Voices of Change: Belfast Marches to the BBC Amid Failures to Provide ‘Independent and Critical Reporting’ on Israel-Palestine

By Holly Lennon

Editor’s note: The Scoop has received and asked for several different perspectives on the conflict between the State of Israel and Hamas. We do not prescribe an attitude and over the next few weeks different perspectives on the conflict will be published. Our aim is not to sensationalise a still ongoing conflict which has a still increasing death count, but to provide a space for students to have a conversation. As such the editorial approach has been light and the conflicting accounts make fact checking very difficult at this stage. For a more official and factual account check the news section for any updates. The opinions noted in these articles are not the official stance of The Scoop or Queen’s Radio

On the evening of October 19th, hundreds of people assembled at Belfast City Hall for the Black Flag vigil, honouring the lives lost in Gaza. Those in attendance advocated for the end of apartheid, the cessation of ethnic cleansing, and the condemnation of Israeli war crimes.

Just two days later, many of the participants returned to City Hall, which was the starting point of what would come to be the biggest Palestinian protest in Belfast. The demonstrators prepared to march to the BBC headquarters, in Ormeau Avenue, in opposition to the biased and dehumanising media coverage of the war on Gaza. The protest, organised by Belfast Stands with Palestine, was composed of people from all backgrounds, brought together by their mutual support of the cause. I even saw a whippet, looking dapper, with a Palestinian scarf wrapped around its collar.

As the crowd set off, and upon realising that this was not a stand-still protest, one man, who must have missed the memo, stated, “Wait, where is this going? It’s a good thing I’ve my comfy shoes on.” I respected his unconditional commitment to a march that, as far as he was concerned, was as long as a piece of string. 

The chant began, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, a phrase that the BBC had requested their pro-Palestinian interviewees to furnish an explanation for. Having arrived at the destination of the march, protesters put a spin on the original phrase, stating, “From the River to the Sea, we don’t want BBC”. 

“… Until they change their ways”, added Fiona Ferguson. 

Broadcasting House looked rather drab in comparison to the sea of Palestinian emblems which surrounded it. One poster had the slogan “Genocide Joe” superimposed over a photo of Joe Biden, with red handprints, carrying significant symbolism. The woman holding the poster was balanced on her tiptoes and vigorously waved it as people yelled, “Biden, Sunak, you can’t hide. You’re supporting genocide”. 

Image Credit: Holly Lennon

People Before Profit assembly member Gerry Carroll succinctly addressed the reason behind the final location of the protest. He called for “journalism that afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted”. He demanded the depiction of proper and accurate information and condemned the BBC for echoing the British government’s viewpoint rather than providing independent and critical reporting. Carroll also disapproved of the “policy which the BBC and other outlets have that parrots the British government line”. 

In keeping with the criticism of legacy media outlets, Stephen Millar from Array Collective stated, “We need to expose the lie that is balance, the notion that is balance, it’s a fallacy. You cannot put an oppressor against the oppressed and call it balance. You cannot put the occupier up against the occupied and call it balance. You cannot put an abuser against a victim and call it balance”. 

Later in his speech, Millar stated, “We are being told we are anti-semitic. We are not. We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters who support us”. His statement was met with a collective cheer. He concluded, “We need to be here today, tomorrow, the next day. We cannot forget about our Palestinian brothers and sisters. They would not forget about us”. 

Also in attendance was Reverend Bill Shaw, who stated, “Gaza has been bombarded for years; whenever Israel feels they need to mow the grass, they send in the fighter jets, and they bomb, and they kill”. 

Later, Reverend Shaw declared, “Gaza has run out of body bags. Israel wants them to run out of bodies”. 

This symphony of speeches evoked a passionate response from the crowd. As they began to disperse, a group of musicians played samba drums. Others handed out pamphlets detailing the time and location of the next protest. Gradually, the voices fractionalised until all I could hear were the Palestinian demonstrators. Around twenty people were chanting in appreciation of the camaraderie, yet their voices were just as powerful as those of the entire crowd. They sang, “Thank you Bel-fast. Thank you Bel-fast”. Some cried as they expressed gratitude, including a man who hid his face behind a poster. 

In response to the criticism concerning one-sided reporting, a representative from the BBC has stated: “BBC News has provided our global audiences with coverage and first-hand testimony of the atrocities committed by Hamas, and the suffering in Gaza”.

Meanwhile, a representative of Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign criticised the nuance within the BBC’s blameless diction of “suffering”. The representative elaborated: “the crimes of Israel, slaughtering over 1600 Palestinian children isn’t considered an atrocity, it’s simply ‘suffering in Gaza’”. 

In other words, the devil is in the details.

Edited By Ruby Hegarty

Holly Lennon is an MA Literary Studies student and a Boxing Columnist for The Scoop