There has been plenty of debate about coverage of the Israel-Hamas war following the atrocities of October 7, 2023. I’ve been deeply critical of the BBC and others. Whatever one’s view, The Guardian would seem to be an unlikely target for pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel action. Yet that is exactly what is set to take place.
The UK’s Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) plans to march upon the outlet’s offices in London tomorrow. In a post on Instagram, the organisation says it is going “to protest and challenge the lies and distortions in supposedly ‘liberal’ news outlets like the Guardian who use their progressive image to echo British imperialist propaganda to cover up the Zionist genocide in Gaza.”
It adds:
The Guardian continues to cast doubt on the number of casualties in Gaza and further softens the news of Israeli atrocities by often reporting them in the passive voice and not naming the genocidal Zionist entity as the perpetrators.
Pro-Palestinian Protest vs The Guardian
I was going to spend this newsletter mocking the idea that anyone would pick The Guardian as the target of pro-Palestinian protests. Ojectively it is hilarious. Only today, The Guardian has a cartoon condemning world leaders for their supposed silence on Gaza. It contains the caption “It’s not that Western leaders don’t want to stand up to Israel but that it’s so much easier not to.” I don’t know what the artist intended by including such a line, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “imperialist propaganda to cover up the Zionist genocide in Gaza.”
However, the RCG ends its post by saying:
VICTORY TO THE INTIFADA!
END MEDIA SUPPORT FOR ZIONISM AND GENOCIDE!
I’m sure the RCG would say that when they say “intifada” they mean resistance, not terrorism. Let’s be very clear though. In this context, intifada means terrorism. When we hear that word, we think of Israeli pizza parlours being blown up and civilians killed. I flag it to make clear the kind of people we’re talking about.
We all have a right to protest and I’m sure tomorrow’s march on The Guardian won’t be very big. Nor will it have an impact on the paper’s coverage. It probably is best to just laugh at those attending and organising the protest. But also remember what the victory they want is, because it’s not about one newspaper.
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