Lottie Head
It has been building up to this for a while — every idea of the sanctity of life or human rights is just being stripped away. If there aren’t any standards for the general public to be protected under, all you are left with is a huge mechanism for perpetuating the existing power dynamics of class and wealth. It is terrifying.
So, on one hand, this is a semblance of justice. But it also doesn’t erase the injustice, or the physical, verbal, and emotional abuse we’ve all suffered at the hands of the state and prison service. It doesn’t take away from the fact that we were denied our rights.
On the other hand, I think of Palestinian friends or people with family in Palestine, which is why we did this and why we continue to keep pushing. This isn’t about us — it’s become a nexus for so many political conversations in this country. At the same time, it’s also a distraction, they want the public to forget about the UK’s complicity in mass slaughter and its financial and political support for Israel.
The genocide is ongoing and the ceasefire isn’t a ceasefire. But still, we have to take the small wins. When Palestinian prisoners are released, even if it’s just one person and they are going back to a tent instead of a house, they will still celebrate and be joyful in that moment, because that is how you keep going. We cannot exist off pain and rage alone. You have to have that hope. It’s a choice.