cvitriolic and venomous\u201d; \u201cthese thugs and hooligans\u201d; \u201canger and rage\u201d; \u201cabsurd demands\u201d; \u201cmisguided and disillusioned radicals”. Stein was given further generous space by the Express to claim that his organisation\u2019s only purpose at the event was to oppose racism. The SUTR organiser was also allowed room to condemn the counter-demo as \u2018left undermining\u2019 of its \u2018anti-racist message\u2019. Perhaps the Express could have found even a token line for some counter-views. If so, they would have been told about, and could even have risked linking to, the latest historic Amnesty report\/campaign explicitly declaring Israel an apartheid state. https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/campaigns\/2022\/02\/israels-system-of-apartheid\/<\/a>
Is that not validation or reason enough to be protesting against Israel, its lobby organisations, and a supposed anti-racism group giving them approving cover? Might the Express have probed SUTR on why it claims to \u2018hold no policy on the Middle East\u2019? Might even dutiful Express readers have noticed the glaring contradiction of SUTR denouncing ALL racism, while accommodating CoFIS\/GFI, bodies that openly castigate Amnesty\u2019s own defining of Israel as a racist apartheid state? If SUTR was a truly fit-for-purpose anti-racist body, it would not just be refusing to facilitate CoFIS\/GFI on its marches, it would be out there openly denouncing them, in line with Amnesty\u2019s declaration on Israel, and positioning of the wide Palestinian solidarity movement. The brazenly loaded and distorted \u2018coverage\u2019 of this event by the Express tells us all we need to know about the reactionary nature of such media, and the political interests it serves. Again, it\u2019s no surprise to see groups like CoFIS\/GFI so closely bonded with it. One also wonders whether SUTR will ever show true anti-racist integrity, in refusing to collaborate with these shameful organisations and their tawdry media friends. All very unlikely. Yet none of this will ever dissuade us from continuing to call them out, as consistently requested by Palestinians themselves, bravely resisting Israel\u2019s daily occupation, siege imprisonment and racist oppressions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk\/news\/scottish-news\/cowardly-young-communists-who-confronted-29499368 A predictably pathetic attempt by CoFIS\/GFI, aided by what, lamentably, passes for Daily Express \u2018journalism\u2019, to portray an entirely peaceful, non-threatening protest as some kind of menacing, anarchic, intimidation of their group, requiring police protection. It\u2019s not even clear that the Express \u2018reporter\u2019 behind this \u2018story\u2019 was actually present, as it relies, seemingly, on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2696,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions\/2696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}