According to my memory, the first mass protest against the war on Gaza was on October the 14th.

That was a week after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that precipitated the war.

And I was there.

I was astonished by how huge it was and how quickly and with little organizational work.

Because if you go back to 2001, stop the war had to be built as an organization and not without some internal

struggle and disputes and so on, before we put anywhere near as many people on the streets.

I don't think we saw hundreds of thousands protesting a war in Afghanistan. It was only when it

became clear that there was a war in Iraq brewing that we began to see a mass movement in a highly

repressive environment.

And then there followed after the 14th October mobilization a series of relentless mobilizations

at such a breakneck pace that it really began to worry me because I was concerned,

obviously, about burnout.

And then alongside that, we saw

these real tactical innovations, occupying train stations and so on. Actually, the US movement's

way ahead of us on that point. You know, they've been blockading roads and bridges,

parking their cars and throwing their keys into the river, having sit-down protests, occupying

town halls, occupying politicians' offices, and so on,

and this has been led, crucially, by the Jewish left, by a growing anti-Zionist Jewish movement.

Then you have to look at the effects of the protest, because ruling class unity actually broke

down surprisingly quickly, especially following the truce period in November.

You know, Macron came out for a ceasefire in November and again in December.

EU civil servants wrote open letters condemning Ursula von der Leyen, the EU president for her

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