Open letter: Why I took my children to Gaza protests at Centre for Contemporary Arts
Last week, outside the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow, my children and I witnessed an upsetting arrest of an elderly woman who was peacefully protesting. Recently the CCA board refused to endorse the growing Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, despite overwhelming support by its staff and artists.
It felt wrong and so myself and others went along to use our right to peacefully protest this decision by making origami doves. This should have been inside but the CCA locked the building, so we made them outside the front door. The CCA is publicly funded so it felt even more important to share our concerns this way, given that our correspondence, and indeed an open letter of more than 800 artists, hadn’t been listened to.
I’ve been protesting more and more recently. Watching the horrifying scenes unfolding in Gaza for more than 18 months, I felt powerless. My children were asking me why adults and children were murdered and I struggled to answer that question.
I decided that I needed to do more. I also decided that I would include my children in my action, where appropriate, so they could learn about the world and our right to protest. There will come a time when the children of today ask their parents what they did........
© Herald Scotland
