Ceasefire Now: From the White House to the Houses of Parliament

“And in this moment, in this devastating moment, our dharma calls us to stand in unyielding solidarity with the people of Gaza.”

These words, spoken by Pranay Somayajula, HfHR’s Director of Research and Advocacy, echoed out over a crowd gathered in front of the White House for the Pilgrimage for Peace rally.

The Pilgrimage for Peace, which concluded today in Washington, D.C., was an eight-day trek from Philadelphia, P.A. to the White House to call upon the Biden administration for an end to the siege on Gaza. The pilgrimage consisted of faith leaders, activists, and artists, of all different beliefs and backgrounds, walking side-by-side in pursuit of a common goal: ceasefire.

Pranay represented the U.S. chapter of Hindus for Human Rights, which provides a progressive, anti-Zionist, Hindu voice in the movement for the liberation of Palestine. His remarks made at the Pilgrimage for Peace connected the struggle against Hindutva to the struggle against Zionism, and called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and an end to the occupation of Palestine.

Pranay’s full speech can be watched here:

While Pranay was speaking outside the White House, halfway across the world in London, our UK organiser Rajiv Sinha was protesting for a ceasefire outside the Houses of Parliament.

Here is a first-hand account of Rajiv’s experience at Westminster today:

Today was the day scheduled for the House of Commons to vote on the second Gaza ceasefire motion, put forward by the Scottish National Party (SNP)…

As I write this, I just got back home from waiting for three and a half hours at the Palace of Westminster.  I’m not complaining – this was part of the statement protesters were making, organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and many people waited for twice as long.

As a subscribed member of PSC I receive their newsletters, statements, and updates.  On Thursday, 15th February I read in an email of theirs about their plan to have as many people as possible directly lobby their Member of Parliament (MP) in the Palace of Westminster just six days later.

I was excited to learn about a direct action campaign to address the ongoing, undeniable horrors in Gaza, perpetrated by an apartheid state, supported by many Western states.  I was also intrigued to have been introduced to “Green Carding”.  This is a direct form of lobbying that every British citizen is entitled to do, but that is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not widely advertised.  Every Brit has the right to enter the Houses of Parliament and speak directly to their MP.

The procedure is as follows: you line up at the Visitor Entrance by Cromwell Green, outside the statue of Richard Coeur de Lion, go through airport-style security, and tell an official inside who your MP is.  That official then reaches out to the MP.  If the MP is in, they are meant to come and meet you; if they’re not, you leave a message and your contact details for them to reach out.  (This is where “lobbying” comes from: Westminster representatives traditionally hang out in the “lobbies” or hallways of parliament to meet members of the public.)

As I write this, my elation at having been part of such a large campaign that might have made a difference by affecting the behaviour of MPs has largely dissipated as I am drip fed the news that the vote in the House of Commons has collapsed.

I never expected this to happen…  I don’t think anyone did.  What I expected was that our parliamentarians would repeat the disastrous, fatal decision of the first vote.  Instead, I am hearing that the government has withdrawn its amendment, then that the Conservatives and the SNP have walked out of the voting hall in protest at the Speaker’s behaviour, meaning that there can be no vote, then that the vote may be held in private instead, then that the ceasefire vote has been replaced all together by a protest vote about procedure, then that Labour’s amendment to the motion has passed because its opposition was absent.

I’ll let the media fill us in on the details once this chaos ends. Subordinated to our politicking, Palestinian lives are put on hold yet again.

Today, two Hindus for Human Rights chapters organised in two major cities — Washington, D.C. and London — to speak out against two major governments who are directly funding and supporting the genocide of innocent Gazans at the hands of a right-wing government. Two chapters, two cities, but one common goal: an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Our progressive, South Asian diaspora community recognises the clear parallels between the state-sanctioned violence committed by Israel and India. The liberation of Palestinians and the liberation from Hindutva ideologies are inherently interlinked; none of us are free until all of us are free.