I was pleasantly surprised to find recently that The Guardian had
published the obituary of a dear old friend of mine, John
Gibson in late 2003, and that it is still available on its website. “You
need to talk to John Gibson” was something I was repeatedly told when I had announced
to people in Liverpool that I wanted to research and write something about Paul Robeson. This would have been back in 1996/7. Sure enough, I soon found
myself in the Aigburth home of John and his wife Veronica, being treated to
lovely food and conversation, listening to Robeson records and all kinds of
music from the former Soviet Union, and meeting people from all walks of life, from
many countries. It was also at their home that I first met Marika Sherwood - whose
passing earlier this year was also carried in The Guardian, and featured
on BBC Radio 4’s Last Word. John proudly talked of meeting the great man himself in the 1940s, thanks to their shared involvement in Communism.
John and Veronica had three sons and one daughter. I am
still in touch with two of them: Paul (named after Robeson, in fact) and Ralph.
The obituary mentions nine grandchildren. One of those in particular would have
been eight years old when John died, and I remember her having a bubbly personality. That grandchild is now known to many around the
world as Amu Gibb.
‘Who is Amu Gibb?’ you may ask. You won’t find the answer in the Guardian. Not for now,, anyway. If however Amu were to die at the hands of the British state in coming weeks, this liberal establishment publication may finally carry their story. It is really quite disgusting (but no longer shocking, sadly) that Amu’s story is not part of mainstream news reporting right now. Not shocking, because the same newspaper that revealed industrial-scale spying by the American National Security Agency (NSA) on its unsuspecting citizens would metamorphose, over subsequent years, first into a part of the media eco-system that would lead to Julian Assange almost being delivered to certain death at the hands of the American state for revealing how dirty Western and other governments are, and then be part of the political assassination of Jeremy Corbyn. And once he was safely out of the way, the Guardian would go on to participate in the normalisation and acceptance of Israeli propaganda during the genocide in Palestine that is now into its third year.
For information on who Amu Gibb is therefore, one will have
to go to social media and independent outlets. From there, one will learn what
has reached tiny proportions of news seekers around the world: that they are one of the Filton 24 - a band of concerned citizens
who under the Palestine Action banner carried out an attack on an Israeli-owned
arms factory in Filton, north of Bristol. They have been held on remand in
prison since August 2024 under the terrorism act, without having been charged
with terror offences. Amu and seven others of the Filton 24 have gone on hunger
strike in protest at the brutal conditions under which they are being held. Two
of Amu’s colleagues have been admitted to hospital, and there is no guarantee
that one or more of them will not die as a result of their protest. Perhaps
only then will outlets like the BBC and the Guardian finally name these
brave souls who represent the absolute best in British humanity.
One of them asked in an interview, “Are you willing to let us die before you stop arming a genocide?” Sadly, with Justice Secretary David Lammy falsely denying any knowledge of the hunger strike, then refusing to meet Members of Parliament wanting to urgently discuss the matter, it seems the answer to that question is Yes.
For the Guardian and others to continue to allow such cynical, murderous behaviour to continue in the dark is utterly disgraceful, but as the existence of John’s obituary shows, the truth is out there, waiting for people to find it, however long it takes. It includes this statement from Amu: “Maybe I do have one wish: that every year of my life will act as a handful of sand in the gears of this imperialist killing machine. And that we live to see the day it eventually, inevitably, grinds to a halt.”
It is rather frightening that we live in a world in which acting
on such a belief can be a death wish, but we can only hope to be infected by
the bravery of Amu and her fellow hunger strikers so that we can defeat these
murderers. John would be proud of his grandchild, but I pray that he is not
reunited with her before their time.
Solidarity with Amu Gibb and the other hunger strikers. Free the Filton 24. Freedom and Justice for Palestine. End the Genocide. Shut Elbit Down.
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